Portable generator or not?

[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

[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!

[singlespeed]

It all depends on your actual daily power use. If you are powering both a refrigerator and freezer, have the anchor alarm on continuously, need to charge personal devices, watching movies every night, etc., several days of rainy cloudy weather (it does happen in the sunny Bahamas) may force choices in energy consumption. Understand that enjoying being out under the stars, while at anchor, is not going to happen in adverse weather. More power consumption is the norm, unless you and wife are cognizant of the state of charge of your battery bank. Using a generator, even a quiet Honda, can be very disruptive to the peace of a crowded anchorage. If you normally anchor away from the crowds, go for it. In my case it weighed no more than my backup anchor and gave me a sense of power security in the event of a tropical storm moving through.

[danstanford]

Peace of mind in my view, even if you don't ever use it you will have it there if needed.

[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.

[Leadfree]

Don’t bother.

I’m running 3 Engels plus charging my doodads plus a 12v watermaker and 12v water heater on 760w/600Ah/12v, in the Bahamas. If there are a couple cloudy days I’ll crank an engine but that doesn’t happen very often.

Don’t add another heavy, maintenance demanding, fuel consumptive, noisy (including the ‘quieter’ ones) device.

[Cheyne]

We have one. From November to about the end of March is when it gets used. We have a fairly high power consumption compared to most and while we have a very large battery bank and solar setup the winter days get awful short. We need about 8 to 10kW a day from solar. In the winter we maybe make around 5 to 6kW a day. So about once a week we get out the Honda fill it with fuel and let it run until it is empty which is about 4.5 hours. That will produce about 6kW. We put it on the starboard sugar scoup and we can barely hear it inside the boat. After March it only comes out if we need to make water with our Rainman portable.

[fxykty]

It all depends on your energy usage and how many non-sunny or low sun days you can go without running down your batteries. If you don’t have a high output alternator on your main engine then a portable generator is a reasonable back up power source. You can spend less than a third of the Honda price for a generic brand generator from a big box store that will be almost as quiet and efficient. But do be aware that the noise is considered obnoxious.

[S/V Illusion]

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.

The Honda models are very reliable if you use non -E fuel. My experience is similar to most people who say they never had a problem starting it after prolonged storage.

[Shrew]

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!

I've used one for the better part of 15 years. I see them used everywhere. I've never encountered one that smelled.

[Cheyne]

We always run ours empty when it is in use. Today is one of those days while we prep for bad weather here in the Exumas this weekend. I'm running my battery bank up to 90% today so I won't have to get the Honda out over the weekend when it will be cloudy and raining.

Cheyne

[mbianka]

A prudent mariner always has a backup. You are one solar power controller failure from being energy deficient. IMO a Honda generator is cheap insurance and gives you more options. Having converted to electric propulsion in 2008 my Honda has been a reliable backup for charging at anchor and useful for operating as a poor mans hybrid.

[Letterkenny]

I would. I like redundancy and while you have an alternator to charge presumably I’d rather put hours on the Honda than the main.

[Rohan]

I would vote yes. If you plan to run air conditioning, even only during the hottest part of the day, a generator is the only realistic way without a much more robust battery and solar setup, which would cost much more than a portable generator. But even in cold areas, there are so many uses. One useful way that I didn't expect is that I can run it for 15 minutes to heat up my water for a shower.

I held off getting one for awhile - I wanted a marine genset but it costs about 10 times what a portable one costs. But finally bit the bullet and glad I did. It's nice to have when you need it. It's true you can charge your batteries by idling your engine instead, but that's much more wasteful on fuel and isn't good for diesel engines.

I also found the portable genny seemed a lot less noisy if I moved it to a spot where it didn't vibrate the whole cockpit.

A downside is that you have to keep gasoline on board, although instead of a Honda, I got a Champion model which is similar, but can run on propane instead of gasoline (ended up using only gasoline anyway since propane is harder to fill up, but your mileage may vary)

[Cheechako]

As mentioned, it depends on your usage. But the back up is nice. What if your starting battery shorts a cell and you cant start? Or you drain down too far on the house banks with your battery switch accidentally left on "all" over night. Things happen. Murphy always stows away.
Necessary? Nah. Nice, yes.
I'd probably want a box to store it outside the boat interior on deck though.