Yes, indeed, there is a power stroke on every revolution for each cylinder. BUT what they don't tell you is that there is only about 1/2 the torque produced per cycle, so it ends up nearly a wash in the end, with some unburned oil ending up in the waterways. That's why some areas have outlawed 2 strokes. The torque difference is negligible nowadays.
I hear the argument every day at work, and the argument is always started by a die-hard 2 smoker that has never owned a 4 stroke outboard, OR they're comparing a 200hp 2 stroke to a 20hp 4 stroke (apples to grapes comparisons). There are so many advantages to 4 stroke that unless you've spent time in a boat that has one, you don't know what your missing.
A while back I was blessed to go offshore fishing with a guy, boat was powered by a F300 yamaha. It is absolutely 100% silent at idle. It was sitting there running at the dock and you could not feel one iota of vibration, zero noise, the only way I knew it was running was by water pump pee water hitting the bay, and that was the only sound. Nice but I'm skeptical, are we gonna need earplugs at 6000 RPM full throttle running full speed? I was sitting about 18" away from the cowling, and my friend sitting right next to me, same distance just other side of the boat. We were carrying on a conversation just fine. We had to raise our voice but we were NOT hollering the least bit. I can't anyway due to prior voice injury from years back. We were even chatting it up with the captain who was about midway to the bow at the console. Mind you, the motor was at 5900 RPM at 34 knots running out into the gulf of Mexico about 15 miles offshore. In the past I've owned bass boats with 90hp and later on 175hp both were 2 stroke ( 3 cyl mariner and V6 Mercury respectively), and a conversation was impossible while at anything more than about 1/4 throttle. I will not own another Brunswick (merc/mariner) motor if I have a choice....worked on them as much as getting to actually use them. It was always something, usually minor. I sold Mariner and Mercury from 88-96, and we were ALWAYS busy fixing them. Good money in them as far as repairs go. Yamaha came along and we were already a Yamaha motorcycle dealer, so it was just fitting, we dumped Merc/Mariner and honestly the motor repairs mostly stopped. Mercury also had some issues with warranty reimbursements, but that was a long time ago and shouldn't really be a consideration now.
Evinrude? Out of business. All they use now is the name. The motor is made by BRP, who also owns Can-Am. Stability? Who knows when evinrude is going to change hands again, and what is going to happen to parts availability when it happens? I hate seeing businesses going belly-up like OMC did, but I understand that there are reasons for it that we never know about until it happens. I'm concerned about Suzuki too.
I don't know about y'all but when I'm on the water I like to relax, and relaxing is a lot easier when you don't have to worry about the motor. It's also easier when the motor is much more confident in starting idling and running quiet.
How is the dealer network? Is Evinrude dealer close by when you need them?
Also on the ETEC's, at least on the 25hp, you HAVE to run THEIR oil...UNLESS the ECU is reprogrammed, then you can run whatever you want. That tells me that though it might be "clean"...on THEIR oil, after reprogramming, is it still as "clean" as they advertise?? Reminds me of the Volkswagen debacle. With a 4 stroke, you run whatever you want, and no programming is necessary and it runs on 87 octane (most of them do) plain ol' gas. And you don't have the worry of adding oil to the tank every so often either. Think about it. You're out fishing, way out in the lake. You get an alarm, motor is low on oil. What do you do? Run back to the ramp, then go find their specific oil somewhere? Out here, it might be an hours' drive to find it (or more). Some of the areas I fish don't have docks that sell oil or gas. Most of those areas don't have ramps, secluded, no cell signal, nothing but me, the water, and fish. Last thing I need to worry about is the motor and/or it's oil.
I want to like them but they haven't proven anything to me that is impressive. They cost more (at least the 25's do), they make more noise, they use a little more fuel, they're heavier, they're more complex as a whole, and they require specific lubricating oil. Everything that a 2 stroke is NOT supposed to be.
Last monday I was on the river, had the 35 mile stretch to myself from 0600 until about 0930. I heard a motor coming up river, it was real foggy so I knew they weren't going very fast. About 40 minutes later they passed me, about 1/2 throttle barely on plane. 25hp ETEC. Smelled the smoke not long after they passed. Some people like it I guess. Then it was audible for another 35 minutes after it passed me. An hour or so after I couldn't hear it, a boat passes me with a 40hp yamaha (prop drive), about the same barely on plane. Never heard it coming until it was maybe 30 seconds from me, just upriver there is a gravel bar and then a bend. I could still see those guys but couldn't hear them anymore, then they disappeared around the bend. Then later on a 15hp Yamaha 2 stroke powered flat bottom passed me, stopped to say hi and check to see if I was doing any good (nope...never tell the truth). Heard them coming for a long ways out, heard them for a long way afterward just like the ETEC 25. Amazing how much difference there is between 2 and 4 stroke motors just in noise alone.
