Generator etiquette ?

psneeld wrote;
"Being as considerate as you can is the best course of action."
Obviously that would be to turn the gens off if there's anybody within earshot ... including people on the beach.

Windmill those wind gens are BAD. In one harbor we moored at there were several to compete w the sailboat halyards. Noise is noise and I'm against it.
Harleys and semi muffled diesel pick ups. Should be laws to eliminate them. When I was a teenager cops carried sound meters. They would measure the sound from the back of the vehicle and if above a certain level issue you a ticket. And the legal level of "noise" was fairly low. The good old days were really good in some ways.

I had a girlfriend in college that said noise would be the next big problem. I thought she was silly at the time.

manyboats said:

psneeld wrote;
"Being as considerate as you can is the best course of action."
Obviously that would be to turn the gens off if there's anybody within earshot ... including people on the beach.

Windmill those wind gens are BAD. In one harbor we moored at there were several to compete w the sailboat halyards. Noise is noise and I'm against it.
Harleys and semi muffled diesel pick ups. Should be laws to eliminate them. When I was a teenager cops carried sound meters. They would measure the sound from the back of the vehicle and if above a certain level issue you a ticket. And the legal level of "noise" was fairly low. The good old days were really good in some ways.

I had a girlfriend in college that said noise would be the next big problem. I thought she was silly at the time.

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Good God! And people complain about the so called "nanny" state now!

I can just see a bunch of water cops trying to say my genset is to loud, no wait, it's OK now, no wait it's over the legal db limit, no wait....... as I swing closer to then farther from another boat at anchor.

Moonstruck said:

Wait 'til a bunch of popping shrimp are under your anchored boat. They are loud.

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Interesting! I had an encounter such as that in 1995, my first experience with a bigger boat. It was on my 48' Offshore Yacht Fisher and the sounds those critters made kept me awake most of the night. It sounded like they were trying to scratch their way through my hull bottom.

Codger2 said:

Interesting! I had an encounter such as that in 1995, my first experience with a bigger boat. It was on my 48' Offshore Yacht Fisher and the sounds those critters made kept me awake most of the night. It sounded like they were trying to scratch their way through my hull bottom.

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The first time I encountered them was in Cedar Key, FL. The boat kept sounding like a hot exhaust manifold cooling down. I was in the engine room for a long time trying to figure where the noise was coming from. The next morning an old salt on the dock said, "Oh that. Those were popping shrimp. They come in the harbor now and then".

I have only encountered them a few times, but anyone that's a light sleeper would hate them. They don't stop.

One of my customers was traveling in s.fla for the first time, and called me at night in a moderate panic. Some sort of noise all through the boat, sounds like the sonar is freaking out or something electrical freaking out making a strange popping noise. He did the same, crawling around looking for the source. Exhausted, he called me late.

Him: "What could this noise be? Driving me nuts, worried about strange electrical problem."

Me: "Shrimp"

Got some laughs over that one. He bought me dinner on the way back up.

I will compromise in an anchorage, I turn off my solar panels at night.

One thing I believe boat buyers often overlook in their buying and equipping decisions is sound. I'm talking about sound you hear on your own boat, because that does ultimately impact others. I want a builder to use every means he can to minimize that sound. I don't get an easy, peaceful feeling if I'm having to raise my voice for conversation. Some builders address it well, but others really don't. That's one thing I'd address with a used boat just bought as well. Maybe ok in a sport boat but in a trawler or trawler type boat, it should stay below 70 decibels, in my opinion.

manyboats said:

psneeld wrote;
"Being as considerate as you can is the best course of action."
Obviously that would be to turn the gens off if there's anybody within earshot ... including people on the beach.

Windmill those wind gens are BAD. In one harbor we moored at there were several to compete w the sailboat halyards. Noise is noise and I'm against it.
Harleys and semi muffled diesel pick ups. Should be laws to eliminate them. When I was a teenager cops carried sound meters. They would measure the sound from the back of the vehicle and if above a certain level issue you a ticket. And the legal level of "noise" was fairly low. The good old days were really good in some ways.

I had a girlfriend in college that said noise would be the next big problem. I thought she was silly at the time.

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Only in your mind....

Being considerate takes 2...the world is never as simple some try to make it.

PLEASE don't quote me anymore as you NEVER get me correctly. Just post what you think.

This should be fairly simple. Treat it like a piece of machinery on land. Think of when you would or wouldn't run a lawnmower or power tool outside. Otherwise look at what most marina rules are for noise.


Typically this means NOT Before 7am and NOT after 10pm.


