420/44 DB Owners Club

That clears it up. How many hours between lubes and do you use it when you are anchored in hot weather?
 
They recommend one hour between lubes (to protect my investment) and that I should thoroughly warm it up before loading it but not to pull the load out without letting it cool down slowly. Hot or cold weather, doesn't matter.
 
I say just buy a 480/52 DB and turn all the switches to "ON" and drink beer and not worry about all this bullsh!t.
 
I did a test last year... I put my Gen on the port tank and leave it there. When I start my engines, I always start the starboard engine first. Let it get up to speed and then start the port. When I shut down, I shut down the port first and then the starboard. The fuel consumption difference by doing this, offsets the Gen consumption to within a few gallons when I refuel. the moral of the story is... You burn equal fuel by starting the other engine first than the gen consumes all weekend.

My goal is to have the highest Gen hours on CSR ever!!! I've read that some people have gone 20,000 hours on a diesel gen. My bones would be dust by the time I reach 20,000 hours.
 
fc3 said:
So... like I got this hammer... And you know... when I hit my thumb with the hammer it hurts. I wasn't sure if the pain was a direct result of hitting my thumb with the hammer or if it was just a strange coincidence. So I hit my thumb again. You won't believe this, but it's true, my thumb hurt even more. Sure, but it was the same pain and not a new pain. It could be that the old pain was just intensifying on it's own and that hitting my thumb with the hammer had absolutely nothing to do with the increased pain. So I hit my thumb once more. Interestingly... the pain got more intense. "Ah! I'm on to something here!" So I switched the hammer to the other hand, which I had to do very carefully because of my painful thumb, and hit the thumb on my other hand a couple of times. Again, I got a similar pain thing going, but it's not quite exactly the same.

I think there might be a causal relationship there, but the data isn't 100% crystal clear. And then I got confused. Was that a causal relationship or a casual relationship? Big difference between the two! So I'm going to repeat the experiments again tomorrow after the swelling goes down, when I can hold a hammer in my hands again.
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Frank,

I think I'd prefer the "casual" relationship...
 
I can see where Alex is coming from, If there is no need to run it, why run it just for the sake of running it?

But I have a question. I don't want to hijack this thread, so lets say you have a 420DB, and you are on a mooring. You leave the boat in the morning and will be gone all day on shore. How do you feel about leaving the generator running while you are gone?

I keep thinking I want to put an inverter for these times, but never get around to it. I am just always afraid that a hose will pop off, or something bad will happen. I don't know why, it runs for hours on end while we are with it. The boat it always floating when I get back. so I guess it's fine. There are quite a few safetys.

What do you guys do?
 
Greg said:
I can see where Alex is coming from, If there is no need to run it, why run it just for the sake of running it?

But I have a question. I don't want to hijack this thread, so lets say you have a 420DB, and you are on a mooring. You leave the boat in the morning and will be gone all day on shore. How do you feel about leaving the generator running while you are gone?

I keep thinking I want to put an inverter for these times, but never get around to it. I am just always afraid that a hose will pop off, or something bad will happen. I don't know why, it runs for hours on end while we are with it. The boat it always floating when I get back. so I guess it's fine. There are quite a few safetys.

What do you guys do?
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Greg,

Thanks for reading and understanding my point correctly. It was nothing more than how you phrased it.

You have an interesting question that would apply to any boat in the same situation. I personally think that having faith in your rig is the key. It shouldn't matter if you on board or away your comfort level should be there. If it's not, then perhaps it's the time to revisit some maintenance items (hoses, clamps or whatever applies) and get them done to get the comfort level where it should be. I also think that if you feel comfortable running the genny while cruising 10 miles offshore it's far more important than having your boat sitting on the mooring ball. Worst case scanrio while she's moored and there's a trouble, you and the rest of the crew are safe while you're touring the shore. This changes while you're cruising offshore.

I know that any 480 or larger yacht owners don't like this statement, but this is where 420 (and similar models) owners have a choice and shot the genny down. Even on the hot summer days some may choose to compromize having high temps in the salon and just keep the 12v. equipment running vs. worrying about the situation you're descibing. In your case, you pretty much have to run the genny to deliver 220v to fridges.

