Small Four-Stroke Outboards

Today's small four-stroke engine is still heavier than its two-stroke cousin, but at least prices have come down across the board. Consider this field if you need dinghy power or main propulsion.

Wrestling with dinghy outboards—especially bruisers like this one—is always precarious.

As most of us know by now, 4-stroke engines are cleaner, quieter, and more fuel-efficient than their two-stroke cousins. A 4-stroke is like an automobile engine—it carries its lubricating oil in a tank, and burns straight fuel in the cylinders. A 2-stroke engine needs oil mixed in with its fuel, and a substantial part of that oil, burned and unburned, is exhausted into the environment. The government has rightly clamped down on such pollution, and marine outboard makers are being forced to move into the 4-stroke arena in order to meet the Environmental Protection Agency's 2006 emissions standards. The sooner the better, the lighter the better, the more fuel-efficient the…