Generators on Cruising Boats

Generators are compact motors that convert fossil fuels into electrical power. They can produce power in the form of Alternating Current (AC) or Direct Current (DC). They can also be wound in a way to create various voltages, allowing you to select the ideal generator for your yachts electrical needs. 

Generators offer the convenience of electrical production from the easily carried and energy dense fuel source known as diesel, propane, and gasoline. At any time, the motor can be started up and a stable and reliable flow of electricity will flow from it into your yachts power system. This power can be used to recharge the batteries, power appliances, and even give you the comfort of air conditioning while away from the dock.

While these conveniences are nice, they are still just conveniences and not necessities. There is no reason to postpone your cruising departure because you don't have a generator yet. Generators should be viewed as a "nice to have" and not a "need to have." 

Generators offer a lot of convenience, but this luxury does come at a price. Generators take up a considerable amount of space, energy, peace, and cost. Cheaper generators tend to be in large metal frames. These generators will only set you back a few hundred dollars, but they are loud and guzzle gas and oil as they produce their power. These generators are easy to find at almost any hardware store near a port. If you need a generator in a pinch, this option could set you up with the power you need, and not break the bank in the process.

A smaller and quieter option comes from Honda, in the form of their EU line of generators. These generators are much more fuel efficient, allowing you to power your boat for hours on end with a single gallon of diesel. They work by actually throttling the motor to meet the electrical demand placed on it. Think of the metal frame generators as a power plant with an on/off switch. When it is off, it produces no power, and when it is on, it is running at full blast producing all the power it can. You simply draw what you need from this pool of power until it runs out of fuel. The Honda EU series will throttle back, giving you much greater run time and save a lot of fuel.  

We bought the Honda EU2000i and it has a 0.94 gallon fuel tank that is capable of running for more than 7 hours! The manual states that at full blast, it will run for around 3 hours and under no load around 8 hours. 

As it throttles back, it not only saves fuel, but it also makes the entire process much quieter. Less umph from the motor means a more silent experience for those that are near by. The Honda EU line is considered to be the quietest on the market (which is a big factor into why we chose this model) and it is still pretty loud in our opinion. It never hurts your ears, but it is a constant low drone in the background that never seems to go away until you shut the generator down. 

One more added benefit with these compact generators is they are lighter and often come in a nifty case that makes transporting easier. This makes it easy to stow it somewhere in the boat and set it up on the deck when you need to fire the unit up. 

Our Honda EU2000i cost us about $1,000. This was by no means a small purchase for us and we thought about it for a long time. The turning point in our decision came when we found ourselves forced to transit the ICW on the east coast of the United States due to the present and deteriorating weather we have been having. Motoring for a long time is not possible with our electric motor, as it will drain the battery banks.  

We looked at all the options and weighed out the facts of the decision. If we chose to tie up in a marina to recharge, we would spend around $90 per night to recharge the batteries. This means that in roughly 11 marina nights, we could have purchased our own generator and charged the batteries up at anchor for the price of gasoline. 

While these cheaper options involve gasoline motors and low power outputs, there is an entire other level of generators to look at. 

Diesel generators will produce massive amounts of power at a very efficient rate. They are also safer to operate because diesel is not explosive like gasoline is, greatly decreasing the risk of a fire or explosion on your boat. 

Diesel generators also cost a significant amount more, most of them start around $5,000 and quickly climb in price from there. These generators are heavy and by no means considered portable, as they are mounted on their own engine beds in the hull. These motors will have their own cooling system and exhaust system that needs to be maintained, just like on your primary diesel motor.  

The complexity of installing a diesel generator is greatly amplified as it needs its dedicated space, and this dedicated space needs to allow the operator access for maintenance that needs to be carried out on a regular basis. 

Generators are by no means mandatory, but they do allow for more comforts on board if you are willing to spend a little more money. 

The Waiting Game

While you might think that cruising is an endless vacation with no schedules or time constraints. The truth is, time is always around us. 

Yes, cruisers will lose track of time and might not even know what day it is, but time and schedules are still a very real part of their journey. The weather and its weather patterns run on the same time that the rest of the world operates on.  

When you decide to leave a destination is up to you, but when you can leave a destination depends entirely on the weather. In the right season, you can leave any day, but in the wrong season, you might find yourself waiting for days, if not weeks, for the weather to cooperate. 

Cruising is much more relaxed than working life, but it still follows the rules of time. Instead of a boss telling you what to do, you have nature telling you what to do. 

Off Season

Those with daily jobs have to go to work everyday. Weekends will give them a bit of a rest, as they gear back up for Monday! 

