Marinette Boat Forum

Since my 1972 28ft twin has very little room between engines and we don't use a inverter ; was thinking of using a portable gen. to run a few things that we have. We don't go more than 100 mi and the house batts. can keep the 12v fundamentals up for two days w/o starting eng's. while on the hook. Was thinking of a Honda E series. Would like a few thoughts from the forum electrical guru's on this thought; sure would be appreciated.
Mark

Mark,
Put it on the swim platform and get a good Carbon Monoxide Alarm and Detector for inside the cabin.
Dont get ed
bill

If you want to go "whole hog" you could put an outdoor outlet in the cockpit area. Run wire to a DPDT switch. Switch would take the hot and neutral leads from the genny to one side of the swich. The other side would be the house current feed. The common pins would feed whatever you want to power up. With this you wouldn't be able to back feed into the opposing AC feed. A heavy gauge (12g) extension cord could feed from the genny to the outlet using a M-M pigtail at the female end of the cord. Since you wouldn't want a "hot" male plug easily pulled from the outlet and exposed for someone to come into contact with, you could use a twist lock plug / outlet:
PLUG - http://www.lockingpowercords.com/produc ... -plug.aspx
OUTLET - http://www.lockingpowercords.com/catego ... acles.aspx

Any of the electricians in the group see this as doable?

Also, if you were underway, you'd want to have some kind of deflector pan to prevent water from washing around the genny. Possibly a fabricated box to keep it elevated and out of the weather? Louvers on the back could help address the CO issue by directing the exhaust away from the back of the boat. Since CO is lighter you'd want to direct it away from the boat.

All you need is a power cord from the generator to the boat. Unplug the shore power and plug in the generator. If the cord is right you might unplug from the dock outlet and plug it into the generator. I would put it on top of the boat or on the forward deck or on the swim deck. Just have lots of ventilation. My understanding is that carbon monoxide is about the same density as air. I have a little Honda, quiet, doesn't use much gas, made in USA, but anything is better than one that runs at full speed all the time.---Ed

I'm glad to hear that a Honda has been used.I have shore power when at the slip. I like the idea of putting it on the swim platform. I Understand the problems with the C0 .Would probably like to store it in the equipment compartment till it's needed. I think I'll give this a try.Sorry I'm late responding ; had some honeydo's to get done. Thanks .

I ran a small 2000 watt Honda for a few years on other boats, worked awesome . I just made up a power cord as Busia described and that keeps the breakers in line . Wound up installing a small job box (Stanley plastic model @Lowes) on the platform and it kept the generator protected , and provided a seat for proper beverage consumption, with a view !
Sold that boat when we got our big M and the set up is still being used today by the new owner.

The Coast Guard is concerned with the use of portable generators due to the danger of CO fumes getting into the cabin. Some caution and common sense is all that's needed to avoid a problem. Most people bungee cord them to their swim platforms while they are running.

Jeff