Generator or No Generator

[Groucho]

Agree with most of the above. No way I would have a boat 28' or more without a generator..I mostly use mine for my 5:00 coffee every night. Worth every penny.

 

[hottoddie]

Would not be without it. AC, cooking (have electric Webber grill), powering high speed pump to inflate toys, etc. BTW try to avoid Kohler generators. Westerbeke's are pretty common but I think a more expensive option but worth it.

 

[Creekwood]

Count me in the votes as saying look for one with a generator. When I bought my 330 I was thinking I could live with out one. And I can. I use a golf cart battery bank and inverter while on the hook and cook with a butane burner and Magma BBQ. But... If I could turn back time I would have waited to find a nice 330 with a generator. I probably would not use it much because of how I boat, but it would make overnights on the hook a bit more convenient.

 

[TTG]

I know I’m the new guy here....but when I was initially looking for my 34’ I immediately discarded boats without a genny. At the time I had a 27 Formula PC (with wife and two young daughters) and being in the Midwest it was great having AC at the sandbar for the little ones. Maintenance hasn’t been bad (my experience). Standard impeller changes and fluids. But—we do use it and I think that is key. The marina where we keep the boat says most of the generators they work on are the ones where people never use them—until they try to. Long story short—all depends how you plan to use the boat. I also feel resale is better too—although that really wasn’t a factor when I was looking since I knew we’d be using it.

 

[Blueone]

Long story short—all depends how you plan to use the boat. I also feel resale is better too

The way we use our boat the generator doesn't play a big part in the experience. Resale however is important. I think you would be better off to have it and not use it.

 

[andy k]

I think a lot depends on your boating locations. Being on the upper side of lake Michigan the generator is not as needed. At night the Temps are low enough that opening the hatches while on hook is very comfortable at night with the average temps in the low 60's. We have a flexible solar panel and a inverter which is capable enough to run the stereo/tv and keep the batteries topped off. We put 70-100 hrs on the motors each year and at most 20 hrs on the generator. If we boated in the south or an inland lake things would be very different.

However I think that resale would be hard not having a generator in a 34' + boat. If you find you are not using your generator at all I am sure you could "mothball" the generator and not touch it for a few years.

 

[mobocracy]

I vote get one with a generator, but make sure to get one with a sound shield!

My 310 has no sound shield on the generator. The sound it makes doesn't really bother me, but my wife can't stand it so we run it a lot less than we would. Honestly I think the blowers are louder than even the unshielded generator.

My cabin would be nearly permanently air conditioned if I had my druthers. I do overrule her if we've been on the hook for a while, and we run it when cooking -- it's mandatory for the Kenyon grill and the microwave.

I've looked at adding a sound shield, either the Kohler OEM one or an aftermarket model, but near as I can tell they all involve quite a bit of effort, which I think included unbolting and lifting the generator, something I'd have have done by a real shop.

 

[firecadet613]

I vote get one with a generator, but make sure to get one with a sound shield!

My 310 has no sound shield on the generator. The sound it makes doesn't really bother me, but my wife can't stand it so we run it a lot less than we would. Honestly I think the blowers are louder than even the unshielded generator.

My cabin would be nearly permanently air conditioned if I had my druthers. I do overrule her if we've been on the hook for a while, and we run it when cooking -- it's mandatory for the Kenyon grill and the microwave.

I've looked at adding a sound shield, either the Kohler OEM one or an aftermarket model, but near as I can tell they all involve quite a bit of effort, which I think included unbolting and lifting the generator, something I'd have have done by a real shop.

I've had two boats without the sound shield, current boat had it. "Had it", as I removed it, thankfully. Bought the boat this year, previous owner had the marina maintain it with an open checkbook. Clearly they never checked the coolant in the generator (and she was always stored indoor heated).

With the sound shield on and just the front cover removed, you really can't see the coolant overflow bottle and definitely can't remove the coolant pressure cap to check the coolant. With less than 50 hours on my 12 year old generator, I'm glad I checked it before winter and did a full coolant change!

It's also a heat trap...but surprisingly not that much louder without it on my 37'. On my prior smaller boats, I bet it'd of made a difference.

 

[Fly'n Family]

But—we do use it and I think that is key. The marina where we keep the boat says most of the generators they work on are the ones where people never use them—until they try to.

Spot on. When we were in CO with our 370, rarely used the generator, and when we did it seemed like there was always an issue with it of some sort. Finally after a couple seasons of this, I'd run it - just to run it and never had a problem.

Two years later and a different boat in TX, and we run the generator constantly - and (knock on wood) have never had an issue.

Use it or lose it...

 

[DWABoat]

I was in the same situation as you last year. The Admiral can’t handle 90 degree day trips to Ship Island (Mississippi) in the summer heat anymore, so my cuddy cabin sat on the trailer most of the summer.
Late this summer I got the 280 with a generator and a/c. The difference is night and day on the wear and tear on her. When we anchored, I fired up the gen, cranked up the a/c, and we enjoyed the hot day.
She was able to cool off regularly throughout the day. I even had to turn it off in the late afternoon because the cabin got too cold.
As we both age, out boating needs change. I need accommodations for comfort more than speed now.
You should get the generator option.

