I have a 10 foot Caribe hard bottom (RIB) inflatable with a 15 HP Yamaha 4-stroke. The boat and the motor are 2 years old. From day 1, the outboard has been extremely hard to start (it takes a lot of arm strength to pull the starter handle). My wife cannot start the motor by herself and refuses to use it. <br /><br />I looked into adding an electric start kit and was quoted $1000+ including labor. I used to have 9.9 Mercury 2-stroke on a similar dinghy and I swear it was twice as fast.<br /><br />I recently found out about boatmotors.com, and I can get a new 15 HP Mercury 2-stroke for less than $1,800. I guess the demo models are "slightly" used and can be legally sold to California residents (like me). Otherwise you can only buy 4-strokes new. Then I think I should be able to sell the Yamaha and at least break even.<br /><br />What do you think? Does that sound like a good solution? I don't mind mixing oil and I'm not an environmentalist.<br /><br />Bruce<br />San Jose, CA