Generator Platform Replacement

Last winter I replaced the the platform in the engine room that the Westerbeke generator sits on. The above pic is the result.

In the 400DB, the generator is mounted in the center of the vessel and aft in the engine room. Originally from factory, it sits on a piece of plywood that is about 2’ deep and 6’ feet wide. I discovered that I had a leak from the generator that had been soaking the plywood, and rusting the generator rails in the process.

The original installation from the factory is flawed in my opinion. The weight of the generator sits on two rails that are perpendicular to the stringers. However, the rails are not long enough to span the center stringers. So 400lbs of generator is very poorly supported. Over time, the plywood had dropped/sagged at one corner about 1”. It was a matter of time before the plywood was going to break under the weight of the generator.

I failed to take pictures of the before, but did want to share the outcome. I used coosa board as a replacement and painted on epoxy at the recommendation of the manufacturer since I was going to have batteries and possibly battery acod coming in contact with them. I had to plan for three sections of coosa, since there was no way a single piece of plywood was going back in. I had to hoist the generator from a 4x4 that was 16 feet long. I placed it across the cockpit gunnels and used a come-along to ratchet it up.

Additionally, I ordered replacement rails, and took them to a shop to have them extended. They now span the stringers and the weight of the generator is fully supported on the stringers.



Here you can see how I placed the center board on top of the side pieces which
Hold the banks of batteries on the port side.



I also used coosa board to rebuild the racor mounts on the port side, and enhanced the design to better support the weight of the Batteries in addition to the racors.



On the starboard side I moved the generator starting battery to give me more space.



Here is a good shot of the rail that has been extended beyond the stringer.



Just wanted to pass this along. Hope it all makes sense. It was quite the effort, but I am very satisfied how it turned out.

Wow, what a nice job. Good upgrade and it looks great. Thanks for sharing your work with us.

Very nice craftsmanship! Nice upgrade...

Looks very good.

MM

Great engineering job, only thing I see is the steel supports need to rust proofed and all the bolts, nuts should be stainless steel especially if you are running in saltwater. Just a suggestion. Again great job.

Loyd Dinneen said:

Great engineering job, only thing I see is the steel supports need to rust proofed and all the bolts, nuts should be stainless steel especially if you are running in saltwater. Just a suggestion. Again great job.

Click to expand...

Loyd,
The supports were primed and painted, I did use all stainless steel hardware on the install. The exposed steel areas are where I had to drill though the rail from the underside of the platform to install bolts to secure the rail/generator to the platform. The vessel made it 22 years on the old design, hopefully it last at least that long on this new design, and with better maintenance hopefully longer. Here’s to hoping at least

Nice Job. It looks great!

When you pulled the generator with the 4x4 and come along, was it a 1 2 or 3 man operation? Any advice on best way to do this? I'd love to see a picture of it happening!

I've been contemplating pulling mine to get it serviced, tuned up, painted etc, but getting it out is the hard part. While I have a different boat, nice to know it can be done.

Dave

dtfeld said:

Nice Job. It looks great!

When you pulled the generator with the 4x4 and come along, was it a 1 2 or 3 man operation? Any advice on best way to do this? I'd love to see a picture of it happening!

I've been contemplating pulling mine to get it serviced, tuned up, painted etc, but getting it out is the hard part. While I have a different boat, nice to know it can be done.

Dave

Click to expand...

I had a buddy there for the lifting of the gen the first time. I tried to get a single piece of plywood in there like what came out. Not happening, so added the rails and let it sit on the stringers until I went back and purchased the coosa and rethought my plan. Now I never hoisted the gen outnof the ER, just enough to suspend it about 3-4 inches to get my work done underneath it.