 

[endless seas]

With.

 

[sbw1]

I vote get one with a generator, but make sure to get one with a sound shield!

My 310 has no sound shield on the generator. The sound it makes doesn't really bother me, but my wife can't stand it so we run it a lot less than we would. Honestly I think the blowers are louder than even the unshielded generator.

My cabin would be nearly permanently air conditioned if I had my druthers. I do overrule her if we've been on the hook for a while, and we run it when cooking -- it's mandatory for the Kenyon grill and the microwave.

I've looked at adding a sound shield, either the Kohler OEM one or an aftermarket model, but near as I can tell they all involve quite a bit of effort, which I think included unbolting and lifting the generator, something I'd have have done by a real shop.

Tiara deals with the genny noise problem in two ways that are very effective. First of all they use Westerbeke gennys in many if not all of their Open models. WBs run at lower RPMs than other brands so the noise levels are lower. Secondly, the cockpits floors of later model Tiaras are heavily insulated with sound deadening materials glassed into the floors and finished on both sides so it can not be seen or damaged going into and out of the ER. The ER is the sound shield and the result is a very quiet boat. The gennys are almost inaudible to your neighbors when running in a anchorage. The sound inside the boat is a steady hum that is not objectionable. Something to consider when shopping for your next boat.

 

[Craig]

Just make sure you strap it down real good.

 

[DWABoat]

Just make sure you strap it down real good.
View attachment 78351

WTF!
Let’s pray that’s photoshopped!

 

[Henry Boyd]

Time to put the popcorn on.

 

[mobocracy]

Just make sure you strap it down real good.
View attachment 78351

Usually they mount it safely on the transom!

It does kind of make me wonder, though, how much extra engineering it would take to make a Honda EU series generator ignition-protected. I've seen those things running before at events and they are dead silent unless you're within about 5 feet of them. The other thought I had is what if they were in a sealed enclosure with their own forced air ventilation?

Obviously this glosses over ideas about fuel supply, electrical connectivity, cooling and exhaust elimination.

But for some reason those Honda EU generators feel like space age technology relative to your bog standard Kohler generators, especially since they output pure sine wave AC and are so quiet. I can't even find any Kohler marine generator sound ratings, but Honda's numbers shows even their entire model line under 70 db(A), with the 10kw unit just slightly over at 73.

 

[Stee6043]

It's threads like these that make many of us quickly forget how much pain and suffering can be associated with a generator.

Our dear generators can be 1.) many times the hardest to access system on the boat, 2.) substantially impacted by non-use (in a bad way), 3.) often times rather difficult to trouble shoot (110v side, 12v side, fuel system, cooling system, oil pressure, etc) and 4.) require rather special skills to repair when dealing with the electrical side (ie, not all marinas are equally awesome at servicing generators, get a capacitor replaced to prove this ).

I wouldn't own a boat without a generator but man.....there isn't any other system on the boats I've owned that I've spent more time cussing about.

 

[sbw1]

It's threads like these that make many of us quickly forget how much pain and suffering can be associated with a generator.

Our dear generators can be 1.) many times the hardest to access system on the boat, 2.) substantially impacted by non-use (in a bad way), 3.) often times rather difficult to trouble shoot (110v side, 12v side, fuel system, cooling system, oil pressure, etc) and 4.) require rather special skills to repair when dealing with the electrical side (ie, not all marinas are equally awesome at servicing generators, get a capacitor replaced to prove this ).

I wouldn't own a boat without a generator but man.....there isn't any other system on the boats I've owned that I've spent more time cussing about.

We had our WB genny serviced by the local distributor in Spring Lake and it provided reliable service. It could be a little finicky to start for the first time coming out of storage in the Spring. After 5-10 minutes it always came to life and ran with out issues until it was winterized in the fall. We followed the maintenance rountine by the book, which was not cheap. This saved us the frustration that so many complain about on boat forums. I will add that it did not get lots of use. We averaged about 30 hours a year over the 15 years we owned the boat. Some years it ran for hours straight and then some years not so much. I believe this is a case of you get what you pay for.

 

[Craig]

It's threads like these that make many of us quickly forget how much pain and suffering can be associated with a generator.

Our dear generators can be 1.) many times the hardest to access system on the boat, 2.) substantially impacted by non-use (in a bad way), 3.) often times rather difficult to trouble shoot (110v side, 12v side, fuel system, cooling system, oil pressure, etc) and 4.) require rather special skills to repair when dealing with the electrical side (ie, not all marinas are equally awesome at servicing generators, get a capacitor replaced to prove this ).

I wouldn't own a boat without a generator but man.....there isn't any other system on the boats I've owned that I've spent more time cussing about.

I never am without a spare impeller, fuel filter and spark plugs for my 5E.

 

[JimT]

I start the genny before I leave the dock and shut it down when we return. I would never have cruiser without one.