My current boat is a 1986 eliminator sprint with an Erude XP150. I had to pull it from the water on fri cry due to engine probs and all I heard from all the other boaters were horrer stories about how unreliable outboards are eek! and how they had to give up on the ones they had in the past, because mechanics couldn't make them run consistantly. One fellow said he was a boat dealer with a service shop and that he made tons of money off of people with outboards. My only expieriance with outboards was with the 35 hp Johnson that was on the mahogany runnabout my dad made when I was a kid. While it took a while to start, it always seemed to run fine for us. What gives? I love the hull and the interior etc of my boat and it's handling and performance are great, when it runs. But, if I can't get it reliable, thats all moot. Have I bought into trouble or what?