First time mooring

[Irie308]

So the wife and I have an over night planned at the Setauket yacht club in Port Jeff NY. We figured this would be a great overnight stay to get used to future overnights away from a dock. I have a few questions/concerns as to how most anchor out or moor away from shore. Setauket has a service that will ferry us back and forth to shore since we don't have a dingy. 1) Do you run your generator while you are away from the boat (would like to keep the fridge and icemaker going for cold drinks)? 2) We are both a bit nervous about sleeping with the generator running but would like the creature comforts of AC, Fridge, Wi-Fi, TV etc.. If we shut down the genny before going to sleep could we last on the batteries for, lights, water pump, vacuflush and fridge until the morning? Also note aside from the oem CO monitor we purchased 2 additional battery operated CO units with digital read outs for the cockpit and the aft bunk.

 

[Hifirush]

Good questions. I do run my generator while away, but only for short periods of time, say an hour. I’m not sure if this is the smartest thing to do, I’m looking for others to chime in as well. I have no problem sleeping with the genny running and you have done the right thing, added more CO2 detectors. As for shutting the genny off, you should last the night with lights and your fridges, but I’d turn off the water pump, if has a tendency to run because of some kind of leak, same with your head system that makes them come on frequently. Hope this helps, Matt

 

[JimT]

Personally, I would be fine leaving the genny running while ashore. You can also run the fridge off of the 12v batteries while ashore. Make sure to turn off your starting batteries so they don't get run down.
I sleep with my genny running. I also have two battery operated CO alarms in addition to the hardwired alarm. Without the AC there is no way I could sleep aboard at night in the summer.

 

[Lazy Daze]

I've run fridge, lights, water pump, vaccuflush and occasional stereo for 3 days with only running the engine for about an hour (1/2 hour at two separate times). This was off a single group 27 deep cycle. Still was able to start the engine the last day. As long as you're not constantly opening the fridge and standing in front of it trying to figure out what you want (like at home), the fridge is actually quite efficient.

 

[MonacoMike]

The generator was made run, run it, or save money to repair it. I have the factory installed CO detectors and then have added battery powered (only no AC/DC) home detectors with a digital read out at each sleeping area and the helm.

They run events for months on generators they were built to use. I have often wondered what those who would only run it when they are there are looking for or planning to do. If something goes wrong with the generator most wouldn't notice until the power went down and you can figure that out after you get back.

MM

 

[Ididntdoit]

The generator was made run, run it, or save money to repair it. I have the factory installed CO detectors and then have added battery powered (only no AC/DC) home detectors with a digital read out at each sleeping area and the helm.

They run events for months on generators they were built to use. I have often wondered what those who would only run it when they are there are looking for or planning to do. If something goes wrong with the generator most wouldn't notice until the power went down and you can figure that out after you get back.

MM

The above does not pertain to the matter at hand and is missing some important information....These generators (small gas units) like to run under load running them for the sake of running them will do more harm then good. what you will find most of us in the northeast do (we dont need air cond all day) is run it for an hour or so in the morning and again in the evening - during those times run the battery charger and also take care of anything you need ac power for (cooking, making coffee, hot water, hairdrier, etc) the smaller cruisers are 12v boats - that is most of the systems run off battery power - as mentioned above, the fridge will run off ac or dc....another trick for the fridge is to crank it up to 5 when on the gennie and then back it off to 3.5 or so once your back on 12v - many people convert to led lights to conserve 12v power too....as for running the gen while underway or at night, you really dont need to unless you want the air cond. on...

 

[MonacoMike]

The generator was made run, run it, or save money to repair it.

The above does not pertain to the matter at hand and is missing some important information....These generators (small gas units) like to run under load running them for the sake of running them will do more harm then good. what you will find most of us in the northeast do (we dont need air cond all day) is run it for an hour or so in the morning and again in the evening ....as for running the gen while underway or at night, you really dont need to unless you want the air cond. on...

My expectation was if the OP wanted to run it he was going to use the power. It doesn't take much of a sunny day without AC in the cabin to melt the icing off my choclate cake. I always like the cabin cool and, just as importantly, dehumidified. My Cruisaire runs all season.

MM

 

[Hifirush]

My expectation was if the OP wanted to run it he was going to use the power. It doesn't take much of a sunny day without AC in the cabin to melt the icing off my choclate cake. I always like the cabin cool and, just as importantly, dehumidified. My Cruisaire runs all season.

MM

MM, I agree with you, they must run, under a load. The fella in the next to me has the exact same boat, just older, and he has been running his genny once a week for a while, but not under load. He came by to chat when I was running mine, under a load. I explained why I was doing it and we went to start his and it flailed about. We kept at it and it finally smoothed out and started to run proper, unde the load. Now he has been doing this weekly and it is running much better, hopefully he caught it all in time, seems so.

Like you, I keep my AC on constantly, whether at the dock on SP or with genny. My wife was asking can we wear it out? I didn’t know what to say, excpet that “this is what we have it for”. Any thoughts?

Matt

 

[MonacoMike]

Like you, I keep my AC on constantly, whether at the dock on SP or with genny. My wife was asking can we wear it out? I didn’t know what to say, excpet that “this is what we have it for”. Any thoughts?

Matt

I would suspect most non-electric AC failures were due to corrosion, detieration, and sealed system breaches. None of which is caused by use.

MM

 

[Gofirstclass]

We usually run the genny most of the time we're on the boat. It powers the usual stuff plus 4 heat/air reverse cycle units, so there's almost always a load on it, plus it charges the batteries for the inverter and bow thruster.

Gensets are very economical to operate and you have one on board to make your trips more comfortable. Use it.

 

[copb8tx]

Like the others, we sleep with ours on all the time. It's too damn hot in Texas to go without AC. We have 3 built in CO detectors and another 2 independent battery powered ones that we test each night before going to bed. I also don't mind leaving my generator running while I'm away from the boat so that the A/C continues to run and cool the cabin.