Ditch the generator?

BruceK said:
The Paguro 4 SY I mentioned is a single at 3k rpm but only puts out 54db -7m. That's the same as the Honda suitcase genny. In it's insulation box with a trap to separate water and exhaust (to avoid splashing sounds) would it still be as bad as having a Honda onboard? (CO2 concerns etc excluded, just noise factor) It has double anti-vibration feet. One inside the casing and the other outside the casing. This is further dampenned by sitting on 18mm marine ply plate which itself is on anti vibration feet.

This is a real concern because I am considering one but really do not like the noise of a genny hence my LifePO4 project.
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The Honda suitcase has to sit on deck, preferably on the swim platform so fumes are taken away from the boat occupants. A fly bridge would probably also suffice. But the Honda is only whisper quiet at tick over, any load, even battery charging, causes the revs and noise to rise.
Out camping, with the Honda on the ground and thirty feet from your tent, the noise is acceptable. And don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful piece of kit. I have the 2kva model. But on a plastic boat it echos something bad. It is very noisy. Your neighbors will up anchor to get away, in fact the whole bay could end up a noise trap and even beach goers will be upset with you.
I tried shielding it but without much luck, putting a car muffler on it could have helped but I thought that was a bit extreme. There was an incident where someone put it in the lazaret with a makeshift exhaust to the outside. If I recall, the exhaust connection failed and the crew died.
 
Take Vas point about vibration I do not notice any .Noise faintly as said but no vib .
The mount is rubber feet in a metal cage on the main engine bearers behind the engines in the middle of the boat .
On both inner bearers which as sized for the weighty 13 L motors .

This is entirely different to sticking it in some dead space in a ER as an after thought , shoved into some inaccessible corner mounted on a glassed in bit of ply which reverberates with the hull .


Geny weights 80/90 Kg iirc and it’s connected to 2x 2000 kg ++ lumps .So you don’t feel it .A1CF7219-E2BD-4FD0-A46F-CFA5C0AB0503.jpeg
Sits over the V and shares bearers with theses .

Of corse a single cyl diesel 4 stroke is gonna attempt to shake/ thump its self out of the box even a precision Japanese one finely supposedly balanced , so screw it something that absorbs it 4000 kg + to 80/90 kg makes any vibrations disappear .

We have CO detectors in each cabin btw for what they cost .The exhaust geny runs through to the stern under the rear cabin .
Would have them any how sans geny in case someone wants to go for lie down when motoring .Say on a night run or something.

Also note the additional layer of sound proofing on the ER ceiling .I did ….not OEM pretty , but it made a difference.This is over the OEM as well as extra thickness.
The geny box has a extra heavy lead layer inside it box ….you can’t see it sorry .

We can run the geny as long as we like without feeling noise intrusion.
We do .
Infact if it’s windy or the music loud I have to run to the stern to eye ball water coming out , to see if it switches on .
Otherwise its faint .

You just have to work on it the NVH .
 
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Bouba said:
The Honda suitcase has to sit on deck, preferably on the swim platform so fumes are taken away from the boat occupants. A fly bridge would probably also suffice. But the Honda is only whisper quiet at tick over, any load, even battery charging, causes the revs and noise to rise.
Out camping, with the Honda on the ground and thirty feet from your tent, the noise is acceptable. And don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful piece of kit. I have the 2kva model. But on a plastic boat it echos something bad. It is very noisy. Your neighbors will up anchor to get away, in fact the whole bay could end up a noise trap and even beach goers will be upset with you.
I tried shielding it but without much luck, putting a car muffler on it could have helped but I thought that was a bit extreme. There was an incident where someone put it in the lazaret with a makeshift exhaust to the outside. If I recall, the exhaust connection failed and the crew died.
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We have a Honda suitcase genny that resides in a deck locker. We use it occasionally when on a swing mooring to charge the batteries and site it either on the foredeck or near the stern, depending upon what the wind is doing. We close all windows to ensure that no fumes get inside the boat and we have a carbon monoxide alarm aboard. When it is running and we are in the saloon the noise isn’t intrusive and notably better than the fully installed diesel genny we had on our Broom 41, which was in the engine bay so directly under the saloon. The design of our boat allows it to be moved around and sited in various spots to keep it away from wherever we are.

The cost of installing a proper marine genny is prohibitive for us and the way we use our boat but the Honda is the perfect solution. Previous owner’s idea and it came with the boat.
.
 
BruceK said:
The Paguro 4 SY I mentioned is a single at 3k rpm but only puts out 54db -7m. That's the same as the Honda suitcase genny. In it's insulation box with a trap to separate water and exhaust (to avoid splashing sounds) would it still be as bad as having a Honda onboard? (CO2 concerns etc excluded, just noise factor) It has double anti-vibration feet. One inside the casing and the other outside the casing. This is further dampenned by sitting on 18mm marine ply plate which itself is on anti vibration feet.

This is a real concern because I am considering one but really do not like the noise of a genny hence my LifePO4 project.
Click to expand...

