Generator

04/01/12

It is nice that the boat came with a little Generator under the sole of the main salon floor. I was initially told it can handle a load of 2 Kw up to 3 Kw and that will be fine for running the boat. We find no brand or make information on it.

I was not sure what top end load she could handle. We did do a test load on it at 4 KW for a 30 minute run and that did hold OK but shortly thereafter she did not want to run. Was that too much load?

One of the problems to be worked on was that it was putting out dramatic amounts of soot on the water. Not oil. But more of an ash. Like she had been bogging down for far to long run at idle. Therefore the mechanic recommended that we run under load and see if it reduced the ash and soot. It did reduce the soot.

Who is: Taku Marine Industries ?
Who is: San Juan Marine ?

Here is a few photo of the old genny. I learned the San Juan on the water cooler cap was from the place up in Washington near the San Juan Islands that did the marine conversion of the engine. The Taku was the electrical generation part driven from the single cylinder diesel via a large Fan Belt. We had plenty of more questions. Like... Why is there a little leaver on the end of the head? Is it for priming? Some items we fixed over time. But it was clear that she was going to "nickel and dime" us to death. But via BOAT bucks.

You know what a boat buck is right?

B = break
O = out
A = another
T = Thousand

Top View - The old Generator, was rather quiet to the outside world when we run it. Only a bit of a rumble came up through the floor that makes running the generator just to watch TV a okay combination. Many boaters we had aboard were very surprised to learn the generator was running.
- Top View. Nothing says exactly how much this electricity it can provide. We think based on the 3kw suggestions from the last owner it is a 4kw capacity.
New Generator -

We decided to UPGRADE to a newer generator! Hoot. A good deal and mostly the best timing on a used Northern lights 4.5 KW unit. It was pulled from a much bigger sail boat that wanted a larger capacity.

A special thanks to Carl with CC Marine and Ron with Tamalo Marine. The installation went well and the new upgrades panel is working out rather well.

I filled the old round switch holes with caps.
So the new start buttons fit nicely between the two indicator needles that show amperage and draw or load. I watch the load carefully when in use.
The row on the right side is the 110 power switches.

So the new view from the top of the generator is now very clean and very FULL.

Also notice the new electrical switches for the new crossovers and upgraded 12 volt battery systems. (red switches)

Really sweet. She runs dependably and handles all the load we throw at it. We've got Juice!

This site was last updated 04/01/12