Honda Portable Generator: Will This Work?

[Key Wester]

USCG genset installation regulations are not "opinions". The regs are there to protect life and limb. Joe D

[Shaneesprit]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

You are free to your opinion but unless you can provide the technical details of why...it's just that, your unsupported opinion.

This is very true, just because it’s not marine approved doesn’t make it dangerous!
There are obvious dangers on a boat, Petrol, Gas, Batteries, Electricity, Engine fumes from any engine.
It’s about how you install and manage them to reduce the risks, but I find it very amusing when someone says it’s dangerous to have propane on my boat, while they have a huge battery bank. Not going to discuss the pros and cons of one power over the other.
Ideally use a generator that using the same fuel as your already using else where.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Key Wester

USCG genset installation regulations are not "opinions". The regs are there to protect life and limb. Joe D

Not having a USCG label doesn't automatically make something dangerous.

If misused, even if a device has a USCG label, it can be dangerous.

The guidelines you are speaking about are focused on generators that installed inside of the hull. Most of those guidelines are not applicable to a generator mounted off the stern on an arch.

So specific technical details or it's just your opinion.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by Key Wester

Non USCG certified gasoline gensets on boats is EXTREMLY DANGEROUS !!!

I'm still waiting for a link to a USCG Certified generator.
Any takers ?

[Key Wester]

https://www.westerbeke.com/carburete...generators.htm

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by Key Wester

https://www.westerbeke.com/carburete...generators.htm

I don't see a mention of USCG anywhere on that page or in the specs for a couple of those models that I checked.

[Key Wester]

To reiterate - ANY gasoline powered genset that is not USCG approved should not be aboard a boat ! Doing so is to risk the boat , crew, and bystanders to a fire or explosion.

Approved marine gensets are tested to ensure they cannot be a source of ignition. [ignition proof] Portable, non approved gensets are not tested to be ignition proof. If there are gasoline or propane fumes near a genset, an approved model will not cause an explosion. Do you really want to risk your life in that circumstance, to a portable genset that has not been made ignition proof? Approved units also have a spark arrester to contain flames from a backfire. Has your portable unit been tested and USCG approved in this manner? It has not, so it is a source of ignition.

Approved units have a means to contain gas fumes should the carberator or fuel pump malfunction. The portable units do not have this vital safety feature, because they are designed to be used ashore, NOT on a boat.

Note that is takes but a small amount of gasoline fumes, contained in your bilge, to detonate like dynamite. We have witnessed a deck being violenty removed from a small powerboat in CT, caused by insufficient bilge venting. VERY SCARY.

The fuel tank on a portable genset is vented through the cap. This means there is a constant discharge of gas fumes coming from the unit. Should these accumulate in the bilge, you may experience an explosion first hand.

If you want to risk your life by having a portable gas genset aboard, that's your foolish business. However, I take issue with anyone risking other people's lives and property because they insist a portable genset aboard is "no problem" or "I've done it for years".

My opinion follows - Either spend the time and $ to do it right, to protect people's lives, or sell the boat and take up golf.

Installing a proper marine genset is MUCH CHEAPER than a funeral. Joe D

[rslifkin]

You're missing the point. Anyone who uses or stores a portable genset below decks is a moron. Attempting to install one into a boat is also stupid. But using one outside (not in the cockpit where fumes can collect) on a boat doesn't have the same concerns as an installed unit, hence the lack of concern about ignition protection, etc. It's no different than sitting one on the ground on land and firing it up.

[Key Wester]

I must disagree, as YOU are missing the point. ANY non USCG approved gasoline genset put on a boat is a big, unnecessary risk, for the reasons detailed in my earlier post. Where it is located on the boat is irrelevant. Running or not, is irrelevant. It is still a BIG RISK.

To say " It's no different than sitting one on the ground on land and firing it up. " shows me you don't understand the special requirements of marine gensets. A genset leaking fuel onto the ground MAY start a fire. A genset leaking fuel on a boat can be a MAJOR problem.
If you do have a portable gasoline genset aboard, I hope you stay safe. I also hope you reconsider that decision.


