We ran the motor day and night, in ûhot and cold weather, and on trips ûthat varied from 10 to 120 nautical ûmiles. We even ran it into a sand ûbar (not on purpose). After a good ûflushing and a new water pump, the ûFICHT was back on its game.

We tell the same old story when it comes to today’s direct fuel injection outboards: Yes, they run slightly quieter, burn less fuel and produce less smoke than their carbureted two-stroke counterparts. But will they survive five or six seasons?

Since the DFI’s durability remains a mystery, we’ve steered our readers toward four-strokes, a more proven technology, or the Mercury OptiMax, the DFI with the most time on the water.

We’ve been most cautious of OMC’s FICHT engines, which struggled through some severe teething pains in 1998 and 1999. But OMC engineers claim they’ve fixed the FICHT (see July 1999 issue) with a redesigned powerhead featuring the RAM fuel injection system. …