After the disastrous introduction of the F350 Yamaha made 2 revisions of this engine and fixed most of the problems.
But meanwhile Suzuki presented the DF350 with DuoProp what turned out to be very beneficial for heavy boats and after some initial mechanical problems it seems that the DF350 is a great performer. But then and after a sneak peak in 2017 Honda packed all their knowledge in one 5L block and it seems that they totally nailed it. My friend who is one of the biggest Suzuki and Honda dealers on the island here told me already that Honda will present something stunning at the Genova Boat Show in October 2023. And they did....
It seems they not only worked silent on the BF350, they also installed silently the first production models on some boats to test drive in Genova. And the reviews where more than good and certainly Honda knows their Sç%&t, in marine, car/Motorcycle and small engines. But the lack of a capillary dealer network let them always be the last of the pack what they not should be.
Would I install the BF350? Maybe, the temptation is great but the fear of having problems with a completely new outboard is certainly damping my motivation to fork out big $$$.
We will see what Yamaha will present to fill the gap they created on their own decision,
maybe a tuned F300, maybe a modified F350 or maybe something totally new they where developing same secretly as Honda did.
Chris