115 mercury 4-stroke Q for CajunChristian

[Dogface]

How does the new Merc 115 4-stroke compair to the 115 proxs? I heard the 4-stroke has quite a few more cubes and wondered if you knew anything about them. I am about to buy a proxs but could change if the 4-stroke gives better performance. Thanks in advance.

[CajunChristian]

Maybe this info will help you decide.
http://www.mercurymarine.com/engines...letin/?ID=1207&

http://www.mercurymarine.com/engines...proxs/?model=0

Scroll down and look at where they compare both motors on the Tracker Targa V18. The dry weight of the boat is 1730 pounds. Look at the 0-30 mph times, top end is close. Fuel consumption is close.
I don't know what you are looking for. If you want superior hole shot, the Pro XS wins. That is about the only advantage of the Pro XS.
The Pro XS is a 3 cylinder the 4 stroke is a 4 cylinder. Weights are close to the same.

The biggest differences would be the sound level of the 4 stroke, BURNS NO OIL, gets great mileage. You give up a bit of hole shot with the 4 stroke, but that's about it. I can have a normal conversation at full throttle with my 4 stroke.
If I had to chose one or the other, I would take the 4 stroke. Not knowing how much you use an outboard makes it difficult to make a recommendation????? My 4 stroke Mercury had over 2400 hours on it when it burned a valve. It was used in the marsh and on long runs duck hunting. The ecu showed over 2400 hours run time, 97% of run time at 100% throttle, over 400 times hitting the rev limiter of 6250, over 300 incidences of guardian shutdown for overheating. I changed the oil once a year, 3 quarts of Valvoline full synthetic and a filter, cost $30.00. In all that time, that motor was never touched with a wrench, NOTHING!
Before the 4 stroke, I ran a hot rod 60+hp 2 stroke. I burned an average of 8 gallons of 2 stroke oil per year at a 50-1 ratio at a cost of $30.00 PER GALLON.
YOU need to take all the variables into consideration before buying. One thing to remember about a 4 stroke, you need 2 propellers if you have skiing, hydro sliding, tubing, age kids. 1 prop for pulling: skiers etc., and a prop where hole shot doesn't matter much.
I still run a 4 stroke, a Tohatsu. I run 1 prop in the marsh and a different prop in the river. In the marsh, I need to get on plane in 10' distance or less and top end doesn't matter, in the river, who cares how long it takes to plane, so I run a prop with about 2-3 mph more top end.
D

[Dogface]

That's great info and I really appreciate you taking the time to answer. I'm putting it on a ranger alum boat I have on order from lake area. It should be in shortly. The hole shot is pretty impt because I fish in some pretty shallow water in the basin and inshore red fishing. I normally put about 75-100 hours per year on my motors. I never considered the 4-stroke until a friend told me about this one yesterday. I had a proxs on the boat I just sold and have a couple of stainless props. Thanks again for the great info!!!

[CajunChristian]

Anytime. I just try to find all the info I can on both and provide the data. I really like my 4 strokes.
D