4 stokes in Europe
 

After a month in Italy and a couple of weeks of it on islands and Cinque
Terre. I noticed that 99% of all the small outboards were 4 strokes. A lot
of Mercury's and even a Mariner. A few Yamaha and susuki's. One big boat
had twin E-tecs. I guess that $5 / gallon gas gives an incentive to
conserve.
Bill

On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 18:19:25 GMT, "Calif Bill"
wrote:

After a month in Italy and a couple of weeks of it on islands and Cinque
Terre. I noticed that 99% of all the small outboards were 4 strokes. A lot
of Mercury's and even a Mariner. A few Yamaha and susuki's. One big boat
had twin E-tecs. I guess that $5 / gallon gas gives an incentive to
conserve.

Interesting. I spent a month in Ireland and England a couple of years
ago and almost all the small boats had Honda four strokes on them.

By the way, I love those little fishing boats made in England. Little
16/18 footers with a small cuddy on them - nifty boats.

TTFN,

Tom

"Bodies are for hookers and fat people."
Bender - "Futurama"

Calif Bill wrote:

After a month in Italy and a couple of weeks of it on islands and Cinque
Terre. I noticed that 99% of all the small outboards were 4 strokes. A
lot
of Mercury's and even a Mariner. A few Yamaha and susuki's. One big boat
had twin E-tecs. I guess that $5 / gallon gas gives an incentive to
conserve.
Sure it does, but if your are showing off your silly ritches with a big
outboard, why skimp on the fuel? Wasn't the point that you show off you are
able to waste money?
The emission regulations in the EU make it pretty hard to produce a
two-stroke that complies with them. That is the reason you see so many
four-strokes. The two strokes you see are old(er) or have a special fuel
injection(that is environment friendlier too).
--
vriendelijke groeten/kind regards,

Jelle

"Jelle" wrote in message
...

The emission regulations in the EU make it pretty hard to produce a
two-stroke that complies with them. That is the reason you see so many
four-strokes. The two strokes you see are old(er) or have a special fuel
injection(that is environment friendlier too).
--
vriendelijke groeten/kind regards,

Jelle



Rubbish, it's the older 2 strokes with carbs that that don't comply.
The following is from
http://www.boatmart.co.uk/newsfeatur...&ID=685&Page=2

We've heard the most ridiculous and even humorous tales regarding outboards.
Here are a few of the rumours, and myths, surrounding the new regulations.


* "You can't use any two-stroke outboard after January 2005" - totally
untrue, garbage!

* "A two-stroke with carburettors will be illegal after 2005" - absolute
balderdash!

* "This engine meets the 'CARB' Star standard" - so what? This only applies
to California!

* "Our engines meet both CARB and EPA standards" - congratulations, but we
are not in America!


Our Trading Standards Officers are the guys lumbered with monitoring the
whole thing; they may also be confused by the new regs, but they certainly
aren't stupid.


If you own a 'dirty' carburetted two-stroke outboard, or buy one before the
1st January, 2007, you can use it until it falls apart! The same applies to
an old four-stroke, a PWC or even a boat fitted with a cement mixer engine.
There's no moratorium period built into the EU regulations.


Neither should you be taken in by the hype of over keen dealers eager to
sell you highly complex, hi-tech fuel injected computer controlled engine
wizardry when all you want is a little motor for a dinghy! Listen out for
variations on these classic 'porkies'.

* "Four-strokes burn much less fuel than two-stokes"

True, if you compare an old pre-mix carburetted two-stroke to a modern
four-stroke.

False, if you compare a contemporary direct injection two-stroke to a
similar power four-stroke!

* "Two-strokes can't meet the emission standards"

True, when speaking about a simple carburetted engine.

False, in fact a pure distortion of the facts, when aimed at a direct
injected engine.

