Wayne.B wrote:
On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 07:50:02 -0400, "Reginald P. Smithers III"
"Reggie is Here wrote:

No, it was not a snarky remark, it was a very cute humorous remark.
Everyone knows the ETEC is a great engine, with a higher power/torgue
ratio and better fuel efficiency than the overweight and bloated 4 cycle
Yamaha engines.

The humorous comment was directed to SWS not to you. I am sorry it
offended you.

Those of us who have been around a while surely caught the intended
humor. My concern is that the original poster is a newbie here and
may very well be shaking his head in confusion.

As an FYI to the OP, one of our resident experts on pontoon boats is
"gfretwell" from south Florida. Regarding outboards, any of the
leading brands will probably serve you well. Take a look at what
other people in your area are using and ask around about quality of
dealer service. For what it's worth, 2 strokes have better low end
torque than 4 strokes, are usually lighter and easier to service. 4
strokes are quieter and require no mixing or injection of oil with the
fuel.



Modern higher horsepower outboards are *not* easy to service, period. It
doesn't matter whether you have a high tech two stroke or a four stroke.
You're going to need special knowledge, special training, and special
tools, including computer software and the mechanism to get readings off
the engine's I/O port if you are messing around "under the hood beyond
changing the spark plugs.

As for weight, I'm not sure how much it matters in the larger engines.
The 150 hp Evinrude eTec two stroke, for example, displaces about 2.7
liters and weighs 427 pounds. The 150 hp four stroke Yamaha has about
the same displacement and weighs 466 pounds (the Evinrude site has the
wrong weight on the Yamaha 150). Negligible weight difference.

In real world tests, the two engines would perform about the same under
most operating conditions. The rather outrageous claims I have seen for
eTec fuel burn could only be true if the Evinrude engineers have figured
out how to cheat the laws of physics.