On Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:13:35 +0700, Bruce in Bangkok
wrote:

If you do much cruising I suspect that you will wish you had an
inboard though. Or a bigger fuel tank. An outboard surely burns a lot
of fuel..

Four cycle spark ignition specific consumption is the same inboard,
sterndrive, outboard, long tail motor, sail drive, and airboat. Half a
pound pre hour per horsepower. As much as double for fuel cooled
racing mills. Getting the oxygen into the motor is the problem, not
fuel. A lean mixture uses all the fuel. A rich mixture uses all the
oxygen and gives maximum power and a wasteful fuel rich exhaust.
Flames at the end of the exhaust system. With fewer than one set of
jets per cylinder, carburators are inefficient, the reason why they
have disappeared from autos. Two four barrels or four two barrels for
a eight, a common arrangement for muscle cars. As it is wilth EFI, you
get enough fuel in the exhaust to require a catalytic [spell checkers
are grand] converter.