R.I.P. Onan

[rob71]

The original 1971 Onan 7.5 has met its end.
We anchored in a cove by Treasure Island this past Friday, fired the gen and got dressed for a night on the town.
About 20 min. later the gen chugged then shut down with a burnt smell and lots of smoke from the ER.
Spent the night sleeping on the aft deck (due to the smell inside) and enjoyed the weekend with inverter power.

Now the old gen is on the aft deck and I am installing a replacement (6KW Northernlights) next week.
Remove was straight forward up through the hatch with 2x4 gantry. except Had to cut 2 of the mounting bolts with a die grinder.

New unit is about 1/2 size and 1/2 weight. Expect it to be 1/2 quiet as well!
Newly painted space is ready

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Been there, done that. You will be happy with new.

 

[Boatsb]

Parts available?

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Parts available?

Good point. I bet someone would love to have some of those parts. I sold/gave away every piece of my old Onan.

 

[jim rosenthal]

You will love your NL genset. Did you get the hush hood? I wish mine had room for it.

 

[Boatsb]

Good point. I bet someone would love to have some of those parts. I sold/gave away every piece of my old Onan.

I still have one running. Parts are always good to have as spares.

I'd love to put a newer and smaller unit in but just can't justify it.

 

[rob71]

I am giving the old Onan with sound shield to a neighbor. He will probably be parting it out. If anyone wants parts I can give his contact info.
Yes the new NL also has a shield. The footprint is only 30 in. X 20 in. Much smaller than the old by about 6 in. In all directions!

 

[Bob Bradley]

I went the same route with my Onan 7.5kw 6 years ago and never looked back. Best improvement I made on the boat in the 13 seasons I've had her. I went with the Norpro 9kw.

I'm a little surprised you downsized. I did a load evaluation and found that 7.5 was really insufficient to run all my systems, and moved up to the 9kw. Very quiet and dependable.