Would I personally leave my genny running while I'm gone? Most likelly yes for several reasons:
1-I have confidence in my rig as it's properly maintaned.
2-if it's about to fail I prefer it happens while she's moored and not offshore.

I'm sure others will chime in, but this is just my .02c. FWIW.
 
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I look at generator hours as fairly meaningless. A lot means that it has been properly maintained (or you wouldn't have been able to rack up hours!) and that it was used regularly.

I have a friend with the worst generator ever (Kohler gas 5KV in a 2006 340DA). It has never stayed running longer than 20 minutes straight. After five years he only has like 30 hours on it - go figure... (Will probably be VERY attractive to a clueless buyer!)

A brand new replacement genny is something like $10K - about as much as one of these boats depreciates every 6 months.... I am not about to let wear on the genny worry me into enjoying the boat less for even one minute.

The fuel consumption is definitely more than the differential in starting/stopping one engine. About 8 gallons per 24-hr day by my calculations.

I do sometimes shut down the genny on the hook - mostly when we are outside and just don't want to listen to the thing... I don't leave it on when we are away from the boat though.
 
First_Mate said:
I look at generator hours as fairly meaningless. A lot means that it has been properly maintained (or you wouldn't have been able to rack up hours!) and that it was used regularly. .....
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I agree, however from re-sale point of view I've learned that not every buyer thnks the same way knowladgible boaters do. I'm sure that good percentage of 420 buyers fall in to more intelegent and knowledgable category, but still a lot of folks get alarmed when they see thousands of hours on any rig. So, having that in mind when we're out for a weekend I simply ask mysleft "do I really need to put 48hrs on my genny when I don't really need it all this time?", my answer is no, absolutelly not.


First_Mate said:
.....I have a friend with the worst generator ever (Kohler gas 5KV in a 2006 340DA). It has never stayed running longer than 20 minutes straight. After five years he only has like 30 hours on it - go figure... (Will probably be VERY attractive to a clueless buyer!).....
Click to expand...

My 320DA had the same Kohler 5K genny and actually for the 4 yrs of ownership it worked like a champ. I had always maintained it properly and had absolutelly zero troubles. I never ran it 24hrs non-stop, but it never had trouble running over night. It was always reay to fire up the minute I needed it for few hours of use while cooking a meal or whatever. The only minor thing it had is that when cold, it would take two attempts to fire it up, but I didn't want to crank the starter too much. 2nd crank on cold and it's running as long as I needed it. The genny had around 325hrs on it when I traded the boat.

I also agree that it's a sad fact, but in your friends situation sure enough the clueless buyer will be very happy to have low hours but not 100% functionally reliable unit.


First_Mate said:
....The fuel consumption is definitely more than the differential in starting/stopping one engine. About 8 gallons per 24-hr day by my calculations.....
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Thank you, that's good first hand info. Before I got my 420 larger boat owners claimed that these 9KW units and similar use about 1GPH, so I was expecting to see about 50% encrease compare to 5K Kohler. When I found the specs for the Onan 9KW I was pleasantly surprized to learn that it's way more economical than I was told.

First_Mate said:
....I do sometimes shut down the genny on the hook - mostly when we are outside and just don't want to listen to the thing... I don't leave it on when we are away from the boat though.
Click to expand...

Sounds like we're on the same page. I'm positive that there're lots of people out there with similar rig that do the same. I never was in situation where I had to leave the baot for a day on a mooring and make the choice to leave the genny running or not. Usually, we're on the hook and land exursions don't take more than few hours, so having the genny running for this time period wouldn't bother me even with my 320. If it's a 100 dgrees day and we're happen to be on a mooring (I'm trying to replicate Greg's scenario) and we're out touring a local town I wouldn't hesitate to run the genny whilre we're gone. I think the salon would reach over 120deg. and it would take a long time to get the comfortable temps back, so I guess it's just not worth the aggrevation.

Obviously, as I get to use my "new" 420 more and more in the first season I'll be able to judge better and report my experience.
 
