It is my view that portable generators are extraordinarily hazardous because of the large amount of CO they emit. The hazard is far greater than that with
outboard motors because outboard motors generally have underwater
exhaust and are used on a moving boat. The hazard from permanently installed diesel generators is also usually less because the CO emissions are much lower and because of the wet exhaust.
I do not believe that CO alarms are a sufficient mitigation for a variety of reasons: the
alarm will not always work, the alarm may be disregarded, the alarm may not trigger because CO levels are hazardous only in an area away from the alarm.
Portable generators also pose fire hazards,
electrical hazards, and hazards incidental to
fuel handling and
storage.
Most of the fatalities involve larger generators operating heavy, continuous loads such as
electric heat or
air conditioning. Most of the fatalities involve operation in cold, windy, rainy
weather where some effort is made to locate the generator in a protected area. Most of the fatalities involve dealing with some combination of stressful situations often including illness (or seasickness) and fatigue. All this is just as true on
boats as on land. In recent years there was a local fatality here where someone was running
electric heat on their boat on a stormy day.
My
advice
- Equip your boat with proper
marine electrical systems that rely on a portable generator, if at all, as only a backup or standby source
- Have a proper
heating system (Espar or similar) if you are in a cold climate and use your boat during shoulder seasons
- If you use a portable generator get a small one. Anything larger than the 2200 watt
inverter machines is too big
- Only run them when a responsible, able-bodied individual is present and awake to observe the situation and mitigate any hazards that occur
- The detectors do help even though they do not make an unsafe
installation into a safe one
The propane conversions pose their own problems and hazards and are not ideal for use on a boat.
Smart people who think they know the hazards have been killed too