NJ Saltwater Fisherman Forums
Boating => Mechanical Forum => Topic started by: Reckless on April 29, 2008, 06:00:30 AM
-
Anyone ever try running an outboard on natural gas? I am sure it could be done but how big of a tank would you need? Probably a dumb question but what the heck. 5hrug
-
How many hours of full throttle can you get per can?
-
Once I was picked up by a big V-8 Buick cab in Canada converted to be powered by Natural Gas.
The driver said the car ran great on it, but didn't get alot of range on a tankful compared to gasoline. I couldn't tell the car was on NG. I suppose it would work on any internal combustion engine, but the infrastructure needed to store and deliver NG to a marine facility is probably prohibitive costwise.
-
I think it's comparable to propane-- like those forklifts with the "minikeg" tank on back. I remember we used to change out that tank like on a weekly basis and the distance traveled was not much at all.
-
In doing a bit of web search, the NG is compressed, not liquified, so it is possible to fill from a home or business line with the proper equipment; but the process takes many hours. Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) can be set up to fuel quickly, but it takes special equipment. The cost to run on NG is also about 1/3 less than gasoline.
In addition to a shorter range for the equivalent size gasoline tank, another disadvantage would be not running out of fuel. How does one find an emergency supply on the water? And,once the engine is converted to run on NG, it won't take regular gasoline.
-
O boy. I smell Explosion..
-
In doing a bit of web search, the NG is compressed, not liquified, so it is possible to fill from a home or business line with the proper equipment; but the process takes many hours. Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) can be set up to fuel quickly, but it takes special equipment. The cost to run on NG is also about 1/3 less than gasoline.
In addition to a shorter range for the equivalent size gasoline tank, another disadvantage would be not running out of fuel. How does one find an emergency supply on the water? And,once the engine is converted to run on NG, it won't take regular gasoline.
personally, i'd use LPG and not CNG.
The setup is actually pretty simple, a converter and a regulator and the correct carb is really all that is needed. All 3 are very simple and inexpensive to get ahold of.
When I was working at the forklift dealer, we used to rebuild these all the time, and it would literally take minutes. I did have some Nissan units with dual use carbs, if needed, it could be fueled with normal gasoline. we usually filled the tanks with sand or anti freeze if the customer wanted us to remove them to run on strictly LPG.
Only backside is that they are nowhere near efficient as gasoline, it does not have many BTUs compared to gasoline.