Bill,
This thread has been discussed to death, but the one thing we all know is  
that four stroke engines ARE NOT reliable and they are costly to repair. That's  
the only reason I won't own one. Once they start making one that is reliable, 
 I'll switch over. Evinrude came out with a new 2 stroke engine this year 
that  meets the EPA requirements. They advertise it as being more reliable than 
the  four strokes.
 
Rummy