I've used a Honda 2000i on my boat for crusing and at anchor since.
After Ivan we didn't have any marinia in Pensacola and the generator
kept my batteries up and ran the power tools at ancho it worked fairly
well.

Last spring we spent two months cruising down the west coast of
Florida and I used it to charge batteries through the intstalled shore
power connector. Had to run the generator for long periods of time, it
really only puts out 13.5 amps, but it will run for 7 hours under light
load on about a half gallon of gas.

Running the engine works, if you have enough fuel.

/David


Hobbs wrote:
I need to equip a sailing boat for battery charging for a single long haul
trip of about 35 days.
This will be a delivery trip for a boat that will not need any such
capability once it arrives at it's destination. Much of the power
requirement will be to drive an autopilot and attendant instruments and nav
electronics.

I've looked at Solar but I don't think it will be economical to buy the
solar panels that would be required.
I could run the 30 horse diesel for a couple of hours per day but I know
that diesels don't like light loads for extended periods.

I've discounted wind systems because of cost and also some concern about the
ability to reliably generate enough juice as well as noise and safety
issues.

I'm also thinking about using a Honda Portable generator with it's output
connected to the existing shore power system battery charger. Upon arrival
I could easily sell the generator for something like 75% of it's cost or
just keep it. The main disadvantage I can see to this approach is that I'd
need to carry petrol (gasoline) to power it and that consitutes a
significant bit of a safety issue.

Anyone care to comment on the Honda Generator idea?
Any other good ideas that I haven't considered or flaws in my logic?

If you only get 13 Amps from the Honda you're not using its full
potential. I run the output of mine directly into my Heart 2000
inverter/charger. Although I should be able to charge at 100 Amps, it
trips the breaker on the Honda. I have to back off with the "power
sharing feature" on the Heart which limits the AC draw, and the the DC
charge into the batteries is about 75 Amps. Sisterships with the
identical setup claim they got 86 Amps, so I was a bit disappointed,
but still its not bad.

My hunch is your charger is 15 or 20 Amps output.


dcarl wrote:
I've used a Honda 2000i on my boat for crusing and at anchor since.
After Ivan we didn't have any marinia in Pensacola and the generator
kept my batteries up and ran the power tools at ancho it worked fairly
well.

Last spring we spent two months cruising down the west coast of
Florida and I used it to charge batteries through the intstalled shore
power connector. Had to run the generator for long periods of time, it
really only puts out 13.5 amps, but it will run for 7 hours under light
load on about a half gallon of gas.

Running the engine works, if you have enough fuel.

/David