Propane Powered Outboard (5hp)

[thomm225]

Just saw this thing.

Has anyone tried out one of these Propane Powered Outboards?

LEHR 5hp Propane Powered Outboard Engine, Short Shaft | West Marine

[a64pilot]

Many people have, I believe Hopcar will even give you a good price on one, do a little search and sit back, there is lots of reading material

[bytownboy]

Have a 2.5 Lehr. Love it, no dangerous smelly gasoline on board!

[DDabs]

I have a 5 HP Lehr. Runs great on either a 10 lb. tank stored in the dinghy or on the camper cartridges that plug into the outboard itself. No problems so far. I have also used the dinghy as a tugboat for my 11 ton sailboat and she held up fine.

[HopCar]

As A64 said, I'd love the chance to quote you on one if you decide to buy a Lehr. I own two of them. A 2.5 and a15. I love that they are easy to start and I don't have any carburator problems. Clean carb, clean plugs, clean oil, and clean environment, what's not to like?

[CSY Man]

What is the range, or endurance on one of the little screw-in bottles?
And same question using a 10 lbs alu bottle?

Say for a 5 HP?

[svfraidknot]

wow great info never knew they even existed gonna look for one in panama now ,

[HopCar]

It seems to take one pound of propane to produce 2.5 hp for an hour. So at wide open throttle a 5hp engine will burn through a one pound bottle in half an hour. In the real world they seem to last much longer as you don't run at wot all the time. I have one of the 11 pound fiberglass tanks for my 2.5. I think of the little bottle as a get home reserve.

As a real world example, I have a thirty pound tank for my Lehr 15. One day I ran it for about eight hours while fishing. It was a mixture of high speed running and trolling. I used about half of my tank.

[Leo Ticheli]

I've got the 2.5 and have used it only a few times, but much prefer it to the gas motor it replaced. I am thinking of going all electric with the Torqeedo, since I'm looking seriously at the Portland Pudgy to replace my Porta-bote.

Fair winds,

Leo

[Kalinowski]

I have marina friends that purchased one. Work great! I'm sold.

[Sailor Doug]

Why would you want a propane motor? A leaking fuel tank just as dangerous as gas or more so. Fuel harder to get, tanks not as friendly.
What am I missing.


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[HopCar]

"Why would you want a propane motor?"

In short, reliability in this day and age of ethanol in gasoline and environmental friendliness. They are also a lot messy to deal with.

I made the change when I got tired of cleaning the carb on my little 2 hp Suzuki every time I wanted to use it. My Lehr will sit for months and start on the second pull. Propane can also be stored indefinitely with out going bad.

"A leaking fuel tank just as dangerous as gas or more so." Just about but not quite.
You need to treat it like you would gasoline but in case of a spill, the vapors dissipate much easier than gasoline. There is a narrow range of oxygen to vapor of either propane or gasoline that is dangerous. Gasoline turns to vapor much slower than propane and can maintain the dangerous concentration for a much longer period of time. I agree that the tanks are harder to handle, but I think they are much less likely to leak than the plastic gas cans we all use.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Sailor Doug

Why would you want a propane motor? A leaking fuel tank just as dangerous as gas or more so. Fuel harder to get, tanks not as friendly.
What am I missing.


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You are missing the fact that there's no varnish deposits in the carburetor, no need to run the fuel system dry, no trying to pour gasoline on a rocking boat, no worry about storing fuel over an "off season", cleaner burning, less smell.

Yes, propane is harder to get and you probably can't borrow some to get back home or ask TowBoatUS to bring you some on the water. So - you have to plan a little.

I wish they had been around when I bought my Honda.

[Sailor Doug]

You are right I don't get it. I splash fuel treatment into tank every fill up (this real works) my Yamaha 4 hp starts easily. I don't thing the Yamaha Is a great motor but still can't see any propane advantage. I keep fuel in a plastic 2.5 gallon tank in dingy hanging on davits. Gasoline works for outboard and generator but not for stove. What am I missing?


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[haiqu]

Recently I've been seeing diesel outboards in this size range. Makes a whole lot more sense for safety and fuel availability.