by Ira S Rager
(Stewartstown, PA)
I am 81 years old and decided that I wanted to exchange my 15 hp manual start Honda 4 stroke for an electric start since I'm not getting any younger. I bought a new 2020 Honda 20HP electric start and tilt and installed in on my 15 ft Crappy alumacraft jon boat. The new 20 hp Honda is essentially the same size displacement but weighs about 35 Lbs more. I now have 3 hours and 15 minutes of break-in time on the new Honda. My question is: I don't seem to have as much speed on the 20 as I did on the 15 hp, and is it because the new engine is just not broken in or is the 35 lbs more weight the problem.? I am using the same size prop on both engines as that is what they came with. A 4 bladed Honda aluminum prop painted grey. I had bought a new 3 bladed stainless steel prop, but was planning to wait until the new engine is broken in to see what the difference is. My problem is certainly not the worst problem a person can have, but just curious. In my younger days I played around with a Johnson 175 until I got 248 hp on a dyno which was on a 19ft bass boat. and had about 4 or five different props. I just putter around now.