Lehr Propane outboard: horizontal tank? liquid propane?

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by ngermain

Now the only other thing this awesome engine needs is an easy way to flush. Like a garden hose fitting built-in, somewhere up high and accessible.

I've tried flushing in a bucket supporting ropes--that's a big pain and very awkward. I've tried with a flushing attachment that fits to a garden hose. This proved tricky and unsustainable. You need to remove the flush screw on the bottom of the foot each time which is awkward and prone to dropping in the ocean. Then using some anti-seizing on the screw is a must because any water on it seems to make it seize--I broke 2 screw drivers trying to remove it the one time after I didn't apply anti-seize to it. Then I gave up flushing. Is there an easier way? Something in the quickstart guide maybe that's missing from the manual

What you're describing doesn't sound like a typical ear-muff type flushing attachment, but rather something more Lehr-specific?

If so, look at ear-muffs; they usually work well enough, no need to unscrew stuff form motors while they hang over the water, etc...

-Chris

[ngermain]

Maybe I'm doing it wrong but I could not get any muffs to work. The intake for the cooling water is in a very apex curvy place. Muffs just didn't go there, water sprayed out and the engine sucked air.

If anyone's successfully used muffs I would love to know which kind and see a photo of where/how you attached them.

I'm not on the boat right now, but from what I remember of my attempts last year, the cooling intake is on the aft end of the foot, not on the side? I'll need to look at it again and take a photo. Maybe someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Ideally, I'd love to install a permanent port on the leg somewhere but I'm not comfortable cutting into that thing yet...

[HopCar]

ngermain, The flush attachment is a Yamaha ABB-FLUSH-JD-00.
Unfortunately you do have to remove the plug to use it. The engine also uses Yamaha propellers.

The problem you're having in cold weather is because the propane doesn't boil fast enough to supply enough gas to run the engine at full power. If it becomes an issue, try turning the tank upside down so that it feeds liquid propane to the engine. Don't store the tank upside down as it will vent liquid propane if it is over heated in a fire. If it annoys you enough to throw money at the problem, get yourself a tank designed to feed liquid propane.

The engine has a liquid heated vaporizer that will convert the liquid propane to gas before it enters the carburetor. This is a much more common issue on the 9.9 as it needs twice as much gas to run. At least that's what I've been told. As a Florida boy, I haven't seen it happen.

[ngermain]

ha ha. yes, things are a little colder here in Vancouver BC. Especially February sailing. The propane tank wasn't the only thing icing up.

That's exactly the attachment I bought. I just found it very difficult to remove the drain plug on a regular basis. It seems to seize up very easily. The least bit of water on the threads or lack of anti-seizing compound and I literally broke 2 screw drivers on it.

The manual claims you must flush after every use. That seems absurd considering how inconvenient it is. I would gladly flush each time if there was a port I could screw a hose onto and open a valve. Reaching over the side, dropping plugs in the water, religiously greasing threads, etc. just isn't easy enough. Hope it lasts long enough for me without the fanatical flushing.

[pmg_9.9lehr]

HOPCAR,
Thank you for the opportunity to make a deal on the 9.9 HP Lehr motor last week. I tried it this weekend off the bay in Key Largo on the west side. We had a blast. I was able to plane my 12.5 ft inflatable boat by myself and it was moving along the bay pretty fast. Next time I will try to clock it with a downloaded gps on my iphone and see how fast I can go but it felt like I was moving around 20 mph or more. We made it to Nest Key in about 30 minutes with two people on board this time and had a great time.
What I noticed was that as I was getting down to about 1/3 of the tank on Sunday, I started to lose power on the high end. I inverted the tank and it started going again but not for too long. I remember reading about the liquid fed propane versus gaseous input and that's when I decided to invert the tank. What I noticed is that you can't use the entire tank either way if you want to get full power because as the tank gets used up, it gets harder to dispense liquid. The bigger the tank the more liquid you can dispense before it becomes more difficult to maintain full power. Therefore, liquid propane tanks are probably more desirable for this set up to be able to use all the propane in liquid state at whatever RPM one is cruising at. I guess that's why Lehr recommends liquid propane tanks for this this size engine and higher. Anyhow, thanks for the deal and will be sending some pic's or a video stream of me cruising at high speed along the bay. No one took any pics of me while cruising by myself so I will have to set it up this weekend. It was a cool experience moving that fast.