As for sound during the day......pound sand. As for 'odor' (Really???!!! Are you kidding me?) These are not two strokes and I can tell when a 2stroke outboard passes by.


As for all night long, we don't do that in the New England states, but everyplace is different.

manyboats said:

psneeld wrote;
"Being as considerate as you can is the best course of action."
Obviously that would be to turn the gens off if there's anybody within earshot ... including people on the beach.

Windmill those wind gens are BAD. In one harbor we moored at there were several to compete w the sailboat halyards. Noise is noise and I'm against it.
Harleys and semi muffled diesel pick ups. Should be laws to eliminate them. When I was a teenager cops carried sound meters. They would measure the sound from the back of the vehicle and if above a certain level issue you a ticket. And the legal level of "noise" was fairly low. The good old days were really good in some ways.

I had a girlfriend in college that said noise would be the next big problem. I thought she was silly at the time.

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Totally agree on the Harleys, ugliest sounding internal combustion engine ever.

Shrew said:

This should be fairly simple. Treat it like a piece of machinery on land. Think of when you would or wouldn't run a lawnmower or power tool outside. Otherwise look at what most marina rules are for noise.


Typically this means NOT Before 7am and NOT after 10pm.


As for sound during the day......pound sand. As for 'odor' (Really???!!! Are you kidding me?) These are not two strokes and I can tell when a 2stroke outboard passes by.


As for all night long, we don't do that in the New England states, but everyplace is different.

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Sorry but it is not like cutting the lawn or trimming.

Sleeping at night in stifling environments, like in a boat with large engine mass that has run all day...AC is almost a necessity on many power boats...not something you can schedule from 9-5 every day.

Especially if you wind up cooking in an all electric galley after that days run.

Like I posted...takes both sides to be reasonable.

If poor and on a tiny sailboat with all the ports open and you cant sleep because of a tiny rumble and splash not too close by...well I feel for you.

The guy with the boat that needs AC and shows up late to an anchorage...well...make the call. Anchor further away or pay the price of your new title.

There is no etiquette as there are too many variables...all you can do is the best you can do under the circumstances....which isn't necessarily turning off your genset as some might have you believe.

I've been the guy on the little sailboat and the guy with the generator...it's not hard to figure out if you are a decent human being even if it means looking for anchorages where your genset wont be heard over the other ambient noises or the peacenick that can probably figure out where the Rodney Dangerfields of the world wont take their power cruisers.

During a several week ice storm induced outage here in Oklahoma my neighbor told me he hated the sound of my generator. Its a 15 kw Onan propane unit. He said it was "the sound of comfort". Go figure.

manyboats said:

psneeld wrote;
"Being as considerate as you can is the best course of action."
Obviously that would be to turn the gens off if there's anybody within earshot ... including people on the beach.

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Eric I have to disagree. Where I boat at least, the people on the beach might be blasting music so loud they would never hear any sounds from boaters. We anchored out for the fourth a few years back and barely slept the whole time as the group of kids down from us had a DJ and sound system on the beach. Even when the DJ wasn't on, they blasted music from their boat until the wee hours, then started up again at 6am. I will never forget being dragged from sleep by "LOVE LOVE LOVE" at 6am. We would have moved but by that point the area was so filled in anticipation of the fireworks show that there was nowhere to go. Running the generator helped drown out some of the outside noises.

The worst ones, I think, are the screaming wind generators. Many moons ago when we were cruising on our sailboat we anchored off of St.Thomas. Shortly after the hook was down here comes a cat with two of those damn wind generators, one on each hull. He anchored behind us so we were stuck. Not that big a deal, just one night. Next night we anchored off of Marina Cay, BVI. Damn if that SOB doesn't show up again with his two screaming wind generators and block us in again.




I don't know how people live with those things on their boats.

Pineapple Girl said:

Eric I have to disagree. Where I boat at least, the people on the beach might be blasting music so loud they would never hear any sounds from boaters. We anchored out for the fourth a few years back and barely slept the whole time as the group of kids down from us had a DJ and sound system on the beach. Even when the DJ wasn't on, they blasted music from their boat until the wee hours, then started up again at 6am. I will never forget being dragged from sleep by "LOVE LOVE LOVE" at 6am. We would have moved but by that point the area was so filled in anticipation of the fireworks show that there was nowhere to go. Running the generator helped drown out some of the outside noises.

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Ha! I remember that year! You guys had it rough near Three River Reach.

I'll be back there this year, PG. Hope you can make it!

If I'm running my gen-set it's hot as f*#$ out and the folks on shore are damn well running their AC's as well and can't hear mine.

