Clayton, nice to hear from you.
As for the Honda 15 hp on the Stiletto.... I guess I'm guilty of being a cat sailor. That means if 680 sq. ft of sail is working good, one can't help but wonder about 700 sq. ft....right??? So it is with the 15 hp extra long shaft Honda four-stroke, which replaced a long shaft Yamaha 9 hp two-stroke. I can’t help but wonder if a twenty horse would push the boat even better.
This next summer, for laughs, I'm going to mount my two-stroke 35 hp, two-stroke, to see what that does in terms of speed. When I mounted it on my 17 ft Pacific Beach Cat, it was awesome.
I decided on the 15 hp, because it was the most horses with the least weight in a four stroke, with an electric starter and charging system.
Anyway, the Honda 15 hp extra long shaft works great on the boat. The extra few inches of the extra long shaft make it so the prop doesn't cavitate in rougher water...which is a real plus, over the performance of the long shaft I had on the boat. The extra horses of the 15 vs the 9 are also a good addition, though I certainly didn't get as much of a speed bust as one might imagine. I probably got around 4-6 mph with the 9 hp and I now get around 6-12 with the 15 hp, depending on wind, cargo load, etc. I really like the charging system of the new motor, to keep the batteries up and the electric start...and it is much quieter than the two-stroke. The four-stroke doesn't take mixed gas, which simplifies things and it uses gas at a slower rate than the two-stroke did. On this last trip, I motored around 90 miles and used about eight gallons of fuel.
You’ll like the 15 hp.
