Guest Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Someone sent me a link a few days ago but like a dickhead I inadvertently deleted it. Then today this pops up on one of the sites i moniter: Part of the reason we need a new outboard is the cost of gas just keeps going up and even though I've downsized to a 5HP a few years back I'd prefer to spend less rather than more in the gas department. So we're thinking a 2.5 HP would be no bad thing. Four-stroke, of course, would nearly double up on the fuel savings and make me that little less guilty about the awful pollution that is part and parcel that running a two stroke brings to the equation. One area I've been looking at since we're now in four-stroke land is trying to find a carburetor kit that would allow for using propane as well as gas as a fuel.. So far, not a whole lot of luck on that front. Why propane? Well, mostly it is a lot less polluting than a gasoline engine, fewer oil changes, and, right now where I sit in the Caribbean, propane is a bit cheaper than gasoline... So, you might say propane makes a whole lot of sense and you have to wonder why no one has bothered to build a propane only or multi-fuel outboard so far. Speaking of the devil... Now, does this make sense or what? A 2.5 HP propane outboard! While not a multi-fuel unit, it does have the good design sense to be able to use large 10# or 20# propane bottles as well as those handy (if silly expensive) 1# bottles so you can have a backup get home fuel source in the dinghy for when the big bottle runs out. According to the specs, a 20# propane tank would give you 20 hours of use at full throttle... Not that I'm ever a full throttle kind of guy, but my guess is that this equates to being considerably more fuel efficient than a 2.5HP gasoline outboard. Not much more expensive than a normal four-stroke outboard of the same horsepower, the added savings in fuel efficiency, lower cost of propane, and the savings in motor oil would be saving you some real money overall. As an added bonus, since almost all outboard problems are directly related to bad fuel it would save you money/time in a BIG way and be a lot more dependable as well! Seems I may have found my next outboard! As it happens, for those who need more power, Lehr also makes a 5HP... ANyone???? Link to post Share on other sites
Fogg 427 Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 What about methane outboards i.e. could run them off cow farts. Link to post Share on other sites
Grinna 2 Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 How much petrol does a 2.5 or 5 hp outboard really use? If you were actually serious about being "green" and not polluting the environment and saving money on fuels you'd pull out the 100% recyclable, renewable, reusable oars and row. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 How much petrol does a 2.5 or 5 hp outboard really use? Dunno, my 4 stroke 60hp uses 22 litres to travel 50nm at cruising speed of 20 knots. Still cheap even with the price of petrol. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Rocket Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Just cos you can do domething doesn't mean you should... Link to post Share on other sites
Clipper 346 Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 what about electric instead? http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/boats-m ... 809130.htm Link to post Share on other sites
Fogg 427 Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 C'mon guys get real. We need the greehouse gas emissions... we need the global warming.... look what a sh*t (cold) summer we've just had and even the poor buggers in Europe are freezing. So surely we're all agreed, burn more petrol not less and warm things up a bit. He shoulld be upgrading to a 10hp 2 stroke I reckon. Or even better get a lifting strop and go 15hp! Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Funny how people's minds work, I was thinking one less type of fuel to carry. Link to post Share on other sites
NevP 0 Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 My first thought was "what has potential to make a bigger bang (or is more likely to go bang), a tank of petrol or a bottle of gas?" Have gas installations gotten that much safer that we're not all that worried about having larger amounts on board? Or is it just that having a small bottle (for the stove) would make a big enough bang that adding more (for the engine) to a potential mishap wouldn't really make the outcome any worse? Or am I just being a pesimist? Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Second option, any gas bang is going to be fatal. Link to post Share on other sites
Fusion 0 Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 How much petrol does a 2.5 or 5 hp outboard really use? If you were actually serious about being "green" and not polluting the environment and saving money on fuels you'd pull out the 100% recyclable, renewable, reusable oars and row. We got 7 nautical miles on a litre going up the Warkworth river in 10 foot klinker 2 up.Honda 2.5 4stroke Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 but more components in the (propane) system gives more opportunity for failure. That is to say using propane for cooking is one system component, then adding in an outboard makes it two system components (or maybe three -the gas bottle, the cooker and lines, and the outboard and lines). Anyway, cooking systems can be made safe, why not outboard systems? Of course when I say 'safe' I am not accounting for the operators competence (which also applies to 'safe' petrol systems). It does make sense to have as few different fuels on board as possible. Rob Link to post Share on other sites
Fogg 427 Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 How much petrol does a 2.5 or 5 hp outboard really use? If you were actually serious about being "green" and not polluting the environment and saving money on fuels you'd pull out the 100% recyclable, renewable, reusable oars and row. We got 7 nautical miles on a litre going up the Warkworth river in 10 foot klinker 2 up.Honda 2.5 4stroke That's got to be more eco-friendly than rowing... think about all the CO2 you saved from no huffing and puffing at the oars; not to mention the energy saved cos you didn't need a 2nd shower of the day after such unecessary vigorous exercise. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 I agree Oars and a dinghy that rows well. Motors are a pain in the as s. I has one quit when about 5 klm from the yacht and rowing that distance in a breeze aboard an inflatable was not good. It was a very new 5 hp 2 stroke motor. I like the idea of an electric outboard but charging batteries gets us to the same problem. i did notice a while back someone was selling lpg powered generators on trademe. that could be an another way about this. Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Worried about the cost of fuel running a 5hp?? The issue with LPG is in the carb. The carb has a "ring" fitted with the jet for the gas and the gas simply pours in the carb throat. A regulator controls the amount of gas to revs and a valve that shuts the gas off when the engine stops. But those two latter parts are not the best at stopping the gas instantly and so you get some gas overflow if the engine does not start first off. And LPG engines are notorious at being hard to start on gas. So much so, that normally you start on Petrol and then switch over to Gas and then supposed to go back to petrol before shutting down again. I would suggest looking at electric also. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Just go for an 8hp 2stroke. Much faster than a 2.5 Link to post Share on other sites
DrWatson 381 Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Oars. Bigger sails. Warping anchor. Link to post Share on other sites
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