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I heard recently (third hand) that some folks are having trouble finding 2 stroke outboards and are being told by various dealers (mercury) that 2 stoke outboards are becoming scarce and the manufacturer's are starting to cut down on the production. (EPA driven)

Any one have some creditable info one way or the other?

I have heard this as well. My dealer(Yamaha) said to get the 2 stroke because of weight and lower maintenance costs. Seems I heard that 2 stroke parts would be available for quite some time. Second the EPA driven mandate. But what do I know.....

I guess you'll have to look at E-Tech's. They seem to be pushing that engine pretty hard.

Mercury no longer has the two stroke classic series on their web-site. I heard rumors of them stopping production also. Rumor is also that they are going to lower the prices of the Optimaxes in '06 to make up for the price difference in their base lineup. This coming from somebody on another forum claiming to be a mercury dealer. So I can't verify but it makes sense, to me anyways. I think carburated two strokes are definately on the decline but the EFI two strokes such as opti-max, E-tec, and Yamahas HPDI's or something like that will be around for a while. They say that the EFI two strokes burn just about as clean as the four strokes. All the EPA stuff starts on the West Coast so if theres no two strokes for sale over there, they can't cut it emission wise. Parts shouldn't be a problem at least for 10 years or so theres so many two stroke Mercs running around.

But yea, what dbplug said "What do I know"

My source told me that Mercury, Yamaha, and Bombardier have stopped production of the standard 2 stroke motors. I've talked to two dealers that told me when they sell what they have in stock, they won't have any more. They can no longer get them.

This has been planned since the EPA stated all outboards had to meet emission standards by 2006. All of the motors FISHINFREAK mentioned are DFI motors. Those were developed to meet emission standards, and will be around for years to come. However, all of the manufacturers have found the 4 strokes to be much more reliable. But you pay for that reliability in weight and cost.

The bottom line is the old reliable carburated 2 stroke outboard is a thing of the past.

I also recently got a few quotes on some Grady White boats and all quotes were with four strokes. I asked him how much less were the two strokes and he told me they didn't even quote two strokes with these boats. Granted they were big boats with big prices but it still looks like to me a man ought to have a choice!