If a sail boat or other power boat is bothered by my 8K Westy in a sound box with a water exhaust well I recommend noise canceling head sets, they work great killing the noise made by the other folks in the anchorage.

Perhaps they are pissed that they are going to sweat all night, and I'm not. I only run it at night when it's over 80 (temp or humidity).

Due respect to you folks up in the NW and NE but down here you will stew in your own juices without AC at night. As far as the water around your hull cooling you off, BS, right now the water my boat is sitting in is 86^.

I don't see many northern boats staying down here in the summer hmmmm, I wonder why.

Ski in NC said:

If you can, run the airs hard for a couple hours with tstats set low. Chill the boat down. Then bedtime, shut everything down. Most boats stay sleepable overnight with airs off.

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I do this in our house. Temps here have been around 100 for the last couple of weeks. Thankfully, the humidity has not been high.

Running the AC will dump the humidity out of the house pretty quickly. Most days, we don't use the AC until 1200-1400. Then run it off and on until bed time when I turn the AC off. Some mornings the humidity has built up in the house so we will run the AC for a while to removed the humidity and then turn it off until 1200-1400.

Later,
Dan

Re my post about noise .....

First I only said what I think. And if you anchored near me w a gen going you'd never know what I thought about it. I think all you noise makers should be aware that there are lots of boaters and people that don't like your noise. I'm not even saying you should can it ..... just saying the most considerate thing to do is be quiet. It's a fact lots of people don't like noise. Just because you've got a gen it dosn't mean others will like the noise. Got to admit I didn't think of heat being from Alaska and WA. Guess if I had a boat in an anchorage w 6 others somewhere down in Florida and it's 95 or worse you'd probably be listening to my gen. There's so many variables. This makes me think I'd like to be back in Alaska. People are VERY VERY rude down here. Definitely worse than it was when we left for Alaska in 06.

You're right psneeld "there's no etiquette as there are too many variables"

Like the guy on Kodiak who let his dog ruin a great salmon spot by romping and swimming through it because his dog was a local and we were just USCG helo guys saving Alakans right and left...but from the lower....


just one of many instances of the attitude towards "lower 48ers"..


even though many Alaskans spent 5 or so less months there than I did per year.


Yep...all saints up there....

The single project on the boat for comfort was replacing the flocking in the window channels so the windows would open and getting all the screens repaired for the windows and portlights. I don't frequent crowded anchorages on the Mississippi River, it's always easy to find one and have it all to myself. Never had to consider how running my gen to cook or for AC might bother neighbors. The 2nd project to improve comfort aboard was installing Hella and Caframo 12v fans now I seldom use AC until the temp hits high 80s, cooking on the grill helps also in keep the boat comfortable. I liveaboard 9 months of the year so being comfortable on the boat is a very high priority.

Oh Eric, admit it...you have a low noise threshold. Your engine's too small, you've got no generator - wind or internal combustion, hell...even a windlass would be noisy on your boat! I think you limit your anchor chain because of the splashing noise it makes on deployment and retrieval.

Al,
Yes you're right ... I don't like noise and part of it is getting old. But there's millions of people out there suffering from noise in this country that don't say anything about it. They say it's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease so the noise makers may be benifiting. When someone pulls up alongside me w a loud Diesel engine or a boom box or both I just roll up my windows. And this summer I'll probably run into this anchorage problem. But here I can say I don't like it. What did they do on cruisers before gen sets and AC? Copious amounts of sweat I suppose.

The real question as I see it is ....... How much grief is caused by generator noise in anchorages v/s how much grief is caused by the lack of power? If it's more grief by noise the gens should be shut and if it's more grief caused by lack of power benifits then the gens shoud run. But as it stands the gen people have the power to do as they please. I can be quiet for 99 years and nobody will hear my plea. The generator people can use them .... because they can.

And Al I don't have a generator because I don't need it.
And if you had my capstan you'd kick it overboard ... because it makes so much noise. It's unbelieveable

FlyWright said:

Oh Eric, admit it...you have a low noise threshold. Your engine's too small, you've got no generator - wind or internal combustion, hell...even a windlass would be noisy on your boat! I think you limit your anchor chain because of the splashing noise it makes on deployment and retrieval.

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.........

how much grief is caused by the lack of power?

The selection of cruising equipment can easily be done to not require a noisemaker , with nthe exception of whole boat air cond.

It is a mind set , and certainly costs a bit more , but the biggest advantage is to the ships crew that doesn't have to hear , smell or maintain a noisemaker.

A month on the hook with no noisemaker and cold beer , and ice cream, no problem .

BobH said:

Totally agree on the Harleys, ugliest sounding internal combustion engine ever.

