Generator Question

[Jackman]

My most recent project is to save the $$ to get a new gas generator. But, I've been really tempted to pickup a used generator (6.5KW) for my 32FB because there seem to be a lot of deals floating around because of boat show purchases. Is this such a good idea? Where is the cutoff between what is salvageable, reliable or rebuildable? Should I just wait to get the new one? What name brand show I lean towards and what vintage if I buy used?


So many questions...do I really want yet another project?

[UNIQUE_NAME]

the 6.5 onan is a workhorse. it will run forever, almost... that being said,
EVERYTHING on it is expensive to repair or replace and it is difficult to find people who want to touch them for that reason.

jim

[67hat34c]

there are only a few choices of gas gens in this size . they are 3600rpms and 1800 rpms. guess which is quieter and will last longer. the only company making the 1800 is Westerbeke,,big bucks. the Kohler is a noisy 3600 light weight thing. herd one in a neighbors boat, man is it loud. of course that is my opinion, I have an old Onan 4.0 MCCK, it is much quieter than the Kohler. It runs strong and is very easy to work on. Parts may be hard to find and will become harder as time comes. so if you find one to buy, recommend an overhaul now. Before you break it down, find out what parts are available. Recommend pulling intake, exhaust and heads. do valve job,then pull winding and install new brushes and saw the mica. replace bearings if possible, rebuild the carb, very easy and then use the thing for the next 10yrs.

the only up side to the Kohler is size, it is very small and the 5.0 weighs less than 220 lbs. the onan 6.5 is going to tip the scales at about 430lbs or more. think my 4.0 is 419lbs, same exact engine as 6.5 but 6.5 has bigger winding.

[Jackman]

What about Onan? I see a lot of them used. Like this one for instance....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ONAN-...27592478QQrdZ1

[Trojan]

Kohler had advertised a new small, light weight and quite generator at the Miami boat show. They claimed that it was extremely quite, that the emissions were super low and the weight was lower. The price was also supposed to be reasonable. I don't know. But if they work like they say. It might be worth the wait. I would check there prices for a new state of the art. Before I bought an old relic and spent a ton of money on new parts to fix an old unit. Kohler was sure proud of them. Sounded like they only improved the gas versions though. My 30yr old diesel Onan 7.5kw just keeps on tic-ken.


BILL

[SeaEric]

I was warned to avoid the models that run at higher RPM's.

A few years back I purchased a 10 year old used gas Westerbeke 8kw with 450 hours on it. It came out of a Sea Ray repowering to diesel. I paid $2500. for it and sold my antique but still running 25 year old Onan for $1200. Made me a happy camper! Check with yards that do gas to diesel repowers. They are a treasure trove for this type stuff.

[UNIQUE_NAME]

2 - 3 years ago i looked into replacing my 6.5 onan with a kohler. i seem to remember it beeing an 8kw, turned 3600rpm, was much lighter than the onan.
the price was in the neighborhood of 5 - 6k with me installing it. as i said before, when the 6.5 runs (which is most of the time) it's a great machine. but when things go wrong, everything on it seems to start at $100.00 and escalate quickly. hope this helps.

jim

[mikonna]

I have a 4.5kw Westerbeke generator for sale. Unit is 1800 rpm. Unit is 1989 model with approximately 1000 hours usage. Unit is fresh water cooled and has never been used in salt water. Repowered to diesel several years ago is the reason the unit is for sale. Comes with extras. Will take $1200 plus shipping for unit.

Contact if interested.

Mike Wilhelm
256-710-1024

[jim rosenthal]

I am beginning to see why large motoryachts have TWO gensets- it seems to be seldom that the generator is called on to run everything and frequently the genset runs at an inadequate load level. When I repowered my boat, I put in a 6kw NL set. Frankly most of the time I don't even need that- 2kw would do it. If I were cruising a lot, I would see if I could put a 110vac alternator on one of the drive engines and run things off that. I recall that at a boat show a few years ago I saw a cruising alternator system but haven't seen one in a while. Has anyone else?

[Jackman]

Mikonna,

I'll give you a call tomorrow. Just got in from a weekend of gut wrenching work on the boat. Ie bottom work and bilge work. Two of my most hated annual chores.

Thanks,

Jack