What Big Marine Brands Aren’t Telling You About 4-stroke Outboards...

But in order to switch over from a two-stroke to a four-stroke, it's a problem

So Galactica says a big problem with four-strokes aside from the cost is the extra weight over a two-stroke

Which Brian comes in on top of that and says twin-250 Mercury Optimax Pro X's

twin-strokes would be too heavy on my transom and could cause my scuppers to go near or below the waterline

creating a risk of sinking the boat. So it's not just about disparaging two-stroke engines

These comments also disregard many boats that were designed before four-strokes were mainstream

So the weight is a big problem. There's a lot of older boats out there

So if you ban a two-stroke and you've got a boat that can't support the weight of a four-stroke

then you know, you're basically telling this guy he's got to buy a new boat

And that's pretty ridiculous. You know, oh, my goodness, you've got to, you have to buy a whole new boat because you can't afford to put four-strokes on your boat

boat. I mean, if you ain't got the money to put the four strokes on there, then you ain't got the

money to buy a new boat. And there's probably nothing wrong with the boat. So why would you take a boat

and put it in a graveyard and just let it rot because you want to get rid of two strokes? So I think

that there's kind of a disconnect there. But again, you're not going to see this in most places

There's not going to be a ban. There's only going to be a ban in places like California where it is

politics. But the weight issue, I think, is a bigger one. than you would think about And it probably something that a lot of people don think about unless you are in the space and you have to do this So a lot of sailboaters or small engine runners like people that have say little small John boats or gnoos or stuff like that

and they transport their boat and they have to carry the engine

So like, let's say you live on a sailboat and you push your dingy in the water and you've got to put the engine on there in order to run around wherever you're going

The weight difference between a four-stroke, like take a 9.9-9-2-stroke is going to weigh 40-50 pounds less than the 9.9-4-stroke

So in order for someone to be able to pick up and carry and manhandle an engine that weighs, you know, 100-some pounds, opposed to like a 60-70 pound, which for some people is already going to be like a struggle

You know, like it's going to be a struggle for some people to be able to, you know, pick the engine up and then move it around to stick it down on the back of their boat or put it

in their car, whatever it may be. So I think there is that aspect too that a lot of people

aren't thinking about that the benefit of the less components inside the two stroke and the

functionality of a combustion engine and a two stroke versus a four stroke is the weight. And if you

have to carry your engine and remove it, put it in your car, whatever it may be. And that's just the

way you use your boat like, like we're saying, John boats, canoos, stuff like that. And you are

going on to rivers and stuff like that and you transport it that's that's a pretty that's a big

problem so i think that that what galactica is talking about is having to actually pick up the engine and move it around And now you telling this person that they basically can have an engine or run it because of the weight

So should they be banned? I don't, I don't, I'm never a fan of banning anything

You know, honestly, I think being an American and living in the U.S.

I'm big on the Constitution, I think people should be free to do what they want when they want no matter what

And that is like you get the good. the bad on the same side. So, you know, in order for you to get to do what you want to do

and for me to get to do what I want to do, that means it has to be a blanket statement

And so, you know, if you go start telling people what they can and can't do and banning things

based on whatever it may be, usually politics, then once you lose your rights, you don't get

them back. So once you give up a certain freedom, you ain't going to get it back. So if you

start banning stuff, it's going to be a problem. So personally, I do not think that they should be

banned, I think that you should just let them die out. That's just what it is. Or make them better

I think there's multiple different ways about stuff. I think with the science and the actual research and

development, take hydraulic fluid, for example. So if you look at hydraulic fluid, it's basically a

pollutant and it's a problem. But if you look at like PowerPole and C-Star and some of these other

systems, they use a biodegradable hydraulic fluid. So if there is a leak

the hydraulic fluid or the hydraulic oil basically is biodegradable so it it fine if you have a leak and it all dumps out there no problem It not a pollutant So couldn you design an oil the same way with whatever properties

properties that you need? I'm not an oil engineer or anything like that

but you would think that that would be a possible thing. A lot of it has to do with money

So obviously companies want to sell more products. They want to sell more engines. They want to

for people to spend more money for them to make more money. But I think that would be a way better solution

than, you know, banning them or just letting them die out because, again, going back to some of the

problems of the old boats and the weight and that kind of thing, even if you just stop selling two

strokes and you only sell four strokes and all the two strokes die out, there's that group of

people that have still have that problem to resolve. So, and it's, I don't think it's a small

group of people either. I think that there is a large number of boats out there that have two

strokes that if you put a four stroke on it, it's going to have a weight problem. And then also

the problem of, you know, trying to carry a 60-pound engine versus a 120-pound engine is

like, that's a legitimate problem no matter who you are. Being in shape doesn't really mean that you have the back muscles to manhandle a 120-pound engine

and throw it around. Depending on the size, obviously, you know, a two and a half is going to weigh a lot less

and that's not really a problem. But some of the bigger ones, you get into a 9.9 or a 15, yeah, those are going to get pretty heavy

So being able to take those on and off the boat and transport them, you got that problem there

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