New 280DA owner - how do I use genny, AC, DC, etc.?

[BigJer]

The blower is intended to vent the bilge for the gen and engines so you are not over using the blower. You're blower might be going bad but someone else can chime in on that.

More important is the fact that you are running the gen at the dock...DON"T run the gen at the dock. The CO can accumulate around your boat and others. If you have dock neighbors the CO can slip into their boats undetected --- maybe even several slips down. I don't have the manual handy but I am pretty sure it warns of this.

Thanks for the info. Luckily, the dock that I refered to is at my house with no other boats in sight! It was just too stinkin' hot to be stocking the cabin without a/c (just had the boat 3 days now, so we're trying to get things squared away). I'm within a few days of having shore power completed, then no CO issues for sure.

 

[BigJer]

We run the gen while underway on really hot days to keep the a/c running and so the kids can watch a movie when they need to get out of the sun.

As already noted -- invest in CO detectors. I'm kind of paranoid about it so I have 3 in the cabin. One in the mid-berth, one in the dining area, and the built-in detctor in the forward berth.

All the CO detectors at the local marine supply store are wired (no batteries). Can I "steal" power from a light fixture for them?

 

[Tonka Boater]

All the CO detectors at the local marine supply store are wired (no batteries). Can I "steal" power from a light fixture for them?

I use household CO detectors for my galley and mid-berth that I bought at Home Depot. They are a lot cheaper and they do the same thing.

You can use the wired ones but it would be ideal to tie all of your detectors together so that if one goes off, they all off. Another reason is that the factory CO detector in the forward berth is tied to your generator so if it detects too much CO in the cabin it will sound the alarm and shut down the gen as a precaution. If you go the wired route, you should tie into the factory detector for the gen shut-off option.