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New Portable Generator

4K views 22 replies 8 participants last post by  Valiente 
#1 ·
Picked up a 1800 watt inverter McCullugh generater at Costco for $459 seemed like a pretty good deal. Runs fairly quietly. Puts out about 13.5 amps and has 12v too. I wanted something for back up around the house and for camping and hunting so that ruled out a 1000 watt compact unit. At 50lbs this unit is still handy to haul around. Any Ideas on using it and setting it up out on the boat. I don't have shore power yet and use mostly 12v but I wanted something to use as a back up for charging or for tools and maybe occasionally put a small heater on. Don't worry, I don't plan on fireing it up when I have neighbours in a quiet anchorage no matter how quiet the generator runs. I've used generators before but never on a boat. Are they a PITA for a boat.
 
#4 ·
Bushrat-

There have been several threads about using small gas generators on a sailboat at anchor. If you do a search for "Honda 2000", you'll find them.
 
#5 ·
Yes a co monitor is a good idea. When I use a generator camping I'll run an extension cord as far in the bush as I can to reduce noise. For the boat I'm thinking about making some kind of noise break of some sort. Would this be effective out on water or a waste of time? I want to block noise from the cabin not the anchorage area since I would't use it if I had neighbours. Anyone play around with their set up?
 
#6 ·
Lot of folks with Gemini's set their honda gen's on the back step and cover it with a Tupperware garbage can. They have one side cut out for air that faces aft so the noise goes that way. Using pink foam slabs (from home depot) as a underlayer keeps it from vibrating the deck which is a major component of the noise. Stores in the garbage can in a aft lazerette when not in use. Your boat will of course be configured differently.
Another good method is to hoist it with the main halyard so it's 10 feet off deck, then pull it forward so it's suspended over the foredeck - watching that it's not upside down of course by using a outboard sling attached to the halyard.

I've not tried either of these, just passing on stories and descriptions of photo's.
 
#7 ·
Chuckle's, I never thought of the garbage can trick. That would be an easy jury rig. Chuckles, I was just saying on another thread that my boat was at Fairwinds when I bought it!
 
#9 ·
I run my Honda 2000 in the cockpit and so far, have not experienced any problems with fume leakage into the cabin. Being on the cockpit floor, also dampens the noise outside of the boat.
 
#10 ·
Valiente, that's hilarious, the thought crossed my mine as well. I'm itching for an excuse to play with my new toy. I used to have a 5000 colemane I used for building projects and power backup, that used to really piss folks off.

PB does the noise bother you in the cabin? I think my unit will be slightly noiser since it's a chinese knock off. A friend has a honda 1000 and my mccolouch 1800 is a lot noisier. That little 1000 is a slick unit. I haven't seen a 2000 running.
 
#11 ·
Valiente, good luck with the new honda. I was looking around for awhile for a portable and couldn't find any deals on a honda. How did you make out in Toronto. Shipping cost ruled out most offers outside of my local area. Costco had this unit online for $40 more than the store. When I called the store they said it is an online offer only. I did see it in the store last summer for $399. When I went to finally buy one, they didn't have it any more. I was recently shopping there and lo and behold here it is in the store for $459

I found prices on generators varried widely. I saw this same unit advertised for as much as $799 plus shipping! That's double the price from Costco! Ebay used items were tempting but decided against importing a chinese product. A product that had gas and oil in it may have caused problems as well.
 
#14 ·
Valiente, good luck with the new honda. I/QUOTE]

I got a bit of a deal because I bought a Honda 2 HP four-stroke with it as a package deal, but I'm sure it's dropped in price since the boat show as the Canadian dollar's rise has worked its way through the distribution channels.

Anyway, the dealer filled both items with gas and oil and ran them to check for problems, and delivered them for free to my house (I don't have a car). At this stage, while not averse to paying less, I am attentive to the sort of relationships I build with dealers and service people, as I can't do all the technical things I need to have done on the boat preparatory to long-term cruising.

