Roger Long
Senior Member
Preferably based on experience.
I love the idea of propane for the dinghy outboard. We're already carrying the fuel for the grill. We are outboard motor shopping and planned to try out a friend's 2.5 HP unit on our dinghy here in Saint Augustine.
He was an early adopter and bought the motor 4 years ago. He has used it once. It then developed a leak in the fuel line which Lehr promptly replaced at no charge. He then simply hasn't had occasion to need it.
We got it out of storage and hooked up a small propane bottle to it. While we were trying to figure out how to purge the fuel line of air, I noticed a bulge in the line a couple inched from the bottle (cover was off). It looked like it might be chafe protection. I touched it and said, "Is this norma.." WHAM! There was then some frantic work with wrenches to get everything unhooked in the cloud of propane surrounding us. A couple hours later, my right ear is still ringing from the burst.
Is this normal and typical of these engines? There is a 2.5 horsepower Yamaha at the marina just across the way that we could pick up this weekend but, like I said, I'd really like a propane dinghy motor if I can conclude that this experience isn't typical or if improvements have been made in them over the last four years.
I love the idea of propane for the dinghy outboard. We're already carrying the fuel for the grill. We are outboard motor shopping and planned to try out a friend's 2.5 HP unit on our dinghy here in Saint Augustine.
He was an early adopter and bought the motor 4 years ago. He has used it once. It then developed a leak in the fuel line which Lehr promptly replaced at no charge. He then simply hasn't had occasion to need it.
We got it out of storage and hooked up a small propane bottle to it. While we were trying to figure out how to purge the fuel line of air, I noticed a bulge in the line a couple inched from the bottle (cover was off). It looked like it might be chafe protection. I touched it and said, "Is this norma.." WHAM! There was then some frantic work with wrenches to get everything unhooked in the cloud of propane surrounding us. A couple hours later, my right ear is still ringing from the burst.
Is this normal and typical of these engines? There is a 2.5 horsepower Yamaha at the marina just across the way that we could pick up this weekend but, like I said, I'd really like a propane dinghy motor if I can conclude that this experience isn't typical or if improvements have been made in them over the last four years.