Lehr Propane Outboards

[Viking Sailor]

HopCar,

Will either the 9.9 or 15 have electric start?

thanks

[HopCar]

Ice Turtle, Thanks for he feed back on the 9.9. I aven't had a chance to play with one yet.

Viking Sailor, Yes I have 9.9's in stock with electric start. They even showed one that had a little lithium iron battery under the cover that I thought was really neat. Unfortunately there hasn't been enough interest in it for them to put it in production.

[s/v 'Faith']

I hope these motors do well, it would be nice for folks to be able to avoid the ethanol problem.

Does anyone know what motor they are based on? It looks a little like a Tohatsu lower unit to me, but I don't know. It seems unlikely that a company would tool up to make something from scratch when there are proven units out there.

The reason I ask is that I am interested in the corrosion resistance long term, and parts availability.

[Suijin]

I'm really thinking hard about getting one of these. I'm seeing more and more of them this season and everyone I talk to who has one think's it's the bee's knees. I have an ancient 2 cycle Johnson 8 that is super reliable, but I just loathe keeping a tank of gasoline on board as it always leaks, a bit and is just one more hassle to stow. And needless to say the virtue of going green is very attractive.

My propane locker holds two 10 gallon cylinders so I could just use one for the outboard and my storage issue would be solved.

Would love to hear more about refilling the smaller canisters. If that's really viable and not dangerous, then it would be the perfect solution as I would not have to lug one more thing into the dinghy everytime I throw the motor on it.

[HopCar]

S.V. Faith, I'm sure you're correct. There is no giant factory turning out only Lehr outboards. They are very quiet about just who is making them but they do look as well made as any of the big name outboards. I think the only thing Lehr on it is the propane handling parts. The rest is made by someone else to their specs. Someone asked me how to flush the engine with a garden hose. The muff type flushers wouldn't work. Lehr gave me a part number for a Yamaha flushing attachment that worked fine. Make of that what you will.

[Tripod]

We've had a 5 now for over a year. We chose it primarily as part of our effort to not carry gasoline anymore. So far we are more than happy with it. HopCar is right on the money with the run time on the 16oz cylinders. We also use a 20-pounder in a milk crate (to keep it stable), but we've not used it enough to know the run time yet - likely somewhere between 10 and 20 hours. I'm actually considering rigging a 10-pound horizontal tank under the seat. Oh and with just me, the 5 will plane our new 310 RIB Haven't tried it with both of us yet, It wouldn't plane our old 310 air deck.

[HopCar]

Suijin, I've never refilled one but I've read how other people do it. Remember you want to put liquid propane not gas into the cylinder. You need to turn the supply tank upside down to get liquid out of it.

There are two ways to get a good fill. You can bleed gas out of the cylinder by pulling up on the vent valve as the liquid goes in or you can chill the cylinder before you fill it.

The chill method sounds safer to me. Weigh the canister to be sure you haven't overfilled it. Remember the valves on these canisters were designed to be disposible. They will probably start to leak if you fill the canister too many times. I have no idea how many times is too many.

I mostly run my 2.5 Lehr on a 11 pound fiberglass tank. At the rate I'm going it'll be a year before I have to refill it!

[susswein]

I've refilled the small cylinders. You can buy a refill adapter at harbor freight for under $20. I turn the bulk tank upside down while refilling to ensure that I get liquid (vs. gaseous) propane into the small cylinders. Without chilling the cylinders down I can get them to hold about 80% of their original capacity, but this goes down as the level in the bulk tank goes down. In my experience you can expect to get 3-4 refills out of the small cylinders before the valves start to leak. what I do is weigh each cylinder after I refill it, let it sit outside overnight, and weigh it again the next day to check for slow leaks.

[HopCar]

"what I do is weigh each cylinder after I refill it, let it sit outside overnight, and weigh it again the next day to check for slow leaks. "

I like it, good idea.

[lokidog]

Hopcar, how does the 9.9 compare gallon to gallon with other gas powered 9.9 ooutboards?

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, lokidog.

[Roy M]

susswein, on my CO2 Sodastream carbonation system, I partially fill the receiver tank, then quickly vent it, making the bottle frosty. Have you tried this to chill the propane tank prior to filling?

[HopCar]

lokidog, the 9.9 Lehr will burn about a gallon (4 pounds) per hour at wide open throttle. I don't know how that compares to gasoline engines of the same horse power.

[lokidog]

Originally Posted by HopCar

lokidog, the 9.9 Lehr will burn about a gallon (4 pounds) per hour at wide open throttle. I don't know how that compares to gasoline engines of the same horse power.

I wish Consumer Reports or someone would do a test of engine economy for small boat engines. You would think Lehr would do some comparisons so they could say "Our engine gets 1.7 times the economy of Brand X gas engine.", or something to that effect. Especially with a new product that many people seem to have confusion about on the web, eg. gallons vs pounds.

[lokidog]

Thanks for the welcome GM, I am not a cruiser... yet, but I generally put about 3500 miles on my boats a year since I live on a small island in the WA San Juans. I have a, new to me, 12' Livingston that I am repairing to use as an inter-island commuter, during nice weather, and am trying to figure out what to use for power on it. I would use my old 15 hp johnson, but it seems to be seized up right now and would like something that is easier to start for my wife and daughter as well.