My purchases were dictated in large part by what my five-foot-tall wife (she's young and strong...within limits...) can lift. She can haul the outboard one-handed (about 13 kgs. "filled" with a litre of gas and the half-litre of gear oil it takes), which means she can launch either tender by herself with the aid of a bridle or a safety line.

The Honda 2000 she can dead lift, but it's at the limit (about 23 kgs.) of what she can lift horizontally out of a locker.

I fired up the Honda 2000 on the back porch stairs (only recently snow-free in this longest of winters) and it started on the first pull. The choke has quite a wide range and the revs increase substantially when the mix is leaned out. I plugged in a 1500 W hair dryer as a test and the motor "note" barely changed. I am going to plug in a small wet/dry vacuum cleaner and a 1/2 in. drill as a harder test of the AC limits, and will try a string of lightbulbs, just to check it out on that score.

The main job this will do aboard is allow me to do AC power jobs on deck at anchor: power washing, vacuuming, grinding, drilling, running a compressor, etc. While I have a 2000 W charger/inverter will have plenty of battery capacity, it is simply more efficient to use a gas genset for relatively brief jobs that eat a few amps. I also intend to use it as a way to run emergency pumps and perhaps to charge the anchor windlass battery.

This means that I have the OPTION...but not the necessity...to draw down my DC banks with inverted AC power. My preference would be to use this inverter-supplied AC for light charging of devices, a strong light for the engine room when needed, or things like a coffee grinder, a mini-microwave, or "DVD night".

Because I plan on "segregating" my amp usage between the inverter's AC and the genset's AC (the genset being more efficient in some senses), I hope to keep the fridge, the DC fans and the LED lights running on solar/wind and to avoid using the alternator to make electricity the customary cruiser way.
 
#12 ·
Bushrat,
You got your Mirage out of Fairwinds? where are you keeping it now?
I can not find a link to the McCullugh 1800 watt generator online and would like to know how it compares noise wise, and how it is built.
I like the honda gen for both those reasons - seems to me the plastic casing will help it fend on the crud a bit. If you have a link for the 1800 please post it as I'd like to eyeball the spec sheet on it.
If you are local to the Annapolis area do a search on sailnet for chesapeake area raft up, about a dozen of us are getting together near Baltimore in June.
 
#13 ·
Chuckles,
Yeah, I was wondering if you ever spotted her around your neck of the woods on the Magothy? The boat has made her way to me in Killarney, Ontario. The PO kept her at Fairwinds. I lucked out and bought her sight unseen. She was in excellent condition. I just had lots of scrubbing to do.
The folks at Fairwinds weren't very helpful in getting her prepped for shippping. To be fair they deal with powerboaters. I ended up launching form Fairwinds with the help of the PO and then hauling at Ferry point to prep for shipping. It was a huge PITA!! Can't say enough about the help I got at Ferry point. I couldn't be there in person. I was stressing out trying to coordinate from here

Not sure about links but search McCullouch FDD 210, 1800 watt. This unit is very similar to a Honda. Four stoke, single cylinder, OHV,horizontal air cooled etc. Has yellow plastic case instead of red. Basically a chinese clone rebadged for McCulouch who then give 1 year warranty and service.
 
#15 ·
Valiente, that's the way to go as far as being away from the dock. I lived off the grid for ten years using solar, wind and a diesel genny. I always used the genererator for big loads and the inverter for everyday small loads. The nice thing about using the generator when you need a tool, or in our case, doing the household laundry etc, twas that the battery bank was topped off nicely at the same time.

I added wind because of the limited sun light in the fall and winter, but I still had to fall back on the genny quite a bit during the short days. I would think you would get the same results with wind in a sheltered anchorage. I didn't find it was cost effective. I felt I was in a windy location on a lake shore but it was usually gausty and not consistant enough. I think your portable will prove to be a very versatile item on a long term voyage.
 