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I do not own a motorcycle, never will, too dangerous. But the sound of a Harley is quintessentially American although some guys run them annoyingly loudly. Ever hear a flat-head Ford V-8 rumbling? It is as delicious as a Wooster St. (New Have, CT) pizza, Sally's, Pepe's, or Modern. Now here's another anchor fight in the making, best pizza. How about Patsy's at 120th St. In East Harlem?

BobH said:

Totally agree on the Harleys, ugliest sounding internal combustion engine ever.

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Sorry, but after riding most of my life, including a stint professionally as a motor cop, I'd have to disagree.

I've ridden everything from rice burners to big V-Twins.
While the straight piped Harleys can be obnoxious for a brief period, the Rice Rockets that sound like a mosquito on Steroids have to be the 2nd most obnoxious sound in the world!

1) Foreign Cars with "fart pipes."
2) Rice (crotch) rockets.
3) Fran Drescher's voice:lol:

OD

Off Duty said:

Sorry, but after riding most of my life, including a stint professionally as a motor cop, I'd have to disagree.

I've ridden everything from rice burners to big V-Twins.
While the straight piped Harleys can be obnoxious for a brief period, the Rice Rockets that sound like a mosquito on Steroids have to be the 2nd most obnoxious sound in the world!

1) Foreign Cars with "fart pipes."
2) Rice (crotch) rockets.
3) Fran Drescher's voice:lol:

OD

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#3 had me blowing coffee out my nostrils

A link to one of the most amazing sounds ever created by man...a real Formula One engine- https://youtu.be/1JPBdBIFGNQ The surprise starts at 0:55 second mark...enjoy. My second favorite sound was the Aston Martin DBR9 LeMans GT car. Listening to them downshifting on entry at turn 5 at Road Atlanta then on the throttle at the apex would have my son and I grinning for 10 hours straight!

We live about 1/2 mile from a two lane fairly busy hwy that leads to a Mountian pass. Sometimes those _____ Harley's go by about 40 strong and it sounds like a freight train is going by flat out. That's not any pleasurable sound .... it's just an incredible amount of noise. Pleasure for the riders at our expense. You almost never see (hear) a Harley with propper mufflers. I'll admit a well tuned V twin at high rpm sounds nice from a half mile away.

Why is making noise so much fun for so many people? ..... With so little reguard for others. Off Duty I rode for most of my life too and had some bikes that were noisy (Kawasaki two stroke triple) but most were equipped w propper factory mufflers. And I rarely changed the factory muffs. My old girlfriend in college was right ... noise was to be a problem of the future. And here we are.

manyboats said:

We live about 1/2 mile from a two lane fairly busy hwy that leads to a Mountian pass. Sometimes those _____ Harley's go by about 40 strong and it sounds like a freight train is going by flat out. That's not any pleasurable sound .... it's just an incredible amount of noise. Pleasure for the riders at our expense. You almost never see (hear) a Harley with propper mufflers. I'll admit a well tuned V twin at high rpm sounds nice from a half mile away.

Why is making noise so much fun for so many people? ..... With so little reguard for others. Off Duty I rode for most of my life too and had some bikes that were noisy (Kawasaki two stroke triple) but most were equipped w propper factory mufflers. And I rarely changed the factory muffs. My old girlfriend in college was right ... noise was to be a problem of the future. And here we are.

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In the motorcycle community they have a saying...

"noise saves lives"

I don't totally agree.. I ride a BMW

HOLLYWOOD

There is all kinds of noise and some bothers more than others.


Some just don't appreciate/ignore things that don't make their life go they way they want it.


I have heard complaints at an anchorage that not only had a busy bridge nearby...but also an airport...gimme a break.


I loved the absolutely quiet mornings fishing for salmon in the wilderness of Kodiak, Alaska....


Ha...I lied.....


I love to tell the stories of some really cool sounding bird that always seemed present and singing during Sockeye season, and the wind blowing through the alders, the bears crashing through the alders, the sound of bush planes buzzing through the passes.....


Silent???? Where...it is just what sounds and smells you can live with and ignore.


I find many just use anything that isn't in their plan as an excuse to try to change other's behaviors.


I have stated be courteous...that is entirely different than catering to the extreme at some point.


Sure...I would be less likely to run one in an Alaskan anchorage than in most populated anchorages in south Florida...but even then as I posted early...so many variables to consider. ...mostly for climate/vessel type/design that many I just don't think are thinking about.


One example...listening to one hour of bad guitar playing and singing from some free bird thinker type surely equals me running my nearly silent genset all night....