HONDA Marine last week unveiled its latest range of portable outboards to dealers and media on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
The new range includes the BF4, BF5, and BF6, which Honda says are packed with the latest in four-sroke technology.
Honda says the BF4, BF5 & BF6 range has been developed specifically to fill a boating niche. They’re lightweight and portable, easy to start, and more comfortable to operate and will now operate for longer.
The new range will suit fishos looking for a super lightweight portable for a small tinny or even an engine for your tender.
Despite the focus on bigger, more powerful outboards across the boating media, the portable four-stroke market is a sizable one and small outboards do have a place in the fishing market.
The BF4, BF5 & BF6 are now lighter than ever, starting from a low 27kg. Their lightweight nature and new carrying handle design enables the user to easily transport and store away the engines. The tiller handle can be fully folded to make the unit even more compact making storage even more convenient.
The three engines are equipped with a Honda’s decompression mechanism, which makes starting the engines easier, even if they’re cold. On the water this certainly seemed to be the case, a far cry from engines of the past.
Honda has specially developed new rubber engine mounts that are integrated into the outboard to absorb practically all vibrations across the rpm range. This eliminates vibration to the user, meaning you can travel longer and further in comfort.
All three new engines are equipped with a one touch engine stop switch for convenience, making it safer in emergency situations and also making it much easier to turn off the engine when you reach your destination.
Each engine has an integrated large capacity fuel tank built in, hidden away under the cowl this additional 1.5l of fuel gives the operator longer continuous running time; the longest running time available in their class with up to 43 minutes at wide open throttle. Additionally the BF5 and BF6 can be connected to an additional external fuel tank for those longer journeys.
These three engines share the same 1 cylinder – 127 cm3 engine block and benefit from Honda’s industry leading expertise in four stroke technologies. To protect the outboards, the BF4, BF5 and BF6 also feature an oil alert system, which will automatically limit the engine speed to 2,300 rpm in case of an oil pressure drop.
The new models are available in short (15 inch/38 cm) and long (20 inch/51 cm) shaft.
More info including the full range can be found on the Honda Marine website.
