FishPirate,

If you are worried about fuel consumption, better stick with 4-stroke outboards. 2-strokes, at least traditional ones, suck more fuel than a comparable HP I/O. My buddy has a 22' Pursuit running a 200 HP Yamaha "regular" 2-stroke, and every time we talk boats, he is moaning about the fuel.

OTOH, big 4-stroke outboards are pretty heavy, not to mention spendy -- about 600#/ $16-big for the 200's. Good luck finding a used one, since they haven't been around very long.

For a light 19-footer (Arima or aluminum), a 150 HP outboard should be plenty. The Arima Sea Chaser 19' has a max HP rating of 150 HP, which on a 1600# hull is a lot.

Compare that to an 18' Boston Whaler Ventura, which is a 2300# hull. The max HP for this boat is also 150, and I'll bet you are not going to be thrilled with the ski performance at that weight/HP ratio. You can run a thinner prop to get out of the hole quicker, but then you're running excessive RPMs at cruise, and hence burning more fuel.

If I had the dough, I'd have bought the 19' Sea Ranger (bigger cuddy) with a 150 HP Yamaha 4-stroke. Unfortunately, you just don't find them used very often, and this rig runs about $30-big new.