Next-gen

Searches here did not seem to help.
Does anyone have experience with the little 3.5 KW Next-Gen?

Got a dead one in my shop right now. Exhaust mixer rotted internally and got salt water in the engine. That is a weak spot on earlier ones, I think they changed the design on later ones. Definitely look hard at that if buying used.

Otherwise, pretty decent little machine. It is a little rough and noisy being only one cylinder, but unless you go up to 5kW three cyl, little ones are going to be one or two cyl and they are a bit rough.

I think DJMarchand on this site runs one in his boat.

Yes, I have one on my Mainship Pilot 34. It is noisy due to the putt-putt nature of a single cylinder engine, but it is mostly exhaust noise. Vibration isn't bad as the engine mounts do a good job. I can certainly hear it in the main cabin but not objectionably so. I have the enclosure.

The bones of the unit are rock solid: a Kubota block and a Newage/Markon 5KW generator end. In addition to the mixer which has been replaced with a better design, the only other part that routinely fails is the excitation capacitor, particularly if you don't use an auxilliary blower. I keep a few spares on board.

One other quirk is that it does not have a DC alternator to charge the starting battery. I just use the Echo Charger output on my Freedom inverter/charger to keep it charged and isolated. A shore power charger with three outputs can do the same.

It will start and run our 12,000 btu A/C and probably a 16,000 one. I can only run two out of five heavy current appliances at one time- A/C, cooktop, microwave, water heater, coffee maker. So I have to juggle the loads but it is not a real problem.

I just use it to make hot water for showers, coffee in the morning, charge up the batteries and sometimes use a burner for dinner or zap something in the microwave. So, no overnight running for A/C. For that usage profile it works great. If you are going to run your A/C overnight for many days on the hook, then consider a 3 cyl genset.

David

Don't mean to high jack but since Ski and David are on this thread I wanted to ask about weak spots on my generator.

It's a MasPower 8KW with a three cylinder Yanmar. I've put a RW pump on it and changed the zincs but that's about it, other than change the oil. Anything else I need to be doing?

I know it is not exactly the same as the 3.5 KW, but I had a 5KW on our old boat and really liked it. The only issues I had with it were one failed capacitor and the main drive belt breaking.

The belt is worse than it sounds, it uses a proprietary belt that is really $$$ and is difficult change, IFRC, you have to loosen the electric end to get the belt on. In my boat with poor access to the backside it was an all day job.

I had one on our old boat. It was good, but it wasn't boxed, so it was noisy. It's a little "quirky", but once you get the hang of it, it is a good unit. The Kabota engine they sourced for it is from the gens that ran roadsigns for the DOT. They would often run for weeks or months at a time in some pretty harsh conditions.

The guys at the factory are great to talk to and provide very good customer service. Like the n00b dumbass that I was, I used starter fluid on it (I didn't know at the time it was bad for diesels) and beat the snot out of the rotating assembly. I bent the connecting rod and blew a hole in the top of the piston.

Look for rust on the exhaust mixer. They have an upgraded part now. You may want to determine if that has been replaced or not.

Also, make sure you have a solid fuel supply. Even the smallest air bubble in the line will konk it out. With a single cylinder, it dosn't take much

Thanks, Mine is enclosed and way back under the cockpit in the Lazarette, very little noise inside. It came with the boat, nice installation and everything looks like new.