MacGregorSailors.com

Anyone seen this before? It's a 2.5 or 5 hp outboard powered by propane. Uses a standard 16 oz bottle, or a 5 lb. tank. No choke, low emissions, and no fuel to spill into the water.

http://golehr.com/marine.php

Saw it somewhere about a month ago...think it was a video? Pretty awesome idea.

I am not a fan of bringing huge amounts of propane on board pleasure vessels... There is a reason why alcohol stoves are considered as a safer choice than propane stoves. Sooner or later, there will be a leakage. And if you don't find out in proper time...

Ka-boom.

Now now. Let's not blow things out of proportion

Gasoline is more explosive than dynamite, and its fumes will travel, yet it is safe to use with the proper precautions. The problem with propane, is that it is heavier than air, and can easily collect in shallow areas such as bilges. It will accumulate and, just wait for a spark, or a flame.

On board a dinghy. where it is quite open, I would think that with the proper precautions, a small container of propane would be as safe as a two gallon tank of gasoline.

Ray

NiceAft wrote:The problem with propane, is that it is heavier than air, and can easily collect in shallow areas such as bilges. It will accumulate and, just wait for a spark, or a flame.

Same with gasoline fumes.

Looked at the Web page and couldn't find any specs on range vs cylinder capacity. If it's like a car then it's probably about 75% of the energy density of gasoline. For running out inconvenience, this is probably in the same area as a previous dinghy electric/battery discussion.

R

70-75% energy density of gasoline is about right, so your one pound cylinder contains about 30% less range than the same volume of gas...

I think it is a great way to keep a clean running outboard. It weighs 10 lbs more than my Suzuiki 2.5 hp but I wouldn't worry about lack of use.
For short hops I would love it since most of us use propane or butane for gally cooking.
How many of us use our dingy outboards? and how long do they sit before carbs are gumed up.
I haven't seen the cost of one but if under $700 , I would consider it.
My 2.5 hp Suzukie weighs 27 lbs and I can handle it takeing off boat from dink and loading it back on with my stearn outboard bracket.
Dave

Ivan Awfulitch wrote:Anyone seen this before? It's a 2.5 or 5 hp outboard powered by propane. Uses a standard 16 oz bottle, or a 5 lb. tank. No choke, low emissions, and no fuel to spill into the water.

http://golehr.com/marine.php

It looks like a good concept. My 6HP Merc 4stroke works great, so I don't need a replacement .

Ray

I rather like that idea. For how I would use a dink, a tiny LPG outboard would probably be a good solution.

The Tohatsu 2.5 hp 4-stroke has a 1 qt integral tank, which (at 6 lb/gal) is 1.5 lb of gasoline. If LP gas has about 75% energy density of gasoline, that means you'd need about 2 lb of LPG for the same range, with all sorts of assumptions made about actual fuel burning efficiency being about the same as gasoline.

Two small cannisters for the same range as a quart of gasoline would be perfectly acceptable to me, and storage on a trip (outside, on the stern rail probably) would not be a big deal. Not having to deal with gummed up carburetors and fuel stabilizers and other annoyances would be a big plus in my book. If it never needed an oil change, I'd be that much happier, but alas, it's a 4-stroke.

But given my 's ability to travel in skinny water, and be beached, I'm not anticipating having to buy any outboard in the near future. Now, if they made weed wackers that ran on a little propane cylinder, I'd be very interested. I stay with anemic electrics because I've had enough of messing about with smelly, leaky, finicky 2-stroke yard tools.

I LOVE propane products, I converted my 5500W generator to propane and it is GREAT! After my Dad got a quote for $360 to fix his generator so we left the shop with his generator still in my truck and I converted it also (Around $200). So when I saw this outboard it looked real appealing, I did a quick search and got side tracked into string trimmers made by the same company, there seems to be some serious quality issues going on but then again this was just a quick search. It might be worth looking into converting a quality 4 stroke into propane fueled. I know uscarbeuretor makes conversions for generators (Thats where I bought mine) but they might be able to fit an aplication to outboards.

tkanzler wrote:Now, if they made weed wackers that ran on a little propane cylinder, I'd be very interested. I stay with anemic electrics because I've had enough of messing about with smelly, leaky, finicky 2-stroke yard tools.

Same outfit makes these:

http://golehr.com/products.shtml

~Rich

That's what I get for not doing my homework. I wasn't looking for anything but the marine application, so I didn't see what was right in front of me.

Dealer locator is down, so no guidance from them on where to buy, and how much, but as a concept, I like what I see. I only use a string trimmer a few times a season, so LPG may be a viable option. I might use it more if I didn't have to deal with gasoline, or long electric cords.

My electric trolling motor works well and I can recharge when in port. No fumes period.
capncarp,
99

DaveB wrote:I haven't seen the cost of one but if under $700 , I would consider it.
My 2.5 hp Suzukie weighs 27 lbs and I can handle it takeing off boat from dink and loading it back on with my stearn outboard bracket.

iboats.com is quoting $999 for the 2.5hp and $1599 for the 5hp version. These appear to be Chinese made outboards (same as the "coleman" branded) that have been converted to Propane.

I'd be seriously interested in converting a Suzuki 2.5hp to propane...