To Run or Not to Run the Generator

The STENCH of a diesel exhaust is a bigger problem for the harbor than the constant noise.

A bus depot aroma is not what most folks cruise for.

Remember inside , breathing canned air , you will not have every hatch and port open , and are not subject to the stench, But the entire harbor IS !!

Massive wakes with no understanding of how to run a good pass,
one tiny anchor with massive windage , and never ending noise and stench,

NO Wonder the sailors call marine motorists the DARK SIDE??

Greetings,
Mr. 11. Nope, never burned the old oil. Use a recycling center. Let THEM deal with the oil in whatever fashion they choose.

FF said:

The STENCH of a diesel exhaust is a bigger problem for the harbor than the constant noise.

A bus depot aroma is not what most folks cruise for.

Remember inside , breathing canned air , you will not have every hatch and port open , and are not subject to the stench, But the entire harbor IS !!

Massive wakes with no understanding of how to run a good pass,
one tiny anchor with massive windage , and never ending noise and stench,

NO Wonder the sailors call marine motorists the DARK SIDE??

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And what should I call the sailor who illegally stayed at the 3 hr town dock in Cocoa all night (posted no overnight) and docked not near the end, more in the middle so he limited the amount of area for others to tie up?

My genset puts out less air pollution than the thousands of cars driving over the causeway just a 1/4 mile away so I am not the problem in this anchorage at least.

Respect is a wonderful thing...out of the thousands of things we do and say everyday....we all sometimes do things that others wish we didnt.

I use my genset with care and thoughtfulness.....am I gonna piss off other boaters sometimes?...you bet... but a whole lot less than many piss me off.

I still liveaboard and cruise because the alternative is worse.

Capt.Bill11 said:

You're throwing your money away, as well as perfectly good oil most likely, if you're doing 100 hour oil changes.

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I couldn't disagree more! Changing your oil more frequently is one of the best things you can do for the health of your engine. Yes, it costs more to change the oil every hundred hours or so but the positive effects of clean oil in a diesel engine can't be overstated.

And what should I call the sailor who illegally stayed at the 3 hr town dock in Cocoa all night (posted no overnight) and docked not near the end, more in the middle so he limited the amount of area for others to tie up?

FOOLS and ignorant folk abound , sail and power.

The cure is quite simple , tie to his boat and clamber up and aboard and over, to access the dock.

You would climb over a dink with an idiot owner that tied it on a tiny lead , so simply treat the boat the same.

He may get tired of a half dozen folk doing this , esp if hauling propane bottles , laundry and food.

Capt.Bill11 said:

You're throwing your money away, as well as perfectly good oil most likely, if you're doing 100 hour oil changes.

If you are going to continue doing 100 hour changes, I hope you are at least recycling the "old" oil by mixing it with your fuel and feeding it to your engine.

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My 8kw genset holds a gallon of oil. Oil and filter is around $20. In boating costs, that's nothing. Actually, it's the cheapest insurance you can buy.

Ted

I try to avoid anchoring next to people, especially if I'm going to run my genset even though it is extremely quiet. I think that's being reasonable. If you're going to anchor on top of me and expect me not to run it, that's not reasonable. Sorry for your bad luck.

Ted

Codger2 said:

I couldn't disagree more! Changing your oil more frequently is one of the best things you can do for the health of your engine. Yes, it costs more to change the oil every hundred hours or so but the positive effects of clean oil in a diesel engine can't be overstated.

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There are no positive effects if you are throwing away properly filtered perfectly good oil.

But to each his own.

O C Diver said:

I try to avoid anchoring next to people, especially if I'm going to run my genset even though it is extremely quiet. I think that's being reasonable. If you're going to anchor on top of me and expect me not to run it, that's not reasonable. Sorry for your bad luck.

Ted

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O C Diver said:

My 8kw genset holds a gallon of oil. Oil and filter is around $20. In boating costs, that's nothing. Actually, it's the cheapest insurance you can buy.

Ted

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I'm not sure what you are insuring against if there is nothing wrong with the oil you are throwing out. But if you are running you gen/s 24 hours around the clock for days at a time it's a waste of time, money and oil.

O C Diver said:

I try to avoid anchoring next to people, especially if I'm going to run my genset even though it is extremely quiet. I think that's being reasonable. If you're going to anchor on top of me and expect me not to run it, that's not reasonable. Sorry for your bad luck.

Ted

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Exactly. Use some common sense and courtesy. No one group gets to have all their way all the time. The world is only getting smaller.

