Back in the days when I had a small
solar power set up I had a
4 stroke Briggs and Stratton lawn mower
engine with an 85 amp Bosch
alternator hanging under it in a box on the aft
deck. I used it to bulk charge the house
batteries in the mornings for about 45 minutes and then they would top up during the day on the
solar. It was also very good for
engine starting when the cranking
batteries got a bit dodgy.
The long term intention was to cut a hole in the
deck and have the
alternator and electrics in the
boat and the noisy smelly engine outside the
boat. It did excellent
service for a few years and I eventually gave it to a guy with an all DC
electric boat for use as an
emergency charger.
At the moment I have a 2.2kw petrol,
Honda powered AC genset in a box on the deck which I use for the microwave and to
power the small lathe I have aboard. However, when it finally gives up the ghost I am going back to the engine DC alternator arrangement and a large
inverter connected to the fairly extensive house
battery bank I now have. I use the genset with a 140 amp
inverter for
emergency starting or
battery top up but it tends to blow the capacitor and I have to sit and watch the battery voltage and adjust the ampage output by hand.
When I build the new one I will use a
Honda 5hp lawn mower engine and probably a 200 amp alternator under it and mount it in a
hatch so I can undo the catches and hoist the whole thing onto the deck for servicing. I am thinking of building an
exhaust system with a fresh
water heating jacket for hot
water and
salt water injection to kill the
exhaust noise.