Your Preferred Type - Motor / Fuel

Vote on Poll Above!

Like many other polls..... some but not all of the questions, and some that don't matter. This poll doesn't makes sense. Assuming you are trying to establish whether the people on this forum prefer diesel over gas.

Difficult to answer by checking a box when one is a diesel inboard and the other is a gas outboard.

Voted for 7 of 10. Not sure how useful this is going to be. BTW, my new outboard is propane. Think I will like that better than the gas outboard, no fuel issues.

Ted

Whoaaa..... a propane outboard? First I've heard of that.......

My preference and I wont budge is if the motor is boxed in such as a engine room it MUST be diesel and if it hangs off the back ie outboard motor a petrol or diesel is ok

oscar said:

Whoaaa..... a propane outboard? First I've heard of that.......

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LEHR | Life Energy for the Human Race | An Environmentally Friendly Technologies Company

MurrayM said:

LEHR | Life Energy for the Human Race | An Environmentally Friendly Technologies Company

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I reviewed the site. Could not find relative propane fuel use stats per miles traveled... nor efficiency comparisons to gas or diesel fueled out boards. Anyone know? Site stated that the propane (at least what they used) was 110 octane... WOW... that's race car fuel octane level.

You will get more MPG and more miles per dollar out of gasoline. Propane burns cleaner, doesn't go bad with age, and it's pretty tough to get water in the fuel tank or a bad fill up. For me, it was also about reducing the number of different fuels on the trawler. Diesel for the engine and generator, propane for the gas grill and now for the dinghy. Now when the gas grill runs out, I can grab the dinghy fuel tank.

Ted

38' diesel inboard, 450hp. 12' gas outboard, 8hp. Happy with that mix!

Wow, I'm not sure where to go with this. I own a diesel powered boat, a gasoline powered outboard boat and two Lehr propane powered boats. I do love those Lehr propane engines. Of course I have to say that, I'm a dealer

Wheres the electric option

"Could not find relative propane fuel use stats per miles traveled... nor efficiency comparisons to gas or diesel fueled out boards. Anyone know?"

The efficiency advantage of propane is it is NOT gasoline fueled .

Propane can sit in its tank for a year or ten and not go bad.

The engine evaporates the propane in the fuel system on shut down , so the carb does not require a rebuild after sitting a while.

And finally the exhaust is less noxious than either gas or diesel.

Electric outboards are fine as most water side is miles from the coal power plant .

gaston said:

Wheres the electric option

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Reason no electric or propane power options:

TF provides a maximum of 10 options per poll. The way pleasure boat power-source questions became formatted no room for propane or electric powered motors available in this thread.

As diesel and gasoline are the two vastly predominant fuels used to power pleasure boats they are the ones most likely to have long-term usage backgrounds... and, therefore resulting use-opinions from the masses of pleasure boaters.

Having owned a one-off custom designed diesel powered (Perkins) 37' sport fisher raised deck design boat many years ago. Currently owning a production line Tollycraft gasoline powered (Mercruiser) 34' tri cabin and tow behind runabout outboard (several other boats in between - straight drive, v-drive, outdrive, outboard, and water-jet)... Allows me to be fairly adapt at having feelings/background (some in-depth knowledge) regarding each. I do not have any background with electric or propane powered boats.

Poll results are interesting. Hope many more boaters chime in with their feelings for voting on more than one option.

How can anyone "enjoy" using a diesel engine more than a gasoline engine? What's to like? Is it smoother, quieter, less smelly and runs w less vibration?

Art these things that power our boats are engines not motors.

I have gas cars and dinghy engines and a diesel truck and boat. I enjoy all of them. The boating choices are made for you already before you buy a boat. Size and speed are main factors. I doubt you'll find a current 50' gas powered boat or a 20' inboard diesel cruiser.

manyboats said:

How can anyone "enjoy" using a diesel engine more than a gasoline engine? What's to like? Is it smoother, quieter, less smelly and runs w less vibration?

Art these things that power our boats are engines not motors.

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I agree whole heartedly with first paragraph

2nd paragraph - - > Semantics: Ya gotta love Semantics!

manyboats said:

How can anyone "enjoy" using a diesel engine more than a gasoline engine? What's to like? Is it smoother, quieter, less smelly and runs w less vibration?

Art these things that power our boats are engines not motors.

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You are correct sir....

[snip]
When the internal combustion engine was invented, the term "motor" was initially used to distinguish it from the steam engine—which was in wide use at the time, powering locomotives and other vehicles such as steam rollers. "Motor" and "engine" later came to be used interchangeably in casual discourse. However, technically, the two words have different meanings. An engine is a device that burns or otherwise consumes fuel, changing its chemical composition, whereas a motor is a device driven by electricity, air, or hydraulic pressure, which does not change the chemical composition of its energy source.
[/snip]

OK, I get the gist here. I'm with Gaston...... no gas inboard or tanks. Seen too many blow up. Prefer no propane for the same reasons. Diesel generator, large battery bank and inverter.

Outboard is tough. If you want any kind of performance you're stuck with gas. Would have as large a tank as fits and keep it in the dinghy.

NEVER forget that propane is heavier than air. A leak in a dinghy could collect enough gas in the hull on a still day to cause a serious explosion.

Dave,
Indeed. Some applications are acceptable and some not depending on the person. Motor boat or OB motor flow well and sound great to me but single motored trawler falls flat as does steam motor. Just depends. But if you ask me what kind of motor I've got in my trawler ....

While I'm at it (semantics) there is no such thing as rpm's. There's only one minute in the engine expression rpm.

Many here are using the word "rode" in place of or for line or rope. The chain and line is the rode and line is for line and rode is for rode. Nitpickey but these happen a lot.

