Home › Forum › Ask A Member › Old 2 stroke vs new outboards (2&4) stroke › Re: Old 2 stroke vs new outboards (2&4) stroke
People I know that have newer 4-strokes have had little or no trouble with them. I bought a 25 Yamaha new for my pontoon in 2004 (The wife wanted really quiet motor) and in all those years all I’ve changed is oil and the starter solenoid (relay). I see two downsides to the 4-strokes: one is weight – they generally weigh a lot more than the 2-stroke of same HP. If you have a boat that is already heavy to the rear, you may be adding unacceptable weight. The other downside is low end torque is lacking. You need more HP to get a skier or multiple skiers out of the water. I used to routinely pull three teenage skiers out of the water with a 1960 40 HP Johnson. I doubt there is a 40HP 4-stroke that can do that. This also means more HP to plane bigger boats, or plane them faster. Serious Bass fishing tournament guys call it the "Hole Shot" timing to get up on plane fast to get to the next fishing spot faster, so they stick to 2-strokes.
Dave