Propane-Powered Dink

[Randyonr3]

Thinking of changing our Dink motor over to propane power.. has anyone seen this done.. or seen a website on it..???
Been cruising for a number of years and buying gas has become a pain from time to time.. We've found propane has become popular where-ever we go..

[James S]

I don’t know anything about it but the idea of going from 3 types of fuel on board to 2 is sure appealing.
Seems a good application for that composite gas cylinder talked about on a recent thread.
Looking forward to hearing some responses.

[David M]

Interesting idea. I have seen it done with car engines that were originally gasoline.

[Randyonr3]

That was one of the reasons.. a couple years ago we purchased a composit (fiberglass) 3 gallon tank.. its lightweight and durrable.. we keep it in our spair anchor locker and use it to fill our 1 gallons tanks.. which we have 3.. it would be great to grab one of the 1 gallon tanks, throw it in the dink and refil as needed from the larger tank.. I know ther would be some power loss but as you said.. cut back to 2 fuels..

[Dockhead]

1.35 liters of propane has the energy of 1 liter of gasoline. I don't know what kind of dink engine you have, but we go through a tank (11 liters) of gasoline pretty fast. Your whole 3 gallon propane tank would be equivalent to only about 2.5 gallons of gasoline. How long would that last you? How much does propane cost where you fill up? Is it as easy to buy and lug propane tanks as it is to buy gasoline, in your area?

For us, it's a no brainer. Gasoline is much, much more efficient in terms of cost, storage and transportation, for us.

Now if they'd just come up with a super lightweight, two-stroke diesel outboard -- wow, that would be t**s.

[Blue Stocking]

You might find interesting comparitive info on sites like Hyster, and Clark forklifts. Most of these are LPG or LNG these days. Is thought provoking though

[James S]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Now if they'd just come up with a super lightweight, two-stroke diesel outboard -- wow, that would be t**s.

here..here

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Blue Stocking

You might find interesting comparitive info on sites like Hyster, and Clark forklifts. Most of these are LPG or LNG these days. Is thought provoking though

Don't Honda do a LPG conversion for there small portable generators?

Converting a small outboard to gas would require a 4 stroke outboard, or else how are you going to get the lubrication into the cylinder for a 2 stroke.


Pete

[Randyonr3]

For our use, propane would be a larger benifit than having gas on board.. Propane is easily found anywhere in the world.. Gas on the other hand is not.. As we've been cruising, we have seen this..
"Marine Green" is working on a system to convert small outboards but hasnt hit the market yet. in reading some of the info on the subject, it seems propane is about the same usage as gas in lower RPMs due to carbs being set for mid range, there is a rich mixture at the low end..
As far as a diesel, Evenrude ws given a grant in early november from the military to push the "Multi Fuel" motor already in design..

[Highlander40]

We Have seen diesel outboards but it was around 25 HP.
I think Yanmar or Tohatsu. The pumpout boat in Block island RI had one.
Dont think that the weight would be close to a two stroke.

[Highlander40]

That's right, a 4 stroke is a requirement for a propane conversion.

After using a 6 HP 4 stroke, we parked it in the garage. The power was less than a 5 HP 2 stroke previously used on the same dink.

The outboard companys do not see enough profit is the small HP market.
Buying a high quality prop is impossible. They expect you to buy an outboard that is much bigger just because the small ones come from the stone age.