What's a " perfect " single outboard for a 23' Sceptre ?

[shine]

make a spreadsheet that will give you a cost per hour to operate which will be different for each engine and different at each RPM. Use fuel (what kind you need), maintenance, oil, etc. Then input the burn per hour at different RPMs (running, trolling, idle), then you can make a "typical day" that will include the cost for the different uses. For me the numbers pointed to 4 stroke over 2, even after for account for the higher maintenance cost.

For 2 stroke, I used 90 octane ethanol free. For 4 stoke I used 89 octane pump gas. If I rand more than 150 hours of typical fishing, the 4 stroke paid off quickly.