Quickie heater/genny safety decision

D

Dene

New member
I'm as close to boondocking as I ever have in my brief boating experience. I'm all by my lonesome on my 22 footