Am thinking about buying one of the Honda EU1000 (or 3000) to use on my boat while anchored. Any thoughts? Are they quiet? Where is best place to run one?
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Honda
Heard an EU1000 at the Annapolis boat show this year. Very quiet. My thoughts are that on the open transom boats they would perch very nicely out of the cockpit, held down with at bungee cord. Plug in the shore power cord and you are in business. On older, closed transom, boats I have thought of placing a Honda in a hard dinghy, or RIB. With the generator off the main boat, it could be the most quiet way of generating power of all, other than solar. Run a small air conditioner, charge batteries, and anything else that needs AC power as long as you demand <1000 w at a time. All for 10% of the cost of a built in diesel generator. Unfortunately it requires gasoline. If you carry gas for an outboard, you just have to carry more. I have not bought one yet, but it seems to be a viable alternative to, and maybe less expensive than, solar panels, wind generators, and running the diesel.
Heard an EU1000 at the Annapolis boat show this year. Very quiet. My thoughts are that on the open transom boats they would perch very nicely out of the cockpit, held down with at bungee cord. Plug in the shore power cord and you are in business. On older, closed transom, boats I have thought of placing a Honda in a hard dinghy, or RIB. With the generator off the main boat, it could be the most quiet way of generating power of all, other than solar. Run a small air conditioner, charge batteries, and anything else that needs AC power as long as you demand <1000 w at a time. All for 10% of the cost of a built in diesel generator. Unfortunately it requires gasoline. If you carry gas for an outboard, you just have to carry more. I have not bought one yet, but it seems to be a viable alternative to, and maybe less expensive than, solar panels, wind generators, and running the diesel.
i use one
i use one all the time, no one on the docks ever complains about the noise, they are very quiet. for the price you cant go wrong
i use one all the time, no one on the docks ever complains about the noise, they are very quiet. for the price you cant go wrong
best place
The best place to locate a gas-powered generator is in a different anchorage than the one where I've dropped my hook. And please be downwind: an anchor-out burned to the waterline about a quarter mile upwind of my slip last year because of a gas-powered generator. Left all sorts of nasty soot on my deck.
The best place to locate a gas-powered generator is in a different anchorage than the one where I've dropped my hook. And please be downwind: an anchor-out burned to the waterline about a quarter mile upwind of my slip last year because of a gas-powered generator. Left all sorts of nasty soot on my deck.
dumb boat owner
dont blame the generator for having a dumb owner, myself i would have just moved my boat away from the path of the smoke and soot
dont blame the generator for having a dumb owner, myself i would have just moved my boat away from the path of the smoke and soot
interesting response
none of my neighbors chose to move their yachts away from the smoke. instead, everyone hopped into their tenders and motored up the channel in an attempt to offer assistance.
none of my neighbors chose to move their yachts away from the smoke. instead, everyone hopped into their tenders and motored up the channel in an attempt to offer assistance.
?
i dont mean to sound negative but if you were in a slip why would you have to get in a tender to go help another boat? were you in a harbor and they werent?
i dont mean to sound negative but if you were in a slip why would you have to get in a tender to go help another boat? were you in a harbor and they werent?
Salt Air Corrosion
It only happened once but once was enough. We were anchored out and I mismanaged our power and couldn't start the engine and had to sail off the hook to a marina where we could hook up to shore power and charge the batteries enough to get things going again. After that experience, when we sail to remote areas I like to lug our Honda 650 along. The only problem is that on our first trip with it, it got a severe case of corrosion. The ferrous items rusted, the aluminum items oxidized, and the paint lost some of it's shine, all due to the salt air. For emergency use, my recommendation would be to enclose it in a plastic bag until it's needed. Because there is gas in the fuel tank it should never be stored below decks in an area that's not properly vented. For regular use - don't know what to say. If it's uncovered the finish will get ruined. With regard to starting electric motors it takes, rule of thumb, 3.5 times more power to start the motor than to run it. Motors directly attached to loads such as a compressor seem to require even more power. Soooo, to run an air conditioner one would need a fairly good sized generator. For routine use I'd recommend an inboard diesel, watercooled, soundproofed unit, inspite of the $8,000 or so it would cost. I agree with John Farnsworth and wouldn't run our generator within earshot of somebody else. What about lots of Margaritas???
It only happened once but once was enough. We were anchored out and I mismanaged our power and couldn't start the engine and had to sail off the hook to a marina where we could hook up to shore power and charge the batteries enough to get things going again. After that experience, when we sail to remote areas I like to lug our Honda 650 along. The only problem is that on our first trip with it, it got a severe case of corrosion. The ferrous items rusted, the aluminum items oxidized, and the paint lost some of it's shine, all due to the salt air. For emergency use, my recommendation would be to enclose it in a plastic bag until it's needed. Because there is gas in the fuel tank it should never be stored below decks in an area that's not properly vented. For regular use - don't know what to say. If it's uncovered the finish will get ruined. With regard to starting electric motors it takes, rule of thumb, 3.5 times more power to start the motor than to run it. Motors directly attached to loads such as a compressor seem to require even more power. Soooo, to run an air conditioner one would need a fairly good sized generator. For routine use I'd recommend an inboard diesel, watercooled, soundproofed unit, inspite of the $8,000 or so it would cost. I agree with John Farnsworth and wouldn't run our generator within earshot of somebody else. What about lots of Margaritas???
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