2 stroke the future of outboards?

[hobiecat]

People say the 2 stroke outboard will not conform to future emission standards and will die. Mixing the oil, dirty smelly 2 stroke things led me to stay well clear and always go for 4 stroke. Only problem was the regular oil, filter changes and general maintenance every 50 hours.

Latest 2 stroke direct injections like Tohatsu and Evinrude ETEC have up to 3 years no maintenance. Military are even running these engines multi fuel - diesel, petrol and aviation fuel. No more oil mixing. They now appear to be far more attractive than 4 stroke outboards for cruising or rib tender. Has anyone else any experience or views?

 

[Kevin]

I dont think there will be a death of the 2 stroke, not in the near future anyway, the manufacturers are improving emissions all the time and favour smaller capacty units and linking them to supercharging, many new ones in development are supposed not to be any worse than 4 strokes on the emission front

I would have a decent 2 stroke over a 4 stroke, on the type of boats outboards primarily go onto-smaller perfromance boats, 4 strokes are too heavy too slow just too big. I think that 2 strokes will be favoured by many especially those wanting great peformance in a lightweight package.

The only advantage I see of having a 4 stroke outboard would be instead of a 4 stroke inboard installation on a 20 foot or so boat - making changing or increasing the size and /or changing the make much easier than with an inboard, just undo 4 bolts and away you go

IMHO

Kevin

 

[mikewilkes]

I was looking at the Tohatsu as well but got a little confused on the consumption thing.
Are they now a lot more efficient than some of the 4 strokes or is that just hype??

 

[hobiecat]

People also tell me the 2 stroke direct injections are as fuel efficient as the 4 strokes - my experience suggests they are a little less. I think there was an article in Boatmart recently and it did suggest fuel efficiency was on a par with 4 strokes.

 

[whisper]

From the research that I've done over the last couple of years is seems that in general use the 4 stroke is still noticeably more fuel efficient. They are also becoming much closer to 2 strokes, weight wise as well, atleast when you get above about 50 hp.