2-stroke, 4-stroke, Merc or Yami???

[JimS123]

Ok, time for a new boat. It WILL be an outboard, but which one?

I WOULD buy an E-tec, but that's not available locally or on the boat I am looking at. The choices are:
* Verado
* Optimax
* Yami 4-stroke

I had all but made up my mind to buy a Yamaha 4-stroke. But recently I have been hearing at lot about the expensive and timely maintenance requirements on "some" of the 4-strokes, like valve adjustments, etc.

So, my first question is regarding this type of maintenance - is there a difference between Merc and Yamaha?

The second question is more of a solicitiation for opinions - How does an Optimax compare to a 4-stroke regarding reliability, fuel economy, and overall maintenance?

TIA

 

[jevery]

Re: 2-stroke, 4-stroke, Merc or Yami???

JD Power combined the opinions of 9,700 people here

http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pdf/2008021.pdf

 

[JimS123]

Re: 2-stroke, 4-stroke, Merc or Yami???

Following up, can anyone say which 4-stroke outboards have the least regular maintenance requirements?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: 2-stroke, 4-stroke, Merc or Yami???

They all require oil and filter changes. They all require lower unit lub changes. They all require valve clearance checks and adjustment. Take your pick. Belt driven camshafts require belt tension checks and belt replacement which is why I chose a Suzy. Chain drive on the cams.

 

[Rancherlee]

Re: 2-stroke, 4-stroke, Merc or Yami???

Most of the big maintainence on 4 strokes is in the first 100 hours, valves and such every 400 hours which for most boaters quite a few years. 400 hours is like putting 20,000 miles on your car, thats ALOT of use. I fish quite a bit and hardly ever hit 100 hours a year on my boat. Valve checks can be done with a few simple tools if you like to do stuff yourself.

 

[Lundman]

Re: 2-stroke, 4-stroke, Merc or Yami???

Well,my choice would be a VMAX HPDI from Yamaha. Two stroke meaning
you have no valve adjustments to worry about,much less oil and filter changes,...the exception would be lower unit oil which I would change at end of each season. Not really sold on Evinrude E-TEC,but that does not mean
that Evinrude makes a bad motor. I am sure they are a good motor and would choose them over Mercury any day(I say that based on my experience with Mercury in the past and it was not very good,...not real bad,...but just not that good). If I had to choose,it would be the Yamaha VMAX HPDI motor.