Are propane out boards worth considering?

[GeorgiaSeafarer]

I am considering a Mercury or Tohatsu propane outboard. Every time I convince myself to order one I read another negative review. It seems people either love them or hate them. There didn't seem to be any middle ground.

Does anyone have any first hand experience with either of these?

Gary

 

[rsn48]

Gas is everywhere and usually blessed with easy access. Propane can be harder to obtain. At my marina, I can get gas or diesel easily, for propane I need to take a taxi.

 

[KnotYet]

Sorry, no first hand experience with propane outboards but if your boat already uses
propane for cooking /heating then using it in an outboard would seem to be a no-brainer.

The devil is in the details of course. If the outboards are well built I wouldn't worry.
I currently have a gasoline Tohatsu 18 HP that I am having a fuel related issue with...

 

[SteveK]

I have completed one year with the 5HP Propane Mercury. BTW the 5HP Mercury is made by Tohatsu. I think they are working on a 15HP for Mercury.

Anyway any negative comments on propane outboards have been towards the Lehr. Unfortunately when they found success and had more orders than they could handle they outsourced to China. That brought warranty claims and put Lehr out of business.

A year latter it starts by the 3rd pull. part of a priming I guess.

 

[skyhawk]

LP has less energy per gallon
and seems generally harder to get, so ......

 

[phillippeterson]

I like being able to let the propane motor sit for a year and then starting on the first or second pull. No fuel in carburetor gunking issues. Also, storing propane is a lot safer than storing gasoline. I really don't like gasoline on a boat.

I'd rather have no propane either - diesel only. So I'm looking at diesel outboards.

 

[Jmarsh203]

I just sold a Lehr outboard and honestly it was awesome for what it was. I think propane outboards have a very specific use that they shine in and for virtually everything else there are better options. They sit for extremely long periods of time unattended and will start and run with no issues. In my opinion if you want to carry a spare outboard or rarely use your skiff like only a few times a month and don’t want to go fast a propane outboard would be an exceptional choice to go with. Other than that I think a regular gas outboard is better In almost every respect. I was quite impressed when my propane outboard started up and ran great after 3 pulls on the cord after sitting for 7 years outside in the fl keys. For limited use, slow speed, and short distances they fall into the same catagory as electric outboards without the weight or hassle of the battery. Overall Definitly not an option for a heavily used dingy or one that is intended for exploration. Hard to beat a small gas outboard. I’d love a diesel outboard but they are so heavy for what they are. And very very expensive. I have a hard time spending 9k on a 30hp outboard built in the 90s century Ben if it’s a rebuilt one.

 

[cardude01]

No experience with a propane outboard, but I’ve been experimenting with this Epropulsion Spirt 1.0 plus outboard, and have been impressed so far. Starts on the first pull! ?

This video shows it mounted on my heavy FG displacement mini pontoon boat and it pushes it fine at 3-4 mph. I assume it would push a rib or other dinghy a little faster, but it’s not going to plane obviously. It’s supposed to be around 3 hp I think. I also use it on a little sailboat I have and it pushes it really well.

The battery snaps off the lower drive unit making it pretty light and very easy to mount. With the fast charger it will recharge the battery in about 3 hours if about 75% dead. Slow charger takes like 8 hours. There is also a solar charger hook up.

It’s not cheap however at $2200!

I have no affiliation with the company. Just thought it was a neat little motor.

 

[GeorgiaSeafarer]

Speed is relative. We have a 2 stroke Mercury 2.5hp that we use on both our hard dinghy and an inflatable. Neither dinghy sets the world on fire speed wise. We are going from an 8 foot roll up to an 11 foot air floor (should be delivered this coming week hopefully) and wanted to go up in hp on the motor. I don't think I want to deal with the weight of the size motor we would need to plane the dinghy.

I do consider propane safer and easier to store than gas on a boat but the only thing propane on our boat is the bbq grill. Galley is all electric. Then again the only gas on board is for the dinghy.

