New 4-Stroke or old 2-Stroke

[Cullix]

Hello everyone, I am in a dilemma. I want to purchase a new 40hp Tohatsu for my 2003 16ft Starcraft SC160. The boat seems to be in good condition. The problem is, a new Tohatsu is 210lbs plus a battery whereas an old 2-stroke is only 160lbs and is a pull start with no battery and manual trim. The 4-stroke is $10k CAD and the 2-stroke is $2k CAD (5x cheaper!). The 2-strokes im looking at are a 1993 Evinrude 40hp or a 1994 Mariner 40hp, both around 160lbs. I am worried about the extra weight in the boat since I plan to load it with gear sometimes to go camping, hunting and of course fishing. I also wouldn't mind saving 8k to spend on other things like maybe a better fish finder or something. I need your opinions!

The outboard you see in the pic did not come with the boat. The trailer is also being swapped out for a more heavy duty boat trailer.

 

[FuzzyGrub]

Welcome to Tin Boats!

If you do your own maintenance and repair, and check the old 2-strokes out sufficiently, should be OK. Parts should be available for both. A compression test and checking for water in lower unit oil, among other things, are needed.

If not, then have whoever you plan to use as a mechanic, have them evaluate the two motors.

The new motor should not need any major work for quite a few years, if you keep up with maintenance.

On the times you heavily load it, you might want to change to a lower pitch prop, for any of your options.

Manual start was ok when I was young, they all are electric start now. Moving weight forward will help if you are too much stearn heavy.

 

[Cullix]

Welcome to Tin Boats!

If you do your own maintenance and repair, and check the old 2-strokes out sufficiently, should be OK. Parts should be available for both. A compression test and checking for water in lower unit oil, among other things, are needed.

If not, then have whoever you plan to use as a mechanic, have them evaluate the two motors.

The new motor should not need any major work for quite a few years, if you keep up with maintenance.

On the times you heavily load it, you might want to change to a lower pitch prop, for any of your options.

Manual start was ok when I was young, they all are electric start now. Moving weight forward will help if you are too much stearn heavy.

Appreciate the response, very well informed. I'm only 34 so I think the manual start isn't that bad. I will bring a compression tester and they both agreed to let me test them.

Thank you

 

[Crazyboat]

I would grab the older 2S, have it gone over top to bottom, spend money on any issues and run like the wind. Assuming you are still in shape to pull start that engine. Any carb or spark issues can mean a lot of pulling! Ask me how I know...

If it were just boating I'd say grad the 4S for reliability but you want to load that boat up with gear, so weight matters.