My 2 cents ... for costs reasons, I went with I/O when I picked up my old
beater. I wanted a 4 stroke and used 4 strokes in the 200hp range are for me
big bucks ... and new is completely out of the question ... like $20K cdn
each. About used I/Os ... buying used could also be expensive ... for
example if there is riser or manifold corrosion for example, a used engine
could end up requiring a rebuild as well as new risers and manifolds.

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 29 Oct 2004 18:50:04 -0700, "Bob La Londe"
wrote:
Your comments about prop, trailering, etc can all also be addressed with
an
outboard that weighs a lot less for the same horsepower. Even a 4 stroke
OB
will weigh a lot less than an I/O of the same SHP.
=========================================

That's true of course, and outboards are very popular around here.
It's probably about 50/50 when you look around. I think I have a mind
set against outboards for some reason and I'm not sure if it's
justified or not. My sense of things is that OBs are more expensive,
less reliable, and shorter lived. That may or may not be true, and
I'm sure there are persuasive arguments on both sides. I know that
in the case of my present boat which has a small block Chevy and an
Alpha I/O, parts are readily available, reasonably priced, and the
engine is well understood by virtually everyone. That does not always
seem to be the case with OBs in my experience. Prior to the
availability of 4 stroke OBs, I also believe that I/Os had the edge
on fuel economy.