cheap small generators for the go small go now crowd.

[hearsejr]

Hey yall, I just talked to a guy who is sailing his 23'er and doing the go small/go now thing. he has 3 batteries chartplotter, vhf, car stereo, lap top, 600w inverter, led lighting, and out board with charging system. he has been using the Heartland America 1000w generator, that he got for $159.99 including shipping, and it's been working great for charging his batteries. he wants to get another battery. the generator is 2 stroke but so is his outboard and they use the same mixture of oil/gas. maybe if any of you folks are planning to do the same as Micky (yes he was really named after the Walt Disney rat), let me know and I'll post the info from the catalog.
they told me about 10 minutes ago the price is $149.99 plus $10 s&h.
I own a 4 stroke 1000w (1300w peak) generator that cost-ed $169.99 at Big Lots store, but I have not used it yet.
_________________
Bill

[s/v Faith]

Bill,

  I looked into those generators before I bought my Honda.  Found several reports of problems like rapid corrosion and early failure.

  Probably not a bad option for the occasional 'top up' so long as you stow it somewhere dry, but I would be careful about relying on them for long term cruising.  Heading to the Bahamas for instance, without other methods of topping off the batteries may make the cheap generator a pricey option (if one had to go to a marina to get topped up).

  That said, I just noticed that Harbor Freight has an imitation Honda for less then $200.  Might be worth stowing away for occasional use.... as long as you did not need to rely on it.

[hearsejr]

 yeah, this one looks like a Honda knock off too.   lol.
  I wonder if I could coat mine with something like zinc chromate to help it last. mine is not covered up with plastic like his is. of course mine is going to get a shelf under the cockpit and if I need to use it, I'll lift it up and run it for an hour here and there. I'm going with solar and generator, and later on I want to add a wind generator.
this guy keeps his clean and he has had it for a year now, with no problems other then the carb and the spark plug problems. it turned out he was adding too much or the wrong type oil to it. he keeps his in a box in the cabin. I think he keeps it oiled or something, it looked like he kept it clean.
mine is bigger and heavier and it's got a Chinese clone of a brigs and straton engine on it. he doesn't have a lot of power draw either which might be why he is getting such a good service of his generator. if I can get mine to last a year, then I think it will be worth the $169 I paid for it. lol.

[s/v Faith]

Do you or your friend use a battery charger with yours, or do you just take the DC output from the generator?

[hearsejr]

 I plan on using the battery charger and plan on just plugging a shore power like set up.  but I do have a 10 amp 12vdc post that I can use. I'm not sure what Mickey uses. I'm thinking of cutting back on my amp draw, by going Led and solar lights for anchor lights.
  All I have for electrics is the depth sounder, car type stereo, a 300w inverter, the 951X chart plotter I got from ya, bilge  pumps, fresh water pump (but I want to use a foot pump), lap top and lights.  I have 2 batteries, but I want 4. the engine has a hand crank if that battery dies, so I'm not too worried about the engine right now.
another thing I was thinking about is adding another alternator to my engine and have one dedicated to the house bank.  just thinking out loud.
I built some solar running lights over two years ago and the are still working dern good now, but I would need something a brighter for a bigger boat like PRETTY LUCKY. the game warden said the ones I built were good and legal on the SC-22. they were better then the flash light thing with the green and red lens like you get from walmart.
if I build something a little better that would save me more amps and maybe give me a longer time between charges..once again I'm thinking out loud.
what do you think?

[hearsejr]

 a guy from another board posted this:

The local Schucks auto parts stores have those little generators for under $100. http://shop.oreillyauto.com/ProductDetail.aspx?mfrcode=DHC&mfrpartnumber=HT1200C

I've seen this one in the store and it is small enough and light enough to stick away just about anywhere. It may not be available everywhere though.


this looks like the samething that Mickey is using, except the color of the gas tank.

[Lynx]

Some of these gen's are noisy and parts can be hard to get.. They are OK to charge batteries but not much more.  The Yamaha's 1000W are under $ 500 now at the local dealer.

[hearsejr]

 yeah, I hate the noise part. from what I'm told these new generators....all of them on the market now....are less noisy then a few years ago. I think all the 4 strokes are C.A.R.B. certified, also. 

Mick, is using his around 3 hours a week. but then he is not as much an energy hog as I am. I'm not sure why he is staying so low key, but he acts like a hermit and will even beach his boat and hide in thick foulage to avoid using anchor lights. he asked me for some empty cans I had been saving for spar bolts and nuts, and drops them over his solar yard lights  so you can't see them at night when he drives in to the tiny creeks. I guess living like that, you would not need much of a generator.

[Amgine]

I looked at a Panda diesel generator not much bigger than my laptop backpack a few years ago. It was anything but cheap, however I was extremely impressed with how quiet and small it was.

I couldn't afford it, went sailing instead.

Say, where *do* people get those little solar anchor/yard lamps? I saw a dozen of them in the past couple weeks...

[Oldrig]

Amgine:

Try this website:

www.solight.com

They make a number of pretty good solar-powered LED products that I've been using on my boat.

