There is a common misconception among boaters that pounds of thrust is directly related to horsepower, unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Horsepower and pounds of thrust are entirely different ways to measure force; thrust is the amount of force APPLIED to an object, example, when I sit on a table, I exert 170lbs of downward force on that table. On the other hand, power or horsepower is a measurement of work, how do you measure work? Work has three components: force, distance, and time. Example, you can be paid hourly for your time, you can be paid for the amount of effort (force) you expend, per vehicle you repair. Or, you could be paid for how far you transport something, this is the distance component of work.