Hi Guys, I just spent five days working the Lehr booth at the Miami boat show. The comments in this thread so far seem right on target. The run time that Tom reports for the five on the one pound bottle is very believable. It falls right below what the factory claims, they say 1/2 hour at WOT.
I own a 2.5 that I use to push two inflatables and I'm very happy with it. I switched to propane to replace a gasoline engine that drove me crazy cleaning the carb each time I wanted to use it.
I'm building a 14 foot skiff that I plan to put a 9.9 or 15 on.
The advantages I see to propane are that it is so clean to handle and burn, it never gums up the carb, the spark plugs stay clean, the oil stays clean, it pollutes much less, and you can store it forever without it going bad and it's normally cheaper than gasoline. Oh yeah, propane engines are real easy to start.
The engines run so clean that we were allowed to start one in the convention center. None of the gasoline engines could do that.
The only draw back I see is that propane isn't available on every corner.
My experience is that I can get about 2 to 2-1/4 hours out of a 1 pound can at 1/2 to 3/4 throttle. It will empty it in about an hour at WOT. The literature says 2.5 hours.
I usually use one of the 11 pound fiberglass tanks. In theory I could get 22 hours or more from that tank.
Lehr is offering boat show rebates for the rest of the week for motors bought from dealers at the Miami show. $100 on the 2.5, $125 on the 5.0 and $150 on the 9.9. In addition I know of one dealer who had boat show special prices.
Tom I'd like to talk to you about your propane conversion for the Honda 2000i. I'm thinking of doing the same thing.