Was on at my local engineers (Swordfish Marine) last weekend he had a 300 hp 2 stroke merc racing engine in for a service etc and when he fired it up I've got no doubts that no 4 stroke will pick up like it, so although I'm all for 4 strokes they just don't pick up like a well tuned 2 stroke.
There's a touch of 'emperor's new clothes' with outboards these days. Many think that they must have four stoke, but when pressed, they don't really know why. Four strokes probably are the future, but for me, they aren't yet. Right now, my Etec is the gruntiest, meanest mother that I can put on my boat this side of a full race lump, for little or no loss of economy. It's not perfect, but I like it.
I have two boats at the minute with comparable weight, one has four stroke 90 hp and the other a 2 stroke 90 hp; both merc.
I have run both on each boat and measured fuel usage etc, the 2 stroke will on average use 30% more fuel however, I opted to keep the 2 stroke as it has a better hole shot, more responsive across the range, lighter and I can live with the extra £6-£10 a day on fuel.
