As for air conditioning at
anchor, you better believe it. In Florida, it doesn't cool off enough to live without it until well after 0100. In the Keys, during the summer, it simply never cools down enough to sleep comfortably.
As for size on a generator, it's really pretty simple. If your boat can run everything aboard on a 30 amp shore
line, then you need something in the neighborhood of 3600 watts or 3.6KW. If you're running a 50 amp shore
line, then you need 12KW--assuming you're using the full 50 amps. Most boats don't. On our 56 footer we have three a/c's: 6,000, 12,000 and 16,000 BTUs. Microwave (honest 1500 watts) water heater (3500 watts)
battery charger: insignificant, reefer, about 1500-2000 watts. Ice maker 850 watts, washer-dryer 2500 watts. Anyway, we get by just fine on an 8KW unit. That's 33 amps. The only time we have a problem with overloading the genset is when we fill our air tanks with the Bauer compressor because it draws an honest 30 amps at startup.
I'll second the comment about Fisher-Panda and any other generator that runs at 3600 RPM. Avoid them like the plague.
Since I'm running my mouth, I'll add some more comments on my experience with installing a new generator. Make bloody sure that the platform the generator is going to be mounted on doesn't make solid contact with bulkheads, deck, overhead, etc. Make sure it's on its own shock/vibration mounts. Our biggest source of noise on Breeze is not really noise, per se, but low frequency vibrations transmitted through the bulkheads from the 2 1/2 inch thick plywood platform the generator sits on top of. The second source of noise is from resonance in the 'day tank' which is under the generator platform.
If I had to do it all over again, I'd leave a space on the platform and put some heavy rubber between the bulkheads and the platform to dampen the vibration, and I'd have covered the top of the day tank in some of the asphalt stuff that's about 1/4" thick to stop the tank from resonating with the diesel engine above it.
Finally, have whoever soda blast the engine and generator down to bare metal, coat it completely in Ospho or some other good rust inhibitor, the put a couple of coats of 545
Awlgrip primer and at least three coats of
Awlgrip Snow White
paint on it. I paid $150 bucks for that service and it's paid for itself a dozen times over in keeping the generator clean. I go in with a squirt bottle of 409 and paper towels and clean it every time I change oil. (250 hours using Valvoline 10W-30 Full Synthetic)
Last but not least, twist the supplier's arm for a spares kit and
REAL manuals for both the engine and the generator itself. You can bet every penny you'll ever make that the generator is by a third party and so is the engine. Trust me, they'll make more than enough profit to choke up a fan belt, impeller, extra (unpainted!) oil filter,
fuel filter, and pencil zincs, along with real shop manuals and troubleshooting guides. I can't tell you exactly what I paid for our generator, per agreement, but I can tell you it was considerably less than the MSRP, and they still gave me the basic spares kit, plus an extra set of brushes which are (retail) $50.00 bucks a set. On that subject, find out where the brushes are if your generator has them, and how hard they are to change. They'll last between 1000-1500 hours under a normal load.
Finally, pay close attention to the intake/air cleaner. Some of the generators use a simple air cleaner, and the noise they make will make you crazy. The one on our Phasor looks like a mad scientist's creation, but it muffles the intake noise to nearly nothing. Has a contraption that looks like a toilet's 'joker valve' on it and is about 8 inches in diameter by 10 inches overall with a formed hose going to the air intake on the engine.
One last thought and I'll shut up. Factories and yards will give you the smallest sized primary wire they can. Do yourself a favor. Figure out how many amps the generator will provide, measure the primary run yourself, and go UP one size on the primary wires, including neutral and ground. Bigger wire=less resistance=less heat=less chance of a fire, and less voltage drop. Simple physics, Gary style.
Just something to be aware of and consider when sizing generators/gensets.
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