I'm a sailboat owner with no genset who is on the brink of becoming a trawler owner with two gensets. So I'm reading this with great interest!

Richard

I must anchor in different spots than some other folks. Rarely am I near anyone at all, much less often close enough that I could even tell if their gennie was running or not.

Sometimes raft up for a gathering, but that is noisy mess of fun on purpose.

Never been offended by another boat running a gennie.

The Eagle has a main 10 kw gen and a 5 kw cruise gen which are more popular on single engine and sail boats. The main gen is run the mian 671 is not running, and it power the hydraulic for the get home and bow thruster. The crruise gen is run when the 671 is running, so we always have 120 volts AC, dock, criuse or main. The main 10 kw gen has 2700 hours, but the 671 has 1, 500 hours.

We also have an inverter and three 8 D batteries, which we have used occasionally. In the PNW solar is very limited with little sun and wind is not consistent. The primary purpose use of the mailn is to power the hydraulics, and AC secondary as we do not anchor so we have dock or use the cruise most of the time

This June were are going to see if we're can bet more get more thurst from the bow thruster, increase gen set rpm, increase sizes of hoses and or pulley and belts. The main gen set is the limiting factor,

N4712 said:

Well ours makes barely any noise outside of the boat. So no, I'll enjoy my hot showers, unlimited water, and AC.

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See, thats the difference...

We also have a properly installed NL generator. You cannot hear my generator at all for example walking down the dock. As you walk down the finger you can start to detect something, and if you stand on the swim step you can kinda hear it.

Compare that to my slip mates diesel furnace which sounds like a jet turbine running next door.

ksanders said:

See, thats the difference...

We also have a properly installed NL generator. You cannot hear my generator at all for example walking down the dock. As you walk down the finger you can start to detect something, and if you stand on the swim step you can kinda hear it.

Compare that to my slip mates diesel furnace which sounds like a jet turbine running next door.

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Mine too.......

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Mine too.......

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Yes, and I need to correct, the brand of generator isn't relevant, the sound produced when its running is.

There are in my opinion only two reasons not to have a generator

1. Your boat is not designed to have one
2. you do not want to spend the money on one.

We can always find a way not to "need" something so "don't need it" doesn't count. Generators add flexibility.

Capt.Bill11 said:

You're throwing your money away, as well as perfectly good oil most likely, if you're doing 100 hour oil changes.

If you are going to continue doing 100 hour changes, I hope you are at least recycling the "old" oil by mixing it with your fuel and feeding it to your engine.

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Maybe with an older mechanical diesel. I would never consider putting used motor oil in the tank with a modern common rail diesel. I would not want to subject that 2 micron fuel filter to extra crap from dirty oil.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

So to get back on point. If you have an anti-generator bias, why? If the boat is equipped with a genny, why not use it? Most gennies I have seen are mostly quiet. Yep there are a few that are noisy but not many. So why spend all the extra money, time and space for solar/wind?

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In boats with low electrical consumption (gas cooking, no A/C, LEDs, ...) solar/wind can greatly reduce the time the genny is run and still keep the batteries fully charged. This is good for the batteries as they are fully charged and not cycled as low. It is also good for the genny as it it not run under-loaded for a long time to fully charge the batteries.

If the genny needs to run for several hours a day anyway, for A/C or electric cooking, then I would think solar/wind probably do not make sense. There are many other opportunities to "invest" in a boat!

My boat is equipped with a very nice inverter, 8kw genset, and after the refit a very nice battery bank. Everything can run very nicely overnight off the battery bank with the exception of the electric stove and the ac/heat. I view generator usage in the same way as the engine. Plan to use it whenever I need it, but won't run it if it's not needed. See the boat similar to my home. Plan to be comfortable; no nautical camping here. That being said, I don't leave every light on in the house 24/7 to save the effort of throwing a switch when entering a room. So to with the genset, only when needed, but always whenever needed.

Ted

Capt.Bill11 said:

If you are going to continue doing 100 hour changes, I hope you are at least recycling the "old" oil by mixing it with your fuel and feeding it to your engine.

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And the reason for putting one gallon of used motor oil into my fuel tank is what again?

I was at Baranof Warm Springs a few years ago between seine openings. The dock was filled mostly with seiners, except for 3 or 4 pleasure boats and a big packer. The packer had to run its generator the whole night to keep fish cold.