"Jelle" wrote in message
...
Calif Bill wrote:

After a month in Italy and a couple of weeks of it on islands and Cinque
Terre. I noticed that 99% of all the small outboards were 4 strokes. A
lot
of Mercury's and even a Mariner. A few Yamaha and susuki's. One big
boat
had twin E-tecs. I guess that $5 / gallon gas gives an incentive to
conserve.
Sure it does, but if your are showing off your silly ritches with a big
outboard, why skimp on the fuel? Wasn't the point that you show off you
are
able to waste money?
The emission regulations in the EU make it pretty hard to produce a
two-stroke that complies with them. That is the reason you see so many
four-strokes. The two strokes you see are old(er) or have a special fuel
injection(that is environment friendlier too).
--
vriendelijke groeten/kind regards,

Jelle



Then they have changed the emission regs in the last few years. In the 80's
when I had an office in Woking, the guys who came over here were impressed
with the performance of the emission controlled cars. A lot less emission
controls then in your part of the world. And I would expect the older 2
strokes to be grandfathered in. And most of the 4 strokes were on small,
maybe 5 meter fishing boats.

"Calif Bill" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Jelle" wrote in message
...
Calif Bill wrote:


had twin E-tecs. I guess that $5 / gallon gas gives an incentive to
conserve.

The question I've always had is, just *why* is it that
gas is $5/gallon over there? Why do Europeans
accept that? Or is it that their passivism just lends
themselves to accepting any/everything that comes
down the pike over there.


Sure it does, but if your are showing off your silly ritches with a big
outboard, why skimp on the fuel? Wasn't the point that you show off you
are
able to waste money?

I would think so, yeah. Hell, at least once a week I
get out on the lake to do nothing but burn gas, get a
beer-buzz on, and just zone out get mesmerized by
the constant drone of my motor - that just has value
to me, its just therapy to me, it really is.


The emission regulations in the EU make it pretty hard to produce a
two-stroke that complies with them. That is the reason you see so many
four-strokes. The two strokes you see are old(er) or have a special fuel
injection(that is environment friendlier too).

Bummer. I would think that if you ran the 2-stoke
hotter, and leaner, and with the right timing advance,
that you have a more complete burn with emissions
not far behind a 4-stroke, and not have the 4-stroke
crankcase oil to dispose of which may not always
hand up in the right recycle place, and hand up finding
itself in the ground, sewers, water, etc. But who knows.
8 Oz of oil in 3 gallons of gasoline (worse case) just
isn't a lot of oil. And if you are doing the Amsoil
thing at 100:1 you're at like 4 Oz oil for 3 Gal.


--
vriendelijke groeten/kind regards,

Jelle



Then they have changed the emission regs in the last few years. In the
80's
when I had an office in Woking, the guys who came over here were impressed
with the performance of the emission controlled cars. A lot less emission
controls then in your part of the world. And I would expect the older 2
strokes to be grandfathered in. And most of the 4 strokes were on small,
maybe 5 meter fishing boats.

"Mr Wizzard" wrote in message
news:kTGid.366108$D%.324807@attbi_s51...

"Calif Bill" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Jelle" wrote in message
...
Calif Bill wrote:


had twin E-tecs. I guess that $5 / gallon gas gives an incentive to
conserve.



Bummer. I would think that if you ran the 2-stoke
hotter, and leaner, and with the right timing advance,
that you have a more complete burn with emissions
not far behind a 4-stroke, and not have the 4-stroke
crankcase oil to dispose of which may not always
hand up in the right recycle place, and hand up finding
itself in the ground, sewers, water, etc. But who knows.\




The EU is putting into effect stricter emission laws starting in a year or
two, depending on the type of motor.

At the moment, I understand that the direct injected 2-stroke Evinrude E-TEC
is the only engine that meets those rigid emission levels today. 4-stroke
outboards may need catalytic converters to meet the Carbon Monoxide levels
for those stricter requirements in Europe.

Even the old 2001 and later FICHT engines had fewer total emissions than the
4 strokes. That is all public record on the EPA website.

Don't get "hung up" that all 2-strokes pollute. All manufacturer"s direct
injected 2-strokes are "cleaner" than the EPA 2006 limits, most meet
California 2-STAR limits, and all the Evinrude E-TECs and a couple of
smaller Merc Optimaxes test better than the stringent 3-STAR emission levels
that many EFI 4-strokes don't meet.

Bill Grannis
service manager