Two stroke portable generator, for emergency charging

For under $100, Harbor Freight sells an 800 W 50:1 premix gasoline/oil generator. I'm sure the thing is noisy and would leave a greasy mess wherever operated, and would barely run a coffee maker. I.e., cant think of using it for any other reason than the following...

Place in stowage for emergency charging a dead starting battery.

12 V chargers under 50 A or a larger charger, like my 100 A Prosine 2.0, sometimes can "dim" the charge current depending on the programmed shorepower breaker size (or amount of nuisance tripping). So, 800 W is plenty to get a healthy discharged battery up to cranking juice in hours.

I wouldn't even know how to jump start my Ford Lehman, even if another boat offered. While replacing the normal 1/0 cables, I needed to start the engine and 8 foot 6 AWG jumper cables failed. Made a "rrrerr...." and started toasting the cables.

How does mariner assist programs provide a jump start? Do they, or just tow you to the nearest grid power source?

That 800 watt gender can probably supply 6.5 amp AC. That is only enough to power a 30-40 amp charger.

David

Gasoline with the current Gov required ethanol has a short (under 1 month) useful storage life.With pre mix oil the life is shortened even more.

IF you are going to the bother a real gen set like a Honda with a 6 gal old style steel tank might be better.

Emergency towers either have jump packs or long jumper cables...I prefer the long cables...we use the same kind wrecker trucks use 25 feet long 4 gauge and never had them smoke (from AWDirect)...

You jump start your Lehman just like a car, not sure why your grrrrr experience happened other than a bad connection. It wouldn't have done that with good connections and a start battery in position....that had even a tiny bit of juice left.

The little genset could do a 50 amp charger with the emergency start feature...I have one....

If I were to lug around another portable genset...I would spring for the Honda 1000 or 2000 and have something that's useful. I carry my Honda 1000 as a spare genset on my long cruise and run it a couple hours a day if I had no need for my big genset and to KEEP from having dead batteries.

psneeld said:

Emergency towers either have jump packs or long jumper cables...I prefer the long cables...we use the same kind wrecker trucks use 25 feet long 4 gauge and never had them smoke (from AWDirect)...

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I also carry 25 ft cables. Fortunatley in 25 years I never had to use them for myself...however I have jumped started anotherboat one time.

Agree on the Honda..either the 1000 or 2000. Have a friend who has had a 2000 on several boats and on job sites for almost 10 years and it has always performed.
And FF, I never run ethanol fuel in my Honda. Only 90 octane with Stabil. However if one needed to run a oil mix fuel, there is a company that sells premix made with non-ethanol fuel and apparently it has a great shelf life.

The EU2000 is what I use. The Honda is an inverter/generator. It is specifically designed to run sensitive electronics. The generator that you are talking about provides dirty power, so electronics could be damaged. Costco sells an alternative to the EU2000 for hundreds less. It also has the same quiet features as the Honda..... and with Costco's return policy, it's a winner. Good Luck.

If all you need is a way to start your engine if your starting battery died, then all you need is a jumper pack. Just remember to charge it before leaving the dock. You will not have to wait until your starting battery is charged. Just hook it up and turn the key.

I have one but have never used it for the boat. I've used it several times on the dinghy.

I would rather depend on the tooth fairy than anything from Harbor Freight.

Nimble1 said:

Agree on the Honda..either the 1000 or 2000. Have a friend who has had a 2000 on several boats and on job sites for almost 10 years and it has always performed.
And FF, I never run ethanol fuel in my Honda. Only 90 octane with Stabil. However if one needed to run a oil mix fuel, there is a company that sells premix made with non-ethanol fuel and apparently it has a great shelf life.

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I was in a marina this weekend and a boat on the next dock (about 80' away) ran a Hona generator all night. I really had to listen hard to hear it inside our boat. Even outside it wasnt anoying.

fryedaze said:

I was in a marina this weekend and a boat on the next dock (about 80' away) ran a Hona generator all night. I really had to listen hard to hear it inside our boat. Even outside it wasnt anoying.

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That's about right for when they are on econo mode...I put it on the side of the boat away from others...walk about 50 feet away and the wind rustling in the trees or a car driving by is just as loud.

I'm all for keeping anchorages quiet and pristine...but hardly anyone is silent all day long one way or another.

Just wait till Galaxy Girl shows up with her 5 kids!!!!!!

And FF, I never run ethanol fuel in my Honda. Only 90 octane with Stabil. However if one needed to run a oil mix fuel, there is a company that sells premix made with non-ethanol fuel and apparently it has a great shelf life.

Thats great if you dont go far from your source., cruising the East coast up to Canada , dont expect to ever see good fuel again.

Yes..you are probably correct. I forget how easy it is to obtain non-ethanol fuel here in Fla. All of the marinas seem to have it and in the Keys,even the convenience stores carry it.
I would definitely be at a disadvantage as my old Honda 45 that powers my Nimble is 22 yrs old and was never designed to run on ethanol fuel.

rrick said:

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I wouldn't even know how to jump start my Ford Lehman, even if another boat offered. While replacing the normal 1/0 cables, I needed to start the engine and 8 foot 6 AWG jumper cables failed. Made a "rrrerr...." and started toasting the cables.

How does mariner assist programs provide a jump start? Do they, or just tow you to the nearest grid power source?

Click to expand...

I would think for most of the people on this forum, the backup for starting the engine is the house battery. I have a BlueSea ACR (automatic charge relay) that connect the house and starting battery for charging and separates them when discharging. I have a switch to manually connect the batteries together if I "need a jump".

I like the jump box idea. Any experience with good brands that can turn over an old marinised 6-cylinder tractor engine (no decompression start valve). The failed jumper cables were of quality, but yes, a poor connection by clamping onto the starter studs was probably a factor.

Back to the OP question.
I heard one of those kind of generators run, after a lot of swearing, rope tugging on the starter, and governor fiddling, they would disturb most anchorages, unlike a Honda.
Mahal, I have read advertising for the "battery in a box" charge starters, ones I saw talk about starting small engines, you might want to try yours on a main, it may do the job, worth trying before you really need it.

I went the Honda EU2000 route but went one step further by converting it to run on propane, natural gas, or gasoline. I also bought a Lehr propane motor for the dinghy. I bought an 11 lb fiberglass bottle to run the generator. It seems to work pretty well as does the Lehr on 1 lb bottles. Other than a trial run to adjust the propane flow while running the 100 amp charger, I never had an occasion to use it.

Tom

I have two Yamaha 2000i gens. Same as Honda, but blue, maybe a little cheaper, Comes in very handy at home also.