Looks like they were trying to one-up the Waterman?
Personally, I didn’t like those late seventies Hondas because they just could not take the salt. The cooling passages plugged up a lot. Most were long shaft, for the blow-boaters. Four stroke, so of course, they were heavy. But they ran well, when they didn’t back-fire out the carb. If you could get a short shaft, fresh water engine, it might be fun to have.