[HopCar]

Roy, There is an 8 amp 12 volt alternator in the 15. You can run some light loads off the internal start battery but you're going to have to figure out how to hook them up to the battery.

ngermain, I took a look at earmuff type engine flushers. All of the ones I have are round and too big to fit the 5.0 Lehr. They make some with rectangular pads that might fit. I'll try to get hold of one and see if it will work. I think all engine manufactures say to flush after each use but that's just not realistic. You just have to do what you can.

PMG, I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures. It's good to know it planed that big inflatable.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by ngermain

Maybe I'm doing it wrong but I could not get any muffs to work. The intake for the cooling water is in a very apex curvy place. Muffs just didn't go there, water sprayed out and the engine sucked air.

If anyone's successfully used muffs I would love to know which kind and see a photo of where/how you attached them.

I see HopCar is taking a look at the muffs question. Ours seems to work with any old shape, and the round ones I already had from using with another worked fine with our currently-mounted motor. I know there are square ones... and I've seen some folks use something like a bungee to add pressure to the muff forks, so the muffs are more firmly pressing against the motor.

FWIW, the maker for our motor recommends using the muffs even though they also provide a flush adapter. I'm guessing (but don't know yet) that means the muffs provide flushing water to the lower unit and impeller slightly better than would flushing with the adapter. Haven't pinned that down...

-Chris

[Roy M]

HopCar, Can you ask your sources if a shop manual exists for the Lehr engines, especially the 15? I found this on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFirkAwEdPY

[Roy M]

Here's another cool piece of info:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q2Jhbbmnos

[HopCar]

Roy, there are shop manuals for the smaller engines. I haven't seen one for the 15 yet. Contact Dave Kostka or Dave Kurens in Lehr customer service. They can tell you about the availability of the shop manual.

[Roy M]

I just found out about the large liquid draw tank which can lay on its side. Its made by Ragasco and used commercially for fork lifts in warehouses. It looks exactly like the unit Lehr is selling. I'm glad I didn't fill the tank I just bought which isn't designed for liquid draw. The new tank will sit perfectly under the thwart seat.

Here is the link for the specs: http://www.ragascousa.com/. Prices range from $325, from Lehr and others (Lehr's has a green collar), to as low as $304. It's the same diameter (12 inches) and 28.3 inches long.

[HopCar]

That's the one I'm going to get for my little skiff. Ragasco is the only company making fiberglass propane cylinders. You could use a regular fork lift tank as well but I really like the fiberglass tanks.

[ngermain]

Originally Posted by ranger42c

Ours seems to work with any old shape, and the round ones I already had from using with another worked fine with our currently-mounted motor.

FWIW, the maker for our motor recommends using the muffs even though they also provide a flush adapter.
-Chris

What motor do you have? A Lehr propane? what size?

[Roy M]

I just discovered that my 15 has a hose connection for freshwater washdowns. Sweet. And I just ordered two of the 31#, 7 1/2 gal composite tanks, liquid feed, horizontals. Today I went shopping for propane suppliers in San Diego. Fuel ranged from $4.95 a gallon at the fuel dock, to $1.99 a gallon about two miles away. Tough decisions........

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by ngermain

What motor do you have? A Lehr propane? what size?

No, sorry, didn't mean to imply that. Just meant to say there are several different sizes and shapes of muffs, and maybe a different one that you tired might work better.

The muffs we have work with both our Johnson 5-hp 2-stroke (made by Suzuki) and the newer Suzuki 15-hp 4-stroke... so I'd guess there are several that will work with a wide range of lower units.

-Chris