Diesel outboards

Discussion in 'Diesel Engines' started by Pericles, Jul 19, 2020.

  1. Pericles
    Joined: Sep 2006
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    Pericles Senior Member

    Whilst searching on-line for a used 20 hp outboard, a link to Cox Marine services popped up & led me to this video.


    I had no idea that diesel outboards had developed so far. I only knew about Yanmars, so I investigated further & found OXE Inventory | Diesel Outboards https://dieseloutboards.com/home/oxe-inventory/
    & 4 to 80hp LGD-Series DOM http://www.klaxondieseloutboards.com/

    It would be useful if others could contribute links to other diesel outboard manufacturers.

    BTW, propane fueled outboards are less expensive to run in the UK, because petrol & diesel fuel are both heavily taxed for road use. Propane isn't.
    Lehr UK | Propane powered outboard marine engines http://www.lehruk.com/
     
  2. Yobarnacle
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    Yobarnacle Senior Member holding true course

    Your engine will probably last longer running propane.
    Thirty years ago, I bought a used propane conversion 6 cylinder car with 200 thousand miles on it.
    Had a lever to switch back and forth between gasoline and propane.
    Ran smooth on propane, sounded very rough on gas.
    Car had 400 thousand miles on it when I finally sold it. Still running at that time!
    My mom used it for a rural mail route in the mornings, I drove it afternoons and evenings whenever I wasn't at sea. We used it a lot, because we had our own huge bulk propane tank in the back yard to fill it from. Tanker truck refilled it about once a month.
     
  3. Pericles
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    Pericles Senior Member

    Best of all worlds, eh?

    Thought I'd try sounding Canananadian. :rolleyes:
     
  4. KeithO
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    KeithO Senior Member

    Diesel outboards are like diesel aviation engines. Germany had very efficient Junker diesel engines in WW2 and no-one has had them since. Plenty of people and companies have taken government grant money for years but so far nothing is in production or never made it out of prototype status. So consequently I dont have high hopes of anything coming to market soon. Given the proliferation of diesel engines in Europe (up to 60% of new car sales) one would think that there would be marinized versions of some of these engines being offered, but no again...

    There was one diesel engine that was supplied for experimental aircraft for a while that was based on the MCC Smart 3 cylinder, that was basically a 1 man operation called Ecofly, but his price was so high it was virtually identical to the Rotax engines being sold for the purpose, so hard to justify.
     
  5. Pericles
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    Pericles Senior Member

  6. Rumars
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    Rumars Senior Member

    The reason you don't see many diesel outboards is weight. How many applications can use a 78kg (172lbs) 9HP outboard instead of the same weight inboard?

    As for propane, you can convert any gasoline engine to it, outboards and 2 strokes included. Right now Tohatsu sells ready made ones, Lehr was rumored to be dead.
     
  7. Yobarnacle
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    Yobarnacle Senior Member holding true course

    Not exactly an outboard or an inboard, but I was fancinated by the Bangkok longtail boats when I visited there in the late 1960s on R&R.. You can home make one of these propulsion units a diesel, with off the shelf parts.

     
  8. Pericles
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    Pericles Senior Member

    Horses for courses. You pay your money, you take your choice. Diesels are heavier, but so are batteries for electric outboards. How does one save money? The problem with converting an outboard to run on propane in the UK is the BSS. Home | Boat Safety Scheme | Go Boating - Stay Safe https://www.boatsafetyscheme.org/

    They are what we in the UK would call a "bit iffy" about extraordinary changes. I removed the propane system from my boat to eliminate their onerous requirements. I prefer to set fire to the countryside with an open fire, when I want to brew coffee or cook a BBQ. I love the sound of fire trucks in the morning! :rolleyes:o_O:eek:Urban Dictionary: Iffy https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Iffy
     
  9. KeithO
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    KeithO Senior Member

    Lets see how their transmissions hold up. That so far has been the failure point of the aviation engines. Im expecting the prices will be so high the only buyers are likely to be military and coastguard...

    Pericles, what are people buying if they are not buying diesels ? Its not as if there is some sort of miracle vehicle out there ? I owned a VW Lupo when I was in Germany in 2000-2003 and of course I couldnt get anything close to it in the US. The nearest thing would have been a GTI.... my Lupo got close to 60mpg at that time. Nearly 1000km range on a 34lt tank of fuel...
     
  10. Yobarnacle
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    Yobarnacle Senior Member holding true course

    I had an Isuzu PUP with 4 cylinder diesel back in the 1980s, got 50 miles per gal. When the truck body rusted out, I sold the engine to a refrigerated reefer trailer company. They used the same Isuzu diesel for the refrigerated trailer compressors.
     
  11. Pericles
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    Pericles Senior Member

    The car market in the UK is is in transition, $hit or bust. Electric vehicles are supposed to be the way ahead in the UK, but infrastructure costs are massive & likely untenable. HMG are closing power stations.

    The present level of battery technology is the leading cause of unregulated mining in an African country, where black lives certainly DO NOT matter.
    iPhone mineral miners of Africa use bare hands | Daily Mail Online https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3280872/iPhone-mineral-miners-Africa-use-bare-hands-coltan.html
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineral_industry_of_Africa[​IMG]

    OTOH, if the claims of https://www.metalectrique.com/ are justified, then there's much more to play for, because 30 seconds spent swapping out a depleted fuel cell (that is recycled in an aluminium smelter) after 1500 miles use, for a replacement unit & another 1500 miles range, would mean no need for charging points.
     
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  12. KeithO
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    KeithO Senior Member

    Do you mean there is a transition in buyer sentiment ? Because right now there are no alternatives. Anyone who claims otherwise are liars. The cheapest Tesla is $38k whereas my Lupo back in the day was 11k Euro. And the cost of electricity is the EU is not cheap and unlikely to get cheaper. And the biggest group of "activists" the Swedes, have the highest per capita base of installed nuclear power in the world.
     
  13. Yobarnacle
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    Yobarnacle Senior Member holding true course

    Very interesting!
     
  14. Yobarnacle
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    Yobarnacle Senior Member holding true course

    We should have built more nuke plants decades ago.
     

  15. Pericles
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    Pericles Senior Member

    "A transition in buyer sentiment?"
    The brainwashed sheeples go along with what they are told they should do. Those with a modicum of commonsense (few & far between) think things through. There can be knowledge without wisdom, but there cannot be wisdom without knowledge.
     
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