Dave I love you're new avatar!

ktdtx said:

Difficult to answer by checking a box when one is a diesel inboard and the other is a gas outboard.

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You can check more then one

Have 2 boats with gas both outboard and one boat with diesel, all three are powered properly for my use.

I have a car and a motorcycle that use gas and a truck that uses diesel, again would not change as they are properly powered for their applications.

I do not want a large boat powered by gas (over say 40') nor would I care for a diesel powered motorcycle.

Maintenance is a wash imo and as to enjoyment...I use engines to provide motive force and I guess I enjoy it when they do.

I only own one diesel boat but have two gas outboard powered dinghies.


I prefer the diesel over gas powered boats. Love the sound, love the torque, love the ability to run for hours and hours and not have to adjust throttles.

To me there is no definitive preference. I like the right set up for the intended use. On the lake for years, there were virtually no diesel boats. Our boats there were gas inboard/outboard and we were very happy with them. Now we're diesel, except RIBS. Still mostly gas. A 14' jet rib with gas weighs 957 lbs. With diesel it weighs 1852 lbs for the same size from the same manufacturer. That's a huge difference. We like diesel but there are some places it's just not right for. Look how long people have been working to produce diesel outboards and how few they are and how impractical for most uses. On the other hand, I'm not about to cross oceans or cruise the amount we do with anything but diesel.

BandB said:

To me there is no definitive preference. I like the right set up for the intended use.

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I think this is the most relevant and credible answer.

Counting everything we have six boats: two diesel cabin cruisers, one gas (outboard) trailer fishing boat, two gas (outboard) shoreboats, and one rowing/sailing dinghy.

Every one of them is powered appropriately for their use and we enjoy using every one of them equally for their intended purposes.

I do have preferences for certain kinds of power for certain kinds of applications. For example I prefer diesel for a cruising boat but do not believe that diesel is the best power for this kind of boat. Tollycraft and other manufacturers over the decades have proved that a blanket "best" statement regarding diesel is not true.

Gasoline motors tend to need fixing more than diesels, diesel "fixing" tends to be more expensive than gasoline "fixing." For every advantage or disadvantage of one type of power, there is an advantage or disadvantage for the other ones.

It's all about that Base, bout that Base...

gas for light weight applications, diesel for heavy.

my kayaks at 40lb each are armstrong powered.
my RIB at 750 lb, is gas powered. My cars, at 4000 lb each are gas powered, my present boat at 44000 lb has twin diesels, my motorhome at 44000 lb has a diesel.

All powered with the type of engine that is appropriate for the weight.

"Seen too many blow up. Prefer no propane for the same reasons."

The folks that would be on the hook , the insurance companies have a different view.

Most offer nothing for the "safety" of a diesel, regardless of how many you have personally seen blow up.

FF said:

"Seen too many blow up. Prefer no propane for the same reasons."

The folks that would be on the hook , the insurance companies have a different view.

Most offer nothing for the "safety" of a diesel, regardless of how many you have personally seen blow up.

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I keep reading those who say they've seen too many gas powered boats blow up. I must be in a different world as I've never actually observed one blow up and while I've read about many boat fires, I've read about them on diesel and gas boats. I've personally read about far more boat fires caused by electricity and by heaters, then next would come propane. Last, I've read about some fuel related but in a fairly limited part of the boating world as most of those I've read about have been older houseboats. I'm not arguing that gas isn't more likely to have fires, just that the level of boat fire caused by the fuel is still extremely low.

The major boat fires I read about are on the houseboating lakes on the Cumberland river (reduced dramatically with new rules and not putting houseboats under covers) and fires in the covered boathouses in the PNW. Now we do have fires at marinas everywhere else but typically much smaller and limited only to one or two boats. Most of the fires in South Florida are on diesel boats, simply because that's what most of the boats are.

This is a little like the all chain question.

The essence of a trawler is heavy .. weight. All chain is heavy so it's deemed by many to be most appropriate for a "heavy cruiser" (trawler). Diesel engines are deemed appropirate for trawlers because they are heavy. They are like the boats that they go into .. in that way.

But that dosn't make them best or most desirable to be around. The objective reasons to like to be around an engine are smoothness, quietness and perhaps less smelly. So objectively the gas engine may be more desirable to be around. So why would you want a diesel engine in your trawler. Obviously it's not going to blow up and the chances of it catching fire is small. Excluding that though (and in the real world you can't exclude that) the gas engine is clearly a nicer companion to be around and if the gas engine is fuel injected it may be as dependable or perhaps even more. Durable? .. Who cares you're not going to wear out either in the time you spend on the water and a gas engine well maintained will probably out last a diesel engine w little maintanence. Not likely but perhaps the gas engine now is as dependable as the diesel. In the 50's 50to60' cruisers had mostly gas engines and most smaller cruisers still do.

So a trawler is heavy. And it seems like a big old slow turning diesel just fits better and thus belongs there. But an engine is just a means of propulsion and it's being heavy has nothing to do w it's appropriateness to power the vessel.

So IMO a gas engine could be a good choice for a trawler excluding the fire danger and higher fuel consumption. And low fuel consumption is frequently an over rated feature of a trawler. This is just an out of the box opinion and I have no intension of convincing anybody to switch to gas. But the boat can be big and heavy but the engine may be small and light .. gas or diesel. The engine just needs to have the power to drive the boat.

Last boat fire on my fuel dock...3 summers ago...blew the 2 guys out of the boat....3 girls burned a bit before they got onto the dock.


17 foot center console...fought it with a water stream after pulling it out of the marina for an hour till the FD finally got foam in it.




Personally have witnessed many dozens of boat fires, some diesel boats, none of which started from propane that I am aware of.