Question regards to C-dory's engine

Just a note: I think the Honda 115 is kind of a special case, in regards to weight/horsepower. It's really their larger engine, "de-tuned" to run at lower horsepower. So it's quite heavy compared to other 115 hp engines. Thing is, the stern of a C-Dory 22 was designed around the day's 250# 70 hp 2-stroke and a pair of 18 gallon gas tanks. Now we have 90+ hp four-strokes (heavier) and larger gas tanks, more batteries, etc. In other words, it's "skinny" for modern day engines (compare to the Cape Cruiser 23 or Marinaut 21, which are evolutions of the design, and have more buoyancy aft, which better supports modern-day heavier outboards, more fuel aft, etc.).

This is not to say the 22 is a bad design, or cannot manage many 115 hp engines (or even possibly the Honda 115). But probably keeping it lighter in the stern is better, if it can be comfortably managed (and it can, as the many 90 and lighter 115 hp engines seem to work fine).

Just to give you a comparative idea:
The Honda 115 weighs 478# and is ~2350cc.
The Yamaha 115 weighs 401# and ~1750cc.
The Suzuki 115 weighs 401# and is ~2000cc.

The Honda 90 weighs 360# and is ~1500cc.
The Yamaha 90 weighs 366# and is ~1600cc.
The Suzuki 90 weighs 341# and is 1502cc.

The Honda 40/50 weigh 415# each.

The Evinrude E-Tec (2-stroke) 90hp is even lighter than the four-stroke 90's (although their 40hp is "heavy," so it's not always true that the E-Tecs are lighter).

Alternators also vary, so another thing to check.

Anyway, from this you can see how the Honda 115 is a bit of an outlier. Paired with the typical kicker it would be a pretty heavy combination on the transom. Granted, today's engines are so reliable that (depending on preference and boating habits) you could go without a kicker. But by that logic you could also go with one of the other (lighter) main engines and no kicker and be lighter yet (can you tell I've tried to justify the Honda 115 for my own 22? :D)

I've been out on a boat with the Honda 115 for an afternoon (actually a pair of them on a Rosborough), and I thought it was a fantastic engine. But not sure I would put one on the 22, myself.

Sunbeam
 
Sacboater":3oc37w58 said:
@Thataway: Do you know how fast the boat go with a single 90hp (approximately with normal load)? I just did some search on Honda Marine website (between 115hp and 90hp), they are not much difference in power but the 115hp engine is around 50lbs heavier than the 90hp.

Ken, you are funny..properly people barely use their kickers :). It really give me a headache everytime I change oil for my twins (engine and stern drives)...everything must be double..
Eric
Click to expand...

My 22 with a Honda 90 loaded for an overnight stay will go ~18.5 mph at 4000 rpm. At WOT (~5600rpm) it will do ~31 mph. We normally cruise at ~4K rpm on open water. The 90 seems quite happy at this speed. This results in mileage of ~4.2mpg. We have not been out more than overnight so my boat may be more lightly loaded than some.
 
Egad, thanks for noticing that, Barry! I obviously edited my way into a mistake. I had originally written that the Honda 40/50 weigh 215# each for a total of 430#. :oops: That's actually a nice, low weight number for two engines. (Some of the other brand's 50's are on bigger blocks and so weigh more than their 40's.)

Anyway, upshot of my post is that with "most" twins setups or 90-plus-kicker you would expect a total weight for the engines of around 430#-480#; whereas with the Honda 115-plus-kicker you'd be up to around 580# for the same setup (I'm using 100# for the kicker; obviously a lighter kicker would result in smaller numbers across the board).

Thanks again for noticing the mistake and correcting it.
 
For speed comparison, my Merc 115 can push me up to about 32mph if I trim everything out right. Not much difference from that 31mph listed above. And BTW, these boats get kind of squirrely at that speed...The Mississippi River race I mentioned earlier, just had several of us heading back from a breakfast at WOT. I pulled ahead and led. But not really by that big of a margin. I was also by myself and probably lighter than some of the others behind. Again, if I had bought the boat new and got to choose the engine, I would have gone with a 90hp EFI 4-stroke. My kicker is a Tahatsu 6hp 4 stroke, single cylinder carburated. It does vibrate and is kind of loud at WOT. But it can push my boat at 5-6mph. I can sit in the back minding my fishing lines while controlling it with the tiller. Or I can hook up the steering linkage bar to the main, or on a calmer day, just use the main as a rudder. Sit the throttle then steer from the helm. Mercury has a lot of service dealers around here, but I've also heard good things about the Honda. I believe the Merc uses a Yamaha head. Tahatsu makes the Merc kickers, and is also the same as Nissan, just different name plate used. The kicker is another engine to maintain. But much cheaper. Props are cheaper too. ;-) Colby
 
Although I believe that one of the owners with a 115 said they were able to get up to 36 mph, most the the 90's will push the boats about 30 mph. Agree with Colby that the boats get a little squirrley over 30 mph. We tend to cruise in the low 20's, depending on altitude, prop and load in the boat.

Our "kicker" is 2 stroke, so it is both lighter, and no oil changes, except for the lower unit. Also used as a dinghy motor, so it is run regularly, but not under a great load.
 
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