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Alex F said:
I agree, however from re-sale point of view I've learned that not every buyer thnks the same way knowladgible boaters do. I'm sure that good percentage of 420 buyers fall in to more intelegent and knowledgable category, but still a lot of folks get alarmed when they see thousands of hours on any rig. So, having that in mind when we're out for a weekend I simply ask mysleft "do I really need to put 48hrs on my genny when I don't really need it all this time?", my answer is no, absolutelly not.
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My point is that would be a simple conversation. "A new genny is worth $10K, mine has 5000 hours on it. This is why I've reduced the price of the boat by $5000"

Alex F said:
My 320DA had the same Kohler 5K genny and actually for the 4 yrs of ownership it worked like a champ. I had always maintained it properly and had absolutelly zero troubles. I never ran it 24hrs non-stop, but it never had trouble running over night. It was always reay to fire up the minute I needed it for few hours of use while cooking a meal or whatever. The only minor thing it had is that when cold, it would take two attempts to fire it up, but I didn't want to crank the starter too much. 2nd crank on cold and it's running as long as I needed it. The genny had around 325hrs on it when I traded the boat.
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I had the same genny in a 2005 Four Winns 348 Vista. Never missed a beat in 1100 hours except for when spark plugs were due. My friend's is the first year of the "Low CO" generators and I think his issues are more with the sensor circuit that shuts it down when it detects fumes.




Alex F said:
Thank you, that's good first hand info. Before I got my 420 larger boat owners claimed that these 9KW units and similar use about 1GPH, so I was expecting to see about 50% encrease compare to 5K Kohler. When I found the specs for the Onan 9KW I was pleasantly surprized to learn that it's way more economical than I was told.

Obviously, as I get to use my "new" 420 more and more in the first season I'll be able to judge better and report my experience.
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My 5K gas Kohler burned a little more gas than this 9K Onan diesel. About .5 GPH if memory serves...
 
Alex F said:
So, having that in mind when we're out for a weekend I simply ask mysleft "do I really need to put 48hrs on my genny when I don't really need it all this time?", my answer is no, absolutelly not.

My 320DA had the same Kohler 5K genny and actually for the 4 yrs of ownership it worked like a champ. I had always maintained it properly and had absolutelly zero troubles. I never ran it 24hrs non-stop, but it never had trouble running over night. It was always reay to fire up the minute I needed it for few hours of use while cooking a meal or whatever. The only minor thing it had is that when cold, it would take two attempts to fire it up, but I didn't want to crank the starter too much. 2nd crank on cold and it's running as long as I needed it. The genny had around 325hrs on it when I traded the boat.

Thank you, that's good first hand info.

Obviously, as I get to use my "new" 420 more and more in the first season I'll be able to judge better and report my experience.
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Same.

Same, 340, 1800 Hrs on genny.

Same.
 
Good grief guys, once you drive over a cat so many times, it just doesn't get any flatter. Lets move on to...oh, lets say, how many times the vaccuflush pump should pump for it to be at it's most efficient without excess battery drain at anchor. Should I start the generator before or after I use the head. Cripes..............
 
First_Mate said:
I have a friend with the worst generator ever (Kohler gas 5KV in a 2006 340DA). It has never stayed running longer than 20 minutes straight.
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I had the same problem.
http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/23752-Kohler-5ecd-Generator-shuts-down-EC72

Chris in texas tipped me off to a possible cheap chinese relay switch. After reading his suggestion I called Kohler and spoke to a Kohler Tech rep who confirmed they were having some problems with the relay. I ordered the switch from a Kohler dealer for about $5.00 and changed it myself. Generator is now working fine.


Sorry about the high jack.
 
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ImpulseIII said:
Good grief guys, once you drive over a cat so many times, it just doesn't get any flatter. Lets move on to...oh, lets say, how many times the vaccuflush pump should pump for it to be at it's most efficient without excess battery drain at anchor. Should I start the generator before or after I use the head. Cripes..............
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C'mon Frank,

The guys talked about freacking pig for two months and nominated it the best thread of the year. Geez.......

So, I think discussing and getting different opinoins on the best way to utilize diesel generator will be in best interest for many members who has diesel boats or looking to upgrade in the near future. IMO, it was very good and educational discussion. I just hope more people would chime in with good and helpful info.
 
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