If I go with the propane outboard I would use the 11 lb composite tanks. The mercury does not have the option of using the small canisters. Getting the tanks refilled in the Bahamas could be a problem. Never had propane on any of my boats so never paid any attention to availability.

An electric outboard would be great except for high initial cost, short range and the 15 hour recharge time (Torqeedo) I don't want to run the generator that long!

Compromises aren't fun.

 

[GeorgiaSeafarer]

I went to the Epropulsion site. That motor looks great. It showed it being recharged with solar panels. Hadn't considered that. That would mean a lot less generator time. Having a second battery recharging while you are using the first one would be ideal.

This deserves consideration.

 

[rwidman]

No experience with a propane outboard, but I’ve been experimenting with this Epropulsion Spirt 1.0 plus outboard, and have been impressed so far. Starts on the first pull! ��.

An electric motor that starts on the first pull?

I bought that same outboard and am happy with it. Turn the handle and it goes forward. Turn it back and it stops. Turn it the other way and it goes in reverse. No transmission, no centrifugal clutch, no turning the entire motor to go backwards.

No oil changes, no lower unit oil changes, no impeller, no spilling gasoline.

Best of all (and the reason I replaced my Honda 2 HP 4 stroke with it), no carburetor gumming up from letting fuel sit in it for more than a couple days. It can sit unused as long as I want and it will start and run.

Yes, the battery has to be charged and it doesn't have the unlimited range of a gasoline outboard. But it does well for my use, from the mothership to shore and back. As for "range", the range is greatly affected by the speed so if you want to go further, just go slower. I don't have the information handy, but it will go several miles provided you don't go WOT.


Edit: As for recharging, I have an inverter powering my boat's AC outlets so it's just a matter of plugging the charger into an outlet. I believe they sell a charger that works from 12 volts DC and that would work for someone who doesn't have an inverter. There's certainly no need to run a genset for fifteen hours. Solar is another option, either directly charging the ePropulsion battery or replenishing the boat's 12 volt batteries.

 

[ofer]

Exactly i love my lehr for the reasons below. didn't even know they are out of business.

Oh wait and i am one of the few that have 27HP yanmar diesel kicker on my 32 footer.

I just sold a Lehr outboard and honestly it was awesome for what it was. I think propane outboards have a very specific use that they shine in and for virtually everything else there are better options. They sit for extremely long periods of time unattended and will start and run with no issues. In my opinion if you want to carry a spare outboard or rarely use your skiff like only a few times a month and don’t want to go fast a propane outboard would be an exceptional choice to go with. Other than that I think a regular gas outboard is better In almost every respect. I was quite impressed when my propane outboard started up and ran great after 3 pulls on the cord after sitting for 7 years outside in the fl keys. For limited use, slow speed, and short distances they fall into the same catagory as electric outboards without the weight or hassle of the battery. Overall Definitly not an option for a heavily used dingy or one that is intended for exploration. Hard to beat a small gas outboard. I’d love a diesel outboard but they are so heavy for what they are. And very very expensive. I have a hard time spending 9k on a 30hp outboard built in the 90s century Ben if it’s a rebuilt one.

 

[cardude01]

An electric motor that starts on the first pull?

Sorry. I was attempting a joke there.

I also bought this Epropulsion outboard to replace a fairly new 3.5 Tohatsu outboard that required constant carb overhauls to run correctly, and I always use fuel stabilizer in the gas. I just could not rely on it anymore.

 

[Delta Riverat]

I considered them a lot. I bought a 5KW propane generator for the house because I know what happens to gasoline sitting from 2 motorcycles that needed carb work.

And there was the weight issue, 60 pounds, not bad. More than electric, but close.

So, I bought a good used 15 HP Johnson 2 stroke. 72 pounds, but 15 HP and 2 cylinders. No matter how long I've set 2 stroke mixed fuel I've never had a problem. There is stabilizer in the oil and that stuff can set for a year and start right up.

So 12 pounds heavier than a 5 HP Merc propane, 3 times the power and gonna power a hard floor (not RIB) inflatable with 500 pounds of people and gear, and I don't have to worry about the gas gumming.

