4 stroke questions

So I’m looking to buy a 15hp 4 stroke outboard. What are some things I may need to know about the motor. What does it cost to change the oil on the motor? How often do you change it? I would think that that would be the only diffrence between the 2 stroke and a 4. How do they run later in the year, planning on using it for duck hunting. Is the lower unit grease/oil easy to change, like a 2 stroke. just a drain and fill? Any info that I can obtain would help tons.

Also the weight I run a 25 horse Big Foot and it weights 172 pounds dry so you need to think about that too.

If I was going to use this motor mainly for duck hunting I wouldn’t even consider a 4 stroke.

Way to much weight and lack of performance…

Also keep in mind that only OMC (johnson and evenrude) has stainless steel props available for their 2 stroker motors in the 15hp range, Merc doesn’t. Also you will have to find a good used one has no longer available new.

Good Hunting

I’ve owned a Honda 15hp motor that I used on a small fishing/duck boat and it was by far the best motor I’ve ever owned. It started easily and ran perfect in temps below zero.

I now run a 25hp Yamaha 4 stroke on my duck boat and love this motor too. I only got this motor to run down to 8 degrees this season before I quit hunting for the year, and it ran perfect.

Performance wise, I love them. Lots of torque, and idling is so nice while picking up several dozen decoys at once. My speed with my 25 Yammy is almost (a touch slower) as my friend’s 25 Mercury on a similar jon boat.

I’ve had a number of 2 strokes over the years and only 1 good Evinrude 15hp that never let me down. I had others that have left me stranded.

Changing the oil is a piece of cake with the removal of one bolt on the outside cowling, drain, and fill. I don’t know what it costs to change oil as I do all the work myself. I change to oil once a year, but if I don’t put a lot of hours on I’ll let it slide with full synthetic (Amsoil) for longer. Some motors have oil filters and some have screens that need to be cleaned. The lower unit maintanace is the same as any outboard.

Call me Mr Ho Sale, I can probably answer a lot of those questions