Since they had plenty of extra power, they provided shore power for anyone on the dock via huge power cords with junction boxes on the end. This at least partially mollified the sailors on the dock.

fryedaze said:

I just replaced an electric stove with propane. I am almost finished installing 3-150 watt semi-flexible solar panels on the bimini. If anchored more than 24 hrs I had to run the genset to charge batteries and run the stove. I may be able to go a week without running the genset in the summer if conditions are good. My Kohler is pretty quiet in its sound sheild and sound proofed ER. I just like not running the genset.

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Yep. That is me also.

It's simply not efficient to run the Gen simply to charge the batteries. It takes forever.

Also when anchored, I like the quiet. If I want noise, the main engine can do that and get me somewhere at the same time.

Value of two solar panels and a small wind generator. Ran generator at six am this morning for 1/2 hr. Since then we have been on the boat with refrigeration going and have done a load of wash in the Splendide and made water for two hours. Current state of charge at 4:30 pm is 12.8.

Admittedly this is unusual in that a trough is coming through Martinique and we have had winds in the 30kts for a couple of days and the sun is shining.

Only downside is our Magnum inverter/charger will not charge at bulk mode unless the voltage is below 12.6 volts - but I can trick it by turning on the tea pot. Thus we can both charge the batteries and turn on the water heater for 15 minutes tonight. (Tea pot is tuned off as soon as Magnum begins charging.)

No problem for me with the 6 am generator running. Boats on all sides are friends and everyone is up with the sun.

Multiple ways to generate amps are good, I see no reason to run the genny if I can get amps passively, like via panels. But for some jobs only the genny will do, and I`m not hesitant to start it. I can make tea with LPG, but can`t run the espresso machine without the genset, which I load and multitask if I can.

sunchaser said:

And the reason for putting one gallon of used motor oil into my fuel tank is what again?

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To recycle it yourself and reclaim some of the money spent on it. Plus if you're running around in the boonies you don't have to store it till you find a way to properly dispose of it. Some engine manufacturers even state you can mix between 1-10% used oil in the diesel fuel you are feeding the engines.

But I understand why some people are skeptical of this. As they are of extended hour oil changes based on proper oil analysis with perhaps bypass filtration. But I'm sure the petroleum companies love you.

This may be of interest to some:

Engineered Machined Products : OilMate Oil Management System

My two cents worth.

I have a good size genny that came with the boat and I use it for battery recharging, refridgeration and hot water. It is an well installed modern unit with sound shield. When out and about I use for an hour or so in the morning and same late afternoon.

In the more remote bays we access no one, but no one leaves their generators on much after sunset, on boats like my IG 36' with an above waterline through hull fitting generator noise is inevitable.To me part of the problem is the type of noise a generator makes, that low insistent never ending diesel drone with the water whoosh to accompany it.

Sometimes in summer down here the cicadas can be deafening far far louder than generators, however who doesn't like being in the middle of nowhere surrounded by that cacophony of sound, likewise who doesn't feel his/her blood pressure rise with the sound a of a single generator splitting the night in a secluded bay.

A couple of years ago we were in a bay with about five other boats and one had the genny running well into the evening. We were all pretty cranky when a voice from the end of the bay boomed out,"turn the f**cking thing off", a couple of minutes later dead silence. This was followed by clapping from the other boats in the bay.Once everyone had settled down we then all went back to opening another bottle of wine and putting some music on. Yes, I know a bit hypercritical of us it's just the sound of conversation and laughter with a bit of music on is closer to the cicada end of the spectrum than the generator.

For me the ultimate is to run my boat without the aid of a generator, while not breaking the bank to achieve it.

kchace said:

I think running the genny and having solar can be a great combination - not one that is mutually exclusive. We run the genny to power AC/heat, hot water (when not under way) and to recharge the batteries. Typically 1.5hrs in the morning and 1.5hrs in the evening. However, the last 10-20% of the battery charge takes 1-2 hours *after* bulk charge is complete to top them off properly. Being on a mooring most of the time, I don't have the luxury of shore power to provide the relatively small amount of power required for that final topping off. To help the batteries live longer I am planning on installing a single 100watt solar panel. My total outlay for the solar will be less than $300. I expect it will pay for itself in less than 2 years.

Ken

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What he said. I'd like solar to top up the last 15-20% charge on the batteries, every so often! to keep them happy. I hope to install a solar charging option in combination with the genny for that purpose.


Jim
Sent from my iPad using Trawler Forum

I'm surprised that no one has commented on the noise made by a sailor's Honda 2K gas generator buzzing away on his foredeck for hours into the night. Frankly, that noise can drive me nuts.