Four-strokes are heavy for their output but they do not smoke and are almost uncannily quiet and smooth at low speeds.
Electric starting: all you need is a motorcycle size battery, but you already have a larger battery for the electric motor.
Your 12 foot boat could handle the additional weight, but if you later upgrade to a beamy, deep 14 footer (e.g. a Starcraft Seafarer or a modern equivalent) you will gain a great deal of room and stability with little additional weight. You will probably also find that the 14 is just as fast, or faster, with the same load because of the additional planing surface. That has been my experience with the boats I run my old motors on.
The smoke and the noise would be a factor for me/us when the wife is with me. So that would be hard to determine in a used 2 stoke boat motor I assume?
Cost is a limiting factor, that’s one of the reasons why I’m here at AOMCI learning about old motors. Can’t afford the new and like things from the 1950’s or earlier. Although my vehicles are rather new being 1999’s.