What happened to the new trawler style boat you wanted to upgrade to? Is that not still a thing? Or is that some years off yet?
 
I'm waiting for a 50 foot berth to become available on the river (word was that one would be available next year as the owner moved his Dutch trawler into the French canals but this 180 in 90 days is throwing his retirement a wobbly). If one doesnt arrive when the kids leave school in 3 years I'll buy and move to where there is a berth available. Or may have to face life in the ghettoes (marina) :eek:. In the meantime I'm moving onto the boat next year so want all the home comforts even if it's for a short time. I'll be gutting the Formula and refitting the interior to suit. If nothing else I may have to reduce size to 45 foot which is the biggest my current berth can hold, but that would be a let down as I already have my eye on a particular boat at 52.
 
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BruceK said:
I'll be gutting the Formula and refitting the interior to suit
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That'll be some job then. Just out of curiosity (and nosiness) would that not be a waste of money? That's not a flippant comment, just would you see the return for the effort when it came time to sell and move on?
 
I dont see it that way. I plan to utilise and enjoy the effort. What comes from resell, comes at resell. The boat will definitely be improved by the modifications imo but will certainly not increase in value consummate to money pumped in, but I own a boat for pleasure not investment and I want to live on it for the short term not camp on it. Besides, I am not sure I will sell it. It makes a great weekend and short cruise boat where as the 50 footer would be more sedentary to the point of Marina Queen, or the Formula can be passed on to the boy.
 
BruceK said:
I dont see it that way. I plan to utilise and enjoy the effort. What comes from resell, comes at resell. The boat will definitely be improved by the modifications imo but will certainly not increase in value consummate to money pumped in, but I own a boat for pleasure not investment and I want to live on it for the short term not camp on it.
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Well fair enough then! ??
 
Bouba said:
The Navetta 52? If you do then I’ll hate you forever because that is the boat of my dreams.....??????
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When the time comes to spill the beans as to what it is I will, dreams change. At the moment as I start heading into retirement I plan on spending summers here and winters at our Bali villa. As a family we no longer enjoy the house we live in for a number of reasons and want to ditch it while crash testing to confirm if a short term liveaboard lifestyle is viable.
 
BruceK said:
The Paguro 4 SY I mentioned is a single at 3k rpm but only puts out 54db -7m. That's the same as the Honda suitcase genny. In it's insulation box with a trap to separate water and exhaust (to avoid splashing sounds) would it still be as bad as having a Honda onboard? (CO2 concerns etc excluded, just noise factor) It has double anti-vibration feet. One inside the casing and the other outside the casing. This is further dampenned by sitting on 18mm marine ply plate which itself is on anti vibration feet.

This is a real concern because I am considering one but really do not like the noise of a genny hence my LifePO4 project.
Click to expand...

Recently had one installed in the engine room of my F43, replaced the original HFL Farryman, noise levels are around the same although it has only run 5 hours so far and i feel it is getting quieter, either that or Im just getting used to it. If I was installing from scratch I would of put it under the aft cabin bed.
Step off the boat or sit in the cockpit / fly it is extremely quiet. However it is noticeable in the saloon, we still can sit and watch tv with it on although the volume is turned up higher.
 
Just finished rebuilding the top end of the L3E Mitsy engined HFL generator, first run and all seems tickety boo.
It came with the boat as a non runner, supposedly seized with the head off, it did have light scuffing on one of the bores but nothing to write home about.
It turned out to be a blockage in the heat exchanger, curiously on the coolant side of things, so presume it had tripped as it started to overheat and had been looked at by a supposed engineer who had condemned it as scrap.


https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=3141237172801160
 
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Ah, but once it's in it's soundproof box with the lazarette shut it should be ok, I just wanted to make sure everything was alright before boxing it up.
 
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Nauti Fox said:
Ah, but once it's in it's soundproof box with the lazarette shut it should be ok, I just wanted to make sure it was ok before boxing it up.
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Well done fixing that .
You can add more sound proofing to boot .
Either inside space permitting or out side .
Plenty of u tube vids on making geny sound boxes fwiw .
Apparently what I deduced is add a different material to what’s already there .
So if it’s foam stuff now add a layer of lead based and vs . One density ( high or low ? ) absorbs high Fq and the other absorbs low fq
Mr Google’ your friend .

Also check the hatch seals actually seal tight to the ER , again you can buy fresh sealing strip and adjust the latch(s) tight .
As I said earlier I also added more sound proofing to the whole ER .Again not more thickness of the same a different material on top .

Quite a satisfying job to do .

Flat surfaces nearby can be fitted with that egg crate foam to cut down bulkhead resonance.See my pic ^^^ behind the geny .

Its the sum of all the parts and easy to do imho .You just have to figure it out .
 
I feel that at the moment LifePo batteries are very overpriced and also not yet tested enough. In time with the progress that there will be made in Electric Cars (no where near there yet) there will soon be better and more affordable battery tech available.

In short I think it is too early to go spending large sums of cash on LifePo
 
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