I'm just curious why you would take that potentially deadly risk. Is it the money concern about buying and installing a real marine genset? Is it that you don't want to spend the time & effort to do it right? You think the risk is acceptable? Your buddy says it's not a problem? Peer pressure? Please explain. Joe D

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Key Wester

To reiterate - ANY gasoline powered genset that is not USCG approved should not be aboard a boat ! Doing so is to risk the boat , crew, and bystanders to a fire or explosion.

Approved marine gensets are tested to ensure they cannot be a source of ignition. [ignition proof] Portable, non approved gensets are not tested to be ignition proof. If there are gasoline or propane fumes near a genset, an approved model will not cause an explosion. Do you really want to risk your life in that circumstance, to a portable genset that has not been made ignition proof? Approved units also have a spark arrester to contain flames from a backfire. Has your portable unit been tested and USCG approved in this manner? It has not, so it is a source of ignition.

Approved units have a means to contain gas fumes should the carberator or fuel pump malfunction. The portable units do not have this vital safety feature, because they are designed to be used ashore, NOT on a boat.

Note that is takes but a small amount of gasoline fumes, contained in your bilge, to detonate like dynamite. We have witnessed a deck being violenty removed from a small powerboat in CT, caused by insufficient bilge venting. VERY SCARY.

The fuel tank on a portable genset is vented through the cap. This means there is a constant discharge of gas fumes coming from the unit. Should these accumulate in the bilge, you may experience an explosion first hand.

If you want to risk your life by having a portable gas genset aboard, that's your foolish business. However, I take issue with anyone risking other people's lives and property because they insist a portable genset aboard is "no problem" or "I've done it for years".

My opinion follows - Either spend the time and $ to do it right, to protect people's lives, or sell the boat and take up golf.

Installing a proper marine genset is MUCH CHEAPER than a funeral. Joe D

You don't seem to be comprehending the discussion of what is proposed.

No one is recommending an installation inside the hull where a fuel or vapor leak would potentially collect in the bilge. That is a much more complicated situation and if not done right can be dangerous. (in simple terms, it's largely the same as an inboard gas engine installation...which by the way don't have a USCG approved label either).

This is about mounting a generator on an arch over the water. Any liquid or vapor leak would disperse overboard.

As such, your hyperbole comes off as silly.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by Key Wester

To reiterate - ANY gasoline powered genset that is not USCG approved should not be aboard a boat

So we have gone from "USCG Certified" to "USCG Approved"

Ok ... Please provide a link to a generator that is "USCG Approved"

[Shaneesprit]

This USCG is it a regulation or a recommendation?
There is a huge difference.
I would expect that if you can’t find a USGC spec on a generator you can buy off the shelf, that would mean, the installation would have to be inspected to be approved?
Only slightly interested, as this doesn’t apply to me, here in the UK, at less than 50ft, you don’t have to comply with regulations as such.
We have a right to float as you have a right to guns.

Highest recommendation is a VHF, and for this you need a radio license and generally you need general insurance to use ports and moorings, but i don’t believe their has been any change in regulation from as far back as the 1970s when everyone just used a CB radio. Then they banned our AM CB radios.

[michaeld]

I know that boat, "Once Around". The owners shipped it from Fort Lauderdale to the Mediterranean, and it was there for two or three years. Later, the owner single-handed her back to Grenada, as I recall. I'm not sure what happened afterwards.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by Shaneesprit

This USCG is it a regulation or a recommendation?
There is a huge difference.

The USCG neither "approves" nor "certifies" marine generators.

The United States Code of Federal Regulations Title 33 are the legally required standards for pleasure craft in the US. It makes no reference to generators at all.

[Chotu]

Key Wester:

Good lord. Having a small gasoline generator running on the transom or an arch is EXACTLY the same as running an outboard engine.

Are you afraid of them too?

They power like 90% of everything on the water.