Quick gyro

i notice that the smallest one for boats up to 5t uses 600w at 220v and only takes 16mins to spool up. Could this be run off a battery via an inverter? If so how many hours could it run for off a 200ah 12v battery?
 
Assuming you can use 50% of the battery's stated capacity, and the inverter is 75% efficient, then the battery would give you about an hour and a half.
 
Is it worth in the sence of a £50-70 k spend on the gyro , spending a bit more on Geny silence mitigation ?
So that it's a none issue ( except hrs ) running the Geny .

Better mounts , improved added soundproofing , better after market exhaust etc .
So that both are completely compatible running together .
Rarther than try and cobble together alternative power supply ? Adapt what you have .
 
Portofino said:
Is it worth in the sence of a £50-70 k spend on the gyro , spending a bit more on Geny silence mitigation ?
So that it's a none issue ( except hrs ) running the Geny .
.
Click to expand...
I'm writing this from the anchorage between the Lerins islands in SoF with my genny and gyro operating. My genny is a good make (Kohler) and is mounted in a well soundproofed engine bay. I recently had the interior soundproofing of the genny enclosure replaced and the enclosure itself rebuilt. I did everything I could to make the genny as unobtrusive as possible in the knowledge that I'd be using it a lot more after I bought my gyro. It was already a quiet genny and now it is quieter still

But I can still hear it humming away. You can spend all the money you want but there is no way you can have an engine running on a boat of the size I have and not hear it
 
Deleted User said:
I'm writing this from the anchorage between the Lerins islands in SoF with my genny and gyro operating. My genny is a good make (Kohler) and is mounted in a well soundproofed engine bay. I recently had the interior soundproofing of the genny enclosure replaced and the enclosure itself rebuilt. I did everything I could to make the genny as unobtrusive as possible in the knowledge that I'd be using it a lot more after I bought my gyro. It was already a quiet genny and now it is quieter still

But I can still hear it humming away. You can spend all the money you want but there is no way you can have an engine running on a boat of the size I have and not hear it
Click to expand...

Its not the hum but the smoke / smell that annoys me most.
We run our stabs uninterrupted up to 3hrs on batterys, but need the genny many times during a day, for dishwasher, oven, and on a really hot day, we run the airco on anker.
 
At anchor, we tend to switch on the gyro about 11am, as before this it's normally quite calm, without too many boats whizzing around, and we then don't really notice the noise of the genny over the general hubbub of daytime on board, and it's completely inaudible on the flybridge, where we have lunch. The only real impact is the occasional whiff of exhaust fumes when swimming near the outlet.

In the evening in the cockpit the genny noise becomes more noticeable because we usually leave the gyro running if we're eating on board in case of any rogue wakes, then switch it off once the washing up is done. If we're tendering into town for dinner we switch it off before we go.

The gyro typically runs 8-10 hours a day, but occasionally 24 hrs if there's an uncomfortable swell.
 
Nick_H said:
At anchor, we tend to switch on the gyro about 11am, as before this it's normally quite calm, without too many boats whizzing around, and we then don't really notice the noise of the genny over the general hubbub of daytime on board, and it's completely inaudible on the flybridge, where we have lunch. The only real impact is the occasional whiff of exhaust fumes when swimming near the outlet.
Click to expand...
Just out of interest how many hours do you reckon you put on your genny in a season and have you ever had any issues with it because you use it such a lot? Or is it a case of the more you use it, the more reliable it gets?
 
Deleted User said:
Just out of interest how many hours do you reckon you put on your genny in a season and have you ever had any issues with it because you use it such a lot? Or is it a case of the more you use it, the more reliable it gets?
Click to expand...

The genny is now on well over 3,000 hours, and has been responsible for more lost time on holiday than any other item of equipment on board, but mostly I don't think that's related to hours, and the engine still runs cleanly with no smoke and not much in the way of fumes. This year the lost time was just an afternoon down to a blocked pre-filter due to dirty fuel, which I think is dead bug from an earlier contamination. Strangely the main engine filters don't show it despite using the same tank and filtering far more fuel, so I think it's down to location of the pick up tube in the tank.