 

[SteveK]

The BBQ, the stove is propane. The engine is diesel.
Getting a propane OB was an easy decision. Unless you want to plane the dingy, 5HP is all you need. It sat unused for 9 months and I had to pull 6 times to start it.

 

[Delta Riverat]

Yeah, I want to plane the dingy -

The boat only goes 10, the dingy will do 15!

Hehe, I started my boating life with a 10 foot inflatable that I suspended from the garage rafters and lowered to my car top, packed the 8 HP Merc and the gas tank in the trunk and drove to the ramp and assembled it all. Had big fun and yeah that boat would plane!

Now me and my wife are a bit larger than we were before...and I'm looking at something like this

 

[SteveK]

Yeah, I want to plane the dingy -

The boat only goes 10, the dingy will do 15!

Then, at this moment propane is not even a consideration.

 

[Delta Riverat]

Yeah, that's what I thought -

I started out on the Delta in a little rubber boat and I'm going back to my roots. I can't take Dream Catcher everywhere, but I can take the little rubber boat -

 

[jclays]

I have a 6hp Tohatsu outboard on a 10ft inflatable. Runs great the key to not having fouled carburetor issues is to shut off or disconnect the fuel supply and let the carburetor run dry when you are thru using the dink.

 

[Hippocampus]

Prior boats had 15-20hp engines for the dinghy. In that hp range gas works the best. As a cruiser the dinghy is your daily driver. It must be reliable. It will be called on to move heavy loads when reprovisioning or moving 4 people. It must have sufficient range for up to 6h of continuous running at plane and enough guts to handle surf coming off a beach or working against a strong current. If your cruising style only requires short trips in protected waters and you don’t use the dinghy to explore the above doesn’t apply. But that limits your cruising style.
Propane is often hard to get and when available often inconvenient. Because of that ends up being more expensive than gas. A cheap plastic container stores extra gas and can be stored outside the boat on the swim platform. Non ferrous tanks are expensive and can be awkward to safely store.
Electric has neither the range nor guts to serve as a daily driver unless your use pattern is quite limited.
Some of the most fun we’ve had cruising is in the dinghy. Exploring all day. Visiting places a fair distance from the mother ship. Fishing. Going to beaches.
Now have Rigid dinghy with a 40hp on the back. Came with the boat. Think it’s a bit of overkill but the minimum I would accept for a cruising boat would be a 10’ dinghy with a 15hp(20hp would be much better). Go shopping I want to make one trip back to the boat. Go exploring don’t want to be nervous about range. Electric is convenient but lacks range. Propane is inconvenient and somewhat range restricted c/w petrol. See people with two partially filled tanks getting refills. Asked why they say “I want full tanks when we bop around a distance from the boat “. Gas you just top off from your storage and can always leave with a full tank.

 

[Pete Meisinger]

The early generation (Coleman) propane outboards really got bad reviews. I'm not certain how much, if any they have improved.

Propane fueled internal combustion engines have been around literally forever. Someone should be able to get it right.

I am certain you can find lots of answers here on TF.

pete

 

[Shrew]

Tohatsu, Mercury, Lehr all make them. You avoid water, ethanol, and having to stabilize fuel. They report a reduction in CO2 output.

The idea running out of propane gives me the willy's. plenty of on-water gasoline options. propane sometimes requires taking a walk.

 

[backinblue]

Sorry. I was attempting a joke there.

I also bought this Epropulsion outboard to replace a fairly new 3.5 Tohatsu outboard that required constant carb overhauls to run correctly, and I always use fuel stabilizer in the gas. I just could not rely on it anymore.

I got the joke! I also own an eProp. The advantages over gas are the same as propane, so I would look at electric rather than propane. I also replaced a new Merc after 1 season. I used nothing but ethanol-free fuel bought for a premium at Home Depot. Still had carb issues and difficulty starting. Last I checked, the eProp website had some real-world tests of dinghy trips approaching 20 miles I think. For casual use at anchor, getting to shore or beach it's perfect. Really depends on how you plan to use it. The fact that it breaks into two ~20lb components is something you won't find in any other motor type.