Portable generator or not?

[Calif.Ted]

I got mine to make hot water, wife insists on daily showers and by the third morning with a 6-gallon heater it was lukewarm at best. The generator heats faster than the main engine can even warm up.

[dlj]

I have the same Honda you are asking about. I've been traveling for about a year at this point. I carried the Honda as a back-up just in case. I've not used it once. The other day I was thinking I hadn't started it in about a year so might be time to check. So I hooked it up and it fired up on the first pull, ran perfectly. I am running ethanol free gasoline.

If I were to repeat this trip, would I take it? Frankly, I'm not sure. I've certainly not needed it and would not expect to in the future. But it is a nice-to-have backup, and i do like redundant systems.

If you know you will use it, bring it. If you want the peace of mind having it as backup, being it. Only you know your power usage and how necessary it may be. They are a pain to store.

FWIW

dj

[Secondshift]

Originally Posted by Pizzazz

The point though is that if you do not use it very often, it will not start when you need it. Ethanol in the fuel, etc. is not ideal. If you just want to have peace of mind, then you always have the main engine to start to charge the batteries. If you really need a backup option, I would just spend $200 on those non-inverter generators and make sure you only use non-ethanol fuel in it. But in general, it is more hassle than help.

Totally disagree.

A cheap generator is much more likely to fail than the Honda regardless of ethanol, been there.
Ours (lightly used) runs great after 10 years with regular gas and now mostly used for home power outages and power tools at anchor.

As for more hassle than help.
It really is about your power usage and batt bank. .

Ours stays ashore since adding more solar but peace of mind goes a long way.

You could also sell it later and recoup some cost.


Best luck

[Xavierp]

Originally Posted by bgallinger

We bought a Honda generator and used it just briefly. It worked very well, but my wife HATED the noise and the smell. Your bank of solar panels should suffice nicely!

ahaha

I should have specified, as a spare, an in-case the solar stops working or the weather is bad

[Xavierp]

Originally Posted by dlj

I have the same Honda you are asking about. I've been traveling for about a year at this point. I carried the Honda as a back-up just in case. I've not used it once. The other day I was thinking I hadn't started it in about a year so might be time to check. So I hooked it up and it fired up on the first pull, ran perfectly. I am running ethanol free gasoline.

If I were to repeat this trip, would I take it? Frankly, I'm not sure. I've certainly not needed it and would not expect to in the future. But it is a nice-to-have backup, and i do like redundant systems.

If you know you will use it, bring it. If you want the peace of mind having it as backup, being it. Only you know your power usage and how necessary it may be. They are a pain to store.

FWIW

dj

Many great points, thanks.
I am looking, like you, for a back-up, just in case.
Storage is already an issue. I might wait a little then and see how my system performs

[Russ]

Absolutely but I opted for Predator from Harbour Freight Half the price if. Honda and just as reliable so far(3 years)
Boat came with a diesel mounted Entec which never started despite many many repairs.
A the kate Larry Berlin said your main engine is not a generator/ charger running it to charge batteries is not engine healthy

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by Xavierp

Hi all

We are heading to the bahamas with the goal to anchor and stay unplugged.

We have 800W of solar panels and I am wondering if we should spend $1,000 in the famous Honda 2000i gen/inv.

Thoughts?

Thx1

The $1,000 may be better spent on upgrading your main engine battery charging system. I cruise about seven months of the year and find that I fairly often need to motor a couple of hours to recharge batteries even though I have about 1,000 Watts of solar.

[Dockhead]

No useful answer to this question can be given without knowing what electrical gear you have on board and how you use it, and also, what kind of battery bank you have.

We were perfectly happy with solar and no generator on the previous boat and had unlimited endurance unplugged. But then -- we didn't use our AC at anchor, didn't have a washing machine, read books rather than watching movies, had a single reefer system, and had a ginormous battery bank. Electrical power needed mostly for the refrigeration.


YMMV. My present boat is electrical-intensive, and we don't have solar at all. A heavy duty diesel generator and double alternators on the main engine satisfy our power needs. Different use case.


If you do need the generator, and you don't want to install a diesel one (which is much, much better), then the famous Honda, run on engineered fuel (chain saw fuel bought at big box home improvement stores), is a good solution, but be very careful with the fumes, which can kill you.


The noise and smell are annoying, but depending on your use case, could be better than running out of power. Be careful not to disturb your neighbors, so don't run early in the morning or at night, if you have anyone anchored nearby.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

The $1,000 may be better spent on upgrading your main engine battery charging system. I cruise about seven months of the year and find that I fairly often need to motor a couple of hours to recharge batteries even though I have about 1,000 Watts of solar.

This is a really good tip.

A heavy duty school bus alternator with good regulation is an incredibly useful device. Even much more if you can fit two alternators and separate the battery systems.

You can get a ton of power out of these, and the cost is very modest. Mine will put out 2.5kW. I can run the washing machine and dryer off the inverter while underway if we are motoring, no need to start the generator.

Given a choice between a suitcase gen and a heavy duty alternator, I would take the latter.

Then upgrade the battery bank if it's not capacious, and you can store a bunch of power every time you motor anywhere, or whenever you have a good solar harvest day.

Only if those things don't solve the problem, then you might need a suitcase gen.

[NorthCoastJoe]

I have that small Honda 2200i generator and it is mostly as a backup. Why put hours on an expensive diesel main engine when a little Honda will do.

Next up, for the people that have problems with ethanol fuel..... OPERATOR ERROR.......

On my home property I have a 26 year old 6500 watt Honda that has lived its life on ethanol fuel with no problems. I change fuel every 6 months with fresh gas and Sta-Bil mixed in. This generator is 26 years old and over 1900 hours of use it starts first pull every time. The only repair in all that time was a new outlet for the 220 plug. I run it dry after every use then turn off the key.

Lesson use Sta-Bil in the gas, new gas every 6 months, and run the carburetor dry at the end of every use.

Burn up the old gas in your outboard.

[Cheechako]

I will not use ethanol fuel in any gas powered device for the property. Weed wacker, chainsaw, generator, lawn mower, outboard etc. It has screwed up every one of them in a short time. My brand new gen set was used once. 3 months later, in the dark of night, power out, it would not start.
I couldn't start it the next day either. Finally removed the carb bowl and it was heavily corroded inside. Cleaned it all up and never used ethanol gas again. It will sit 6 months and start right up now. So will the lawnmower. It will sit October to April and start up. My Honda Pressure washer started up after sitting 2 years! I dont have the time or inclination to start up all 7 devices every couple months and use ethanol gas.

[Curmugeon]

I found the Honda very useful. l used it to power tools, charge the batteries when the sun did not shine and the wind did not blow. I always knew I could start the engine if the batteries discharged for any reason. Some annoying people used their generators in the evening and late at night to watch TV whilst at anchor.

[justinfinity]

If you don't like the noise or smell, put in the dinghy, downwind. That's what we did.

I have used the Honda 2000 for almost ten years (boating and RVing). Apart from charging, It can run one zone of air conditioning (or just dehumidify), or the water heater.

Last year, I got a Champion 4500 dual fuel generator which provides more than enough power but it is larger and heavier than the Honda 2000. I've worked out a solution for storing it and operating it, but the Honda (and that ilk) are pretty handy and reliable.

[argonauta1]

You will be a leper in any anchorage especially if you operate it at cocktail hour!

[zippy]

I would respectfully request that if you are running a portable generator, please anchor down wind and as far from other boats as possible. Had a boat anchor right in front of us last week, put the generator on the transom and disappeared below for hours while it ran. I’m sure it was noisier for us than it was for them.