mvweebles
Guru
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2019
- Messages
- 7,233
- Location
- United States
- Vessel Name
- Weebles
- Vessel Make
- 1970 Willard 36 Trawler
You COULD change my mind with a few facts.
Well, the OP said he has space considerations. Sounds like in today's market, his options are Fisher Panda and NextGen. From what I can remember based on research I did last year, I would go NextGen - slower-speed, and if I'm going to go with a niche product, I prefer dealing with a smaller company based in Florida or PNW (not sure why, just seem to be hives of quality marine stuff). I also was not comfortable with the many reports of service failures I found with FP (from memory, related to exhaust elbow as I recall).
As far as convincing folks what generator to buy or why NL is a good generator, that's a personal decision. As mentioned in my original OP response, I can only speak to how I made my decision last year. I had some space limitations, though not as tight as I detect the OP's situation. I wanted a ~6kw. 1800 RPM engine. Price was competitive (e.g. no premium). Reputation for reliability and being sensibly marinized. NL have been around for a long time - generators is all they do these days. And they are the go-to choice for cruising yachts. For me, that adds-up to a credible statement of 'gold standard.' But if you're not comfortable with the moniker, well, your opinion is as good as anyone's. But hey, maybe I'm biased- I was a delivery skipper in the late 90's early 2000's and moved a ton of Nordhavns which all had NL Generators and Lugger Engines at the time. I have a lot of respect for how those engines were marinzed. I'm sure there are others (Westerbeke comes to mind), but I know NL's pretty well. To each their own.