When these people take an extended break, they want to do it at the "best time." Collectively, everyone wants to do it at a similar time frame and this creates the "tourist season" in destination towns. People don't want to visit a place if the conditions are not optimal, so no one goes when it is not perfect. 

As a result, the stores and restaurants will hire more staff during the "season" and slow down or close entirely during the "off-season" since there isn't really a market to stay open for. When you arrive somewhere by boat, you might get there during the "season" and be surrounded by tons of other tourists who have descended on this area in a swarm. You will get to experience the pre-planned and orchestrated spectacle that the town has put on for its guests. 

Unlike all these other guests that need to return to work after a fun-packed vacation, you get to stay, as you are on your boat and in no hurry to be anywhere. Life is an adventure and you are going to cruise through it at a very relaxed pace. 

When the "season" comes to a close and the "off-season" begins, these towns will roll up their sidewalks and shut down.  Maddie and I find that this is actually the best time to visit a place, as you will get to know the locals and experience what life there is really like.

We arrived in Hatteras, NC just as the season was coming to an end. It was fun going to different restaurants and walking around the town looking at the items the shops had on display. A few days later, all the stores started to shut down because the "season" was over. Restaurants would open on their last day in a blaze of glory! All items on the menu were 50% off, as they wanted to clear out their freezer before closing for the "off-season."  Luckily, each of our favorite restaurants was closing on a different day, so we had the opportunity to attend the closing of each of them!

Once the party was over, the town was much quieter and only a few places stayed open. At the moment, there is a place that is open for lunch, another place open for dinner, a coffee shop, and a general market (which stocks fresh vegetables and other foods). You will soon come to know the locals, as everyone is going to be in one of these places and you can really get a feel for the true town. 

The facade has come down, the makeup has been washed away, and you can see what the town is really like. Hatteras is a town of fisherman who are all welcoming and friendly! While here, we have watched and learned how to clean a fish like a machine (6 quick cuts to extract a fillet) and felt welcomed by the locals.  

We are the only sailboat that has come here in a long time, so everyone knows about it. When we are talking with them and tell them that we are cruisers and we were sailing by, they will interject "Oh, you guys are the sailboat." Then they will usually offer us a ride to a neighboring town if we need supplies or parts. They have all been very helpful, but thankfully we haven't needed to go anywhere as our parts arrived by mail shortly after we got here. 

I don't mean that they have offered to drive us, I mean they have offered us the keys to their car! This is someone who met us 5 minutes ago. The people in this town, truly are kind and generous people who all look out for each other and everyone in their town. 

When planning your cruise, don't discount a destination because you would arrive there after the "season" has ended, or because you will arrive near the "end of the season". Value these opportunities to see and experience these places the way the locals do. You will get to see a side of these destinations that few ever even dream of! 

Sandpipers

Sandpipers are small birds that feast on creatures that lie just below the sand in the wet/dry portion of a beach. These little birds will run up and down the beach like children who are afraid of incoming waves yet want to be at the waters edge. 

As the waves pull back, they make their way down the beach and onto the wet sand. When the wave comes back in, they all scamper up the beach to the dry part. As they run back and forth, they will stick their slender beaks into the sand in search of prey, quietly eating each morsel with each wave. 

It really makes you sit back and think when you see such a sight. You may have sailed many a mile to reach this beach, braving storms and being becalmed, but these little birds have been here the whole time, feasting on the bounty of this beach. 

It may seem like a small thing to focus on, but this large world of ours is full! Every place you go, you will encounter something or someone who has been there as long as they have lived, and will remain there long after you have moved on. It's like if the whole world is a net, and everyone is a fish. They are snared and stuck in that specific place, always been there and always will be there. Cruisers are those who have managed to escape, and swim through the holes to travel to new parts of the net. We have slipped through the cracks and managed to free ourselves as we move about unnoticed. We are here today, but who knows where we will be tomorrow?

Sunsets

While sunsets over the water are gorgeous, there is something special about seeing a new sunset on a distant shore, far from your home. 

You get off your boat and walk around the new landscape all day, lost in your mind as you aimlessly wander about, taking in the scenery as it unfolds before you. 

Then the sun gets low on the horizon and the sky turns into a blaze of fire, and the wet sand on the beach matches it in shimmer and beauty! You quickly get out your camera to snap a few pictures as the moment displays its beauty before you and you think to yourself "I'm here!" 

Sailing will take you far and away, and each day, you will watch the sun set as you relax in the cockpit as you await your next landfall. Sunsets over water are gorgeous, as the sea and sky begin to glow the same color and the horizon transforms into a singular radiance of beauty; but a sunset over a new land brings new meaning to the entire voyage. 

Standing on a beach as you watch the shadows stretch out on the sand lets you know that you made it here and all those days at sea were worth it!