Gensets - any recommendations

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asteven221

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I am seriously thinking of installaing a genset - say 3kva when our boat gets lifted out in January. I came across the Paguro 3000 Compact, which looks ideal for size/weight/quietness. Then I Googled marine Generators and there seems to be millions on the market, so what seemed fairly cut & dried, has now become confusing. Has any fellow forumites got any recomendations? My boat is a 43 foot Beneteau with a very large starboard locker that will easily take a genny. I need to take into consideration the size of the entrance hole which I need the thing through to get it into the locker in the first place!
Thanks everyone for any recommendations.
 
a number of questions.

What is your max demand load likely to be ?

Do you want air-cooled (cheap) , or lots of plumbing for water-cooled (expensive) ?

Are you ready to make intake and exhaust holes in the locker area, plus additional fireproofing ?

Diesel or pterol ? Self contained fuel tank, or remote ?


I've got a 7kva diesel plumbed in for serious electricity on a mooring, and a tiny Honda suitcase (1000watts, 240v) for little jobs on deck or party lights.

Building in a genny retrospectively is an expensive business. My first thought would be to use the locker as storage for a good suitcase, which you fire up on deck, with a wander lead to the inverter. Run that for a year, and then review your usage pattern and requirements to decide what to do next winter.
 
I would second that idea (using a suitcase genny for a year first) - I run a Kipor 3000Ti which is more than enough for my needs (and SWMO's). For reducing the noise even further I have a piece of Eber exhaust that slips over the exhaust from the Kipor (tight fit) making it quieter than the lower powered honda20. OK it is petrol rather than diesel but for all it burns.... it does not really cost much more in fuel to run.
 
Second this query.

I think it was the Paguro 3000 I saw too, but really I only want it part time, s a small suitcase may fly. The request for diesel of course for safety & same fuel as main engine, but I'm guessing that 'small' and 'diesel' don't fit together..

Keep the answers coming all
 
We take a 2kva free standing gen set when we have guests aboard for a more than a few days. stored in the port hull forward locker, it's placed on deck up front on some high density foam stuff that takes out any vibration and the exhaust is extended to flow out between the hulls.

The guests must have hair driers, air conditioning (only at night) and a number of items like phones on charge. They also want the latest new and a DVD or two each evening. Deck and cockpit lights on for several hours, drinks fridges and freezers running 24/7.

This means we use maybe 3 litres of fuel a day other than engine use, any time we run the gen set the batteries are automatically charged.

Avagoodweekend......
 
Never had a built in GenSet, it is just a lot of expense. I have always used a suitcase type generator. I had a Kippor 3000TI and then a Honda EU20. Only needed to run them a few hours a day as the engine runs most days or I am plugged into electricity.

I would buy a Honda EU20 and use it for a year. Although it will cost £1000 if you decide to get a full genset you will get £900+ back for it as they are very popular secondhand.

Full genset and fitting is about £5000, so a big saving. Also if a suitcase gene goes wrong you just take it to supplier and pay Land based prices, not marine.

Just a thought

Paul
 
I've been thinking about generators too. I am considering building a suitcase type into a soundproof enclosure and permanently wiring a mains fan that runs as soon as the generator is started to force cold air into the enclosure (with a suitable outlet also). The inlet and outlet would be through fittings in the hull to mininise air noise onboard. If there is sufficient air to keep the machine at the correct temperature I can't see a problem. Anyone have any thoughts on this scheme?
 
Thanks for the comments everyone. All the small petrol generators I have heard seem to make a bit of a racket and I feel too noisy to use whenever I like. It also means that I have to set it up whenever I want to use it, plus keeping petrol cans on board. Good point though about giving it a go for a season. I had a 6kva on a mobo and it was so handy to press a button for instant mains power whenever required, say on a mooring and running everything under the sun without stopping for a second to think about batteries. I guess it's because I had it and now don't have that I miss it. I will definately think about getting a portable one like the Honda and trying it. Iss the Honda the quietest model on the market, regardless of price - within reason of course? Like PCUK I feel there must be a way to put one of these genny's in a big locker, run an exhaust pipe outside and as long as it stays cool enough - fine. The locker on my Benny must be about 5ft long x 3ft wide and about 4ft in height.
 
I've seen three people in as many months having total rebuilds of an FP inboard generator. I'd give that one a fairly wide berth if I were looking for one....

We use a Honda EU1000i for backup and 'stuff' Its really quiet and as its an inverter model, only 'revs' to the power required for the load.
 
I have a Pajuro 4000 on a SO43 it works very well, the 3000 compact is not as compact as it seems, there's a big lump of kit to fit thats outside the clam shell, its inside on the 4000 - worth thinking about. Since I fitted mine they have a 5000 that is the same size and weight as the 4000 - also worth a look.
 
