Carb versus fuel injection

[bheston]

Why do a lot of boats in the 1990's and 2000's still have a carburetor? Fuel injection was introduced to mass production in the 1980's (yes, it was introduced long before with mechanical fuel injection 283/283). Is it a cost issue? Reliability issue? Just curious.

[Stu Jackson]

Because the engines put into boats didn't have injection. /s (a little bit...)

[rslifkin]

Early fuel injection systems weren't necessarily robust enough to survive well in a marine environment. And boaters are a typically a bit risk-averse and afraid of change. Plus, marine engines don't operate under as widely varied conditions as a car engine, so the benefit of fuel injection over a well tuned carb isn't as large. As fuel injection systems got more capable (and provided more benefit) and became more robust, they started to become common.