I have been looking around at new/used boats and some sales people are telling me I need to buy a 4 stroke because it is only a matter of time before the 2 strokes will be outlawed, it has already happened in California.  For a 60+ HP motor the upgrade seems to cost around $3,000+.  Not to mention there must be a weight difference and if its anything like snowmobiling (somthing I am familiar with) I will be giving up some torque.

This is hard for me to beilieve with all the 2 strokes around and sounds a little like a sales pitch.  However, I would be really bummed if I dropped $15,000 for a boat and then all the sudden I can't use it because I went "on the cheap" and saved $3,000.

What is the word on the street?  Would this ever happen in Washington state?  If it was to happen on certain lakes it seems like Lake Washington would be a candidate given the heave use it gets.

Another option to consider is some of the new 2-stroke direct injection type engines which give the performance of a two stroke with the economy and pollution free performance of the 4 stroke engines.   These include Optimax engines from Mercury, Ficht from Evinrude and HP direct injection from Yamaha.
This is what I'm looking at for my next rig.

Smitty