I have the e20i and I have to say that when running the microwave or water heater it makes a hell of a racket....... don't be mislead by the published noise levels. What the official figures say and the reality are 2 different things.
I still wouldn't be without it though.
 
Instead of running the genset directly into the onboard mains why not run it as a charger into the battery bank and hang a big inverter off the batteries?

Batteries then smooth out the load demand and the genset ticks along more regularly and quietly.

Never done it, just a question...
 
my experience with my 6kw generator

It depends on what you want to run, maybe solar and an inverter are the way to go.
Its importangt to see if you really need one.

Anyway here is my experience with my 3000 rev, 6kw gen, when I bought my boat it had done 8 hrs.

I think it is important that the gen is quite inside and outside so it should have a water seperator so as not to annoy others. If you could install it in the engine room with no covers, it would be better for it.

In a box, a gen is in a very hot area so wires and hoses and clips must be v high quality.
V small and V quite is not always the best, Mine is made from standard parts so I do not have to always go back to the generator manufacturer.

It must tell you when it is not getting cooling water, the exhaust temp sense is too late and will result in impellor parts in the exchanger. You need some form of flow sensor with a cutoff. (this was the best mod I made to mine)

My gen was made of good parts (perkins 100 motor) but still it was incapable of running for the first 50 hrs without breaking down. This was a fault of the installation and also the quality of the items mentioned above. I saw this often with others.

If I was buying again I would get an 8kw with a 1500 rev motor (my boat has no gas) and suppliment it with solar. At the moment I have no solar.

I see lots of people with gen problems and they are normally all similar and some people dont like to admit it, I have fought with mine for a long time adn now it seems ok at 200 hrs.
 
Must admit we didn't go the generator route - we put 600AH of batteries in and 2 x 130W solar panels and kept as much of the electrics 12V as possible. Only used mains when we were in a marina. The only thing we've added is a small portable 150-200W inverter to run a laptop etc.

I do wish we could run the microwave, we have gas on board and we could save a lot of that as many things can be microwaved efficiently instead - save the gas cooker for Sunday fry-ups and home-made bread. Night put a beefier inverter in one day to support that.

The solar panel route worked very well, never ran the engine specifically to charge the batteries once that was installed, despite having a fridge and freezer on board as well as 2 laptops and a whole load of Raymarines finest gizmos.
 
I have an FP generator aboard now and have had quite a lot of trouble with it, have a problem now of low output, if that turns out to be an alternator internal fault, then it will be float test time for this unit.
I will replace it with a standard marine genny, with aircooled alternator and 1500 rpm motor, probably 6kw, no sound shield and install in in the engine room. I dont care if its a little noisy inside the boat, as we only run it to do certain jobs, like making water, washing machine and battery charging, so a little noise is not a hassle. (as long as its quiet enough to not disturb others) Can always manufacture a sound shield for the engine if its too noisy!
But no more of the small engined, watercooled alternator gennys for this boat, had enough, two in five years and a complete new alternator already on this latest one, enough is enough.
Needless to say I wont touch another FP as long as I have a hole in my ...........
Unless they of course replace this one free!
 
ccscott49 said:
I have an FP generator aboard now and have had quite a lot of trouble with it, have a problem now of low output, if that turns out to be an alternator internal fault, then it will be float test time for this unit.
I will replace it with a standard marine genny, with aircooled alternator and 1500 rpm motor, probably 6kw, no sound shield and install in in the engine room. I dont care if its a little noisy inside the boat, as we only run it to do certain jobs, like making water, washing machine and battery charging, so a little noise is not a hassle. (as long as its quiet enough to not disturb others) Can always manufacture a sound shield for the engine if its too noisy!
But no more of the small engined, watercooled alternator gennys for this boat, had enough, two in five years and a complete new alternator already on this latest one, enough is enough.
Needless to say I wont touch another FP as long as I have a hole in my ...........
Unless they of course replace this one free!
Click to expand...

low output failure of one of the control capacitors?


We had a zeise 3000 RPM set, similar tothe FP set, note HAD!!

Replaced with a Onan 1500 RPM set 9 years ago. A totally excellent piece of kit. very quiet, Kubota 3 cyl engine.
 
david_bagshaw said:
low output failure of one of the control capacitors?


We had a zeise 3000 RPM set, similar tothe FP set, note HAD!!

Replaced with a Onan 1500 RPM set 9 years ago. A totally excellent piece of kit. very quiet, Kubota 3 cyl engine.
Click to expand...

David,
I do hope it is just a capacitor! They are cheap!
Trouble is, the generator is an essential part of my liveaboard strategy, makes things much more comfortable and easy. By the way, where are you these days? I'm very close to Maasdijk, drilling a new gas well.
 
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