#16 ·
I hope so as well. Of course, if anyone made a reliable 20 kilo diesel genset that output 13 amps/2,000 Watts, I would have that instead of the Honda. The upside is that with the little Honda outboard, I should be able to keep just two 5 gallon gas jerrycans on deck to keep both tender and generator going for some time.

The wind generator I am thinking of would be the Duo-Gen, which can also be towed when under sail. I envision three or four 130W solar panels (arch plus pilothouse roof), and any combination of those sources topping up an 840 Ah house battery bank will, I hope, greatly reduce or eliminate the need to run the diesel to charge the batteries. Once or twice a week for a few hours, sure...no problem, but I find the idea of revving the diesel in neutral to turn the alternator wasteful and detrimental to the engine and my desire to keep a quiet boat.
 
#18 ·
That should be more than enough panels and battery storage. I was running my entire house and business on less. A boat should be pretty much self sustaining with that. I could get by on less because my system was set up more like a hybrid system. Around a home and business I frequently had to accomodate high loads and used the generator for those situations and charged batteries at the same time. It was cost prohibitive to have enough battery storage and panels to do everything without a generator. You can get a lot of cheap electricity from a small generator. Your payback on panels and batteries takes a very long time. You can buy a lot of fuel for the cost of them. It's an option if your budget limits options for panels. I would take storage over panels if I had a back up genny.

The most useful tool I had was the meter which gives you a clear indication of your use, demands and reserve. On a windy night I used to grin when I looked at all the juice flowing to my battery bank.

You learn to get smart about your power consumption. When I sold out and moved to town my electricity bills were way less than any of our neighbours or friends. You get accustomed to conserving if you are generating the power.
 
#23 ·
You learn to get smart about your power consumption. When I sold out and moved to town my electricity bills were way less than any of our neighbours or friends. You get accustomed to conserving if you are generating the power.
Well, exactly. "DVD night" won't be the night at anchor after a rainy day with no wind, but after a sunny day with a decent breeze. Underway, I am happy to motorsail in order to charge on the go, and to compensate for the drawdown of occasional radar and communications use, like SSB, weatherfax, AIS, etc.

The ONLY constant draw will be the refrigeration. Everything else will be either intermittent or low-draw. We can get hot water via the inverter, of course, but in the tropics, a black five-gallon pail filled with fresh water and sealed inside a black garbage bag on deck will get ridiculously hot in a hurry. We can also simply schedule laundry day for the times when the heat exchanger fills the hot water tank with "free" hot water.

Much of energy wastage is due to poor scheduling, I think. Thanks for the comments.
 
#19 ·
Honda EU2000i

Nearly every sailboat (and some trawlers) down here in the Bahamas has a EU2000i. They're the best things going. Just plug it into your shorepower circuit. It's better if you have a 100amp charger so you don't have to run the Honda long. Starts first pull every time, after a season it sometimes needs a bit of choke to run and that's a sign that the carburetor is a bit dirty. Clean with carb cleaner and it goes like new again. Under $900 so it's quite affordable when compared to $10000 for a dedicated generator. As fo having to carry gas, that's no big deal. We already have jugs of dink gas so another jug isn't going to change things.
 
#20 ·
Oh, for sure. That's why I got the generator too and it is handy to have around for the house, boat, camping etc. For me I plan on just having a small panel to maintain the batteries and to run some 12v lighting. I'll pull out the genny for anything else. It's the most practical way I can think off for time spent away from the dock. The boat fund is not unlimitted. If I were cruising long term I would rethink things, but even still it's hard to beat a small economical portable generator. I knew others that lived off the grid that used the honda as back up to a large generator and didn't have any panals. They put the money into batteries and the inverter. It's a bit different with a house since most days you need a generator for big loads. My wife gave me a good run for the money with the washing machine just about every day. Plus with three small children in tow I wasn't about to say you can and can't use this or that. An automatic start feature on a generator/inverter system is nice. That way you don't hit the batteries to hard.
 
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