90s era Mercury 115/125 (2+4 ) for Seafari?

[McGillicuddy]

No 115 Etec or Optimax this Christmas so I'm still looking for the right blend of start-up cost, economy and performance from a used motor.

Still interested in the 2.0L and the 2.4L 150s but I wonder if any of you have experience with the carbed inline 4 115/125 hp from Mercury/Mariner. They idle around on 2 cylinders and at about 1800rpm they stumble up to 4 cyl and open up.

A guy trying to sell me one said that Merc made these for the bass circuit in that they could troll all day without loading-up and run wide open with decent performance. Weight varies from 325lbs in the early 90s to 368 in 96-97. Latter is not much less than the XR2, although 10 yrs newer...

Gov. Arnold's greenie army is trying hard to close much of our coastal fishing areas so fuel economy issue keeps creeping up my priority list as we'll be banned from fishing our most productive inshore grounds.

Any opinions on these 4 cyls?