Previously we had a raw water cooling issue at 8 years age, which apparently is the life of the heat exchanger regardless of use, and a failure of the water temp sensor, which again is probably not related to hours.

We did also have a failure of the fuel lift pump, which is likely related to hours, so if your genny has the same system to feed the fuel to the main pump then i'd carry a spare, as they're cheapish items.
 
N, if you don't mind me asking, what brand/size have you got?
I have an 11kW Kohler on my boat, and I half recall to have seen the same stuff on a P57...
 
Aha, thanks. I'm probably mixing up some of the boats I've seen.
Btw, the diesel engine might well be the same used by both Onan and Kohler, anyway...
Do you remember if it's a 1.6 liters, 3 cylinders Yanmar, in your genset?
 
No, it's a Kubota, not sure of size. The engine itself hasn't skipped a beat in the 3,000+ hours, and gives no indication of being worn. The problems have been cooling and fuel supply issues.
 
Nick_H said:
The genny is now on well over 3,000 hours, and has been responsible for more lost time on holiday than any other item of equipment on board, but mostly I don't think that's related to hours, and the engine still runs cleanly with no smoke and not much in the way of fumes. This year the lost time was just an afternoon down to a blocked pre-filter due to dirty fuel, which I think is dead bug from an earlier contamination. Strangely the main engine filters don't show it despite using the same tank and filtering far more fuel, so I think it's down to location of the pick up tube in the tank.
Click to expand...
Thanks Nick. My genny has got 2700hrs on it now and the engine sounds sweet as a nut too. Touch wood I havent had any problems with it in 4 seasons of owning the boat either and I have been wondering how long that happy situation might last. In my limited experience, a diesel engined industrial genny should do well north of 10,000hrs before it needs a rebuild but of course a marine genny has a very different operating life. Hopefully our gennies will still have a few thousand hours in them yet
 
Mike, not sure how old your boat is, but if getting on for 8 years then i'd seriously consider replacing the raw water cooling loop over the winter before it fails in service and interrupts a holiday. It's well established that they have about an 8 year life. I'd also carry a spare lift pump and raw water temp sensor, as these are cheap to buy and known to fail occasionally.

I was toying with the idea of fitting a lightweight back up genny for battery charging in the event the main unit breaks, maybe a 3kw petrol or 4kw variable speed diesel, but I think i'm going to get to know my genny better instead and carry more spares, as any issues seem to be with bolt on items, and the core engine appears to be fairly bulletproof. I'm also going to look into the governor issue jrudge suffered this summer, as ARE suggested there was a replacement governor on later models which is more reliable. It may be worth checking which one you have.

edit; Ah, just remembered yours is Kohler, so the specifics wont apply, but still worth trying to do some preventative work and carry strategic spares I think
 
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Nick_H said:
edit; Ah, just remembered yours is Kohler, so the specifics wont apply, but still worth trying to do some preventative work and carry strategic spares I think
Click to expand...
My boat is 10yrs old and that was one of the reasons I was worried about relying on the genny running continuously for gyro operation. As I mentioned above I have had the enclosure rebuilt and the soundproofing replaced this year and the unit has been checked by a technician who pronounced it to be in good order. I do keep a set of service spares on board as recommended by Kohler but they are only service spares ie filters etc. I will speak to the Kohler dealer in the UK and see if he recommends I carry some additional spares like, as you say for example, the lift pump. Thanks for the info
 
Deleted User said:
I will speak to the Kohler dealer in the UK and see if he recommends I carry some additional spares like, as you say for example, the lift pump
Click to expand...
M, I recently asked the same to the MAN guy who worked on my engines, and knows also Kohler generators very well, including some installed on working boats with silly hour numbers (up to above 10k, as you mentioned).
He did mention belt and filter, but he added that he never heard of anyone with a Kohler genset (as long as regularly maintained) to actually need to replace such things while out there.
Fingers crossed, touch wood, etc. :rolleyes:

I'm looking fwd to hearing about your findings anyway!
 
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