Another solution, courtesy of our own Capt'n. K's old website, is to buy the cheapest solar-powered garden light, take it apart and save the solar cell/batteries/LED unit. Melt a few holes in the plastic housing and voila you've got a nifty, el-cheapo solar light that you can tie to your stern rail during the day. It will help light your cockpit at night and help you find your boat in a large, crowded mooring field.

I used one for three seasons or so. It finally corroded through.

--Joe

[hearsejr]

I made mine. I got a couple of garden solar lights and stripped away the unneeded poles and lens shaped like butterflies, sealed the housing with sealicone sealent, made a red and green lens from an ink pen  housing, made a rubber gasket / plug sealed the lens to the shaft that the LED was on. it's a lot simplier then it sounds. the garden light is plastic and the base fits a lug used in electrical work. min are copper and were free because they were cut off an old house service pole. I'll post pics as soon as I get chance with step by step instructions. these are only good for small boats, but I am working on better brighter ones for bigger boats.

[Oldrig]

Oops, I left out an "l" in that URL.

The correct web address for the company that makes lots of useful, and not expensive, solar products is:

www.sollight.com

I have two of their products, a stick-on light that I keep suction-cupped to my forward hatch, and the kinda-weird water bottle with a solar light in the top. Both were sent to me for evaluation when I was working at a boating magazine, and both are very good, with white and red LEDs.

While I can't really say that the solar water bottle is a great idea for boating, I do keep it on my stern rail, where I've got extra drinking water and a potential cockpit light to identify my boat at an anchorage.

The stick-on light is very useful, and I would certainly have bought one. It's especially handy in my boat, where the forward hatch is in the head compartment.

--Joe

[Pablo]

I made mine. I got a couple of garden solar lights and stripped away the unneeded poles and lens shaped like butterflies, sealed the housing with sealicone sealent, made a red and green lens from an ink pen  housing, made a rubber gasket / plug sealed the lens to the shaft that the LED was on. it's a lot simplier then it sounds. the garden light is plastic and the base fits a lug used in electrical work. min are copper and were free because they were cut off an old house service pole. I'll post pics as soon as I get chance with step by step instructions. these are only good for small boats, but I am working on better brighter ones for bigger boats.

Please do, I would like to see this.

[Shipscarver]

I bought 2 "garden walk lights" at Harbour Freight for $5 each last Sept.  They worked fine, although it took 2 or 3 days before they developed a full charge and lasted almost all night. I fastened them to the stern pulpit. I keep meaning to get some yellow/red stage gels to wrap arounf the lights.

[hearsejr]

ok..what I did was buy na set of garden lights that had a clear chrismas tree on top. I removed the tree part and used a clear green ink pen as the lens. I took the pen a part and made a thick rubber plug in the bottom so as to make a seal.




then I removed the shaft out of the bottom of the battery housing, and found a lug from an old electrictions scrap pile. it fits tho hole in the housing for the shaft perfact. I then used an Adel clamp and put a stainless bolt through the lug and the adel clamp.






it takes 12 hrs to fully charge it before you get a full charge. I need to polish it and do some maintainance, because I have not touched them for over a year!

[hearsejr]

 these pics are from a few months back. I have stainless nuts and bolts, sealed the screw holes in the housing, and there is a small mirror to help reflect the light out towards the front and not towards the deck.
Here's the light I'm looking at useing as the base for the next set I build. I'm thinking of useing a green and red film and sandwich it to a lens of plexi glass that has a mirror at the rear and will put a glow out on the front only. I'll figure it out.

[TritonSkipper]

Hello Everyone,

New here to the site. I have a Pearson Triton 28'6". I bought a big 245ah Power Tec battery which I've yet to install. Truly didn't realize how big and heavy that battery actually was. The generator you were talking about, where would you install/place that. It would have to be close to where the electrical panel is located, correct?

regards

Jeff

[hearsejr]

 Welcome aboard TritonSkipper
,
what I was planning on doing with mine is to store it below the cockpit on a shelf and lift it up on the deck when I go to use it. the guy who is using the smaller one, has his on the stern on a rack. he found a box from the navy surplus store, that he can use to cover it up when not in use. I only plan to use mine for charging the batteries and maybe for emergency power for tools or something.

[Rick Westlake]

The correct web address for the company that makes lots of useful, and not expensive, solar products is:

www.sollight.com

I have two of their products, a stick-on light that I keep suction-cupped to my forward hatch, and the kinda-weird water bottle with a solar light in the top. Both were sent to me for evaluation when I was working at a boating magazine, and both are very good, with white and red LEDs.

While I can't really say that the solar water bottle is a great idea for boating, I do keep it on my stern rail, where I've got extra drinking water and a potential cockpit light to identify my boat at an anchorage.

The stick-on light is very useful, and I would certainly have bought one. It's especially handy in my boat, where the forward hatch is in the head compartment.

--Joe

Thank'ee and Grog to ye, Joe ...

They are having a sale through August 21.  I scored two of their RailLights for $21 each - regularly $35.  I want them as cockpit lights when I'm anchored out - and they'll also present a good low-level anchor light, to "advise off" the late-evening power-boaters who aren't looking as high as my masthead.

[Oldrig]

Hey Rick:

Grog to ye, too, matey!

Thanks for the news about the sale. I think I'll order a Rail Light and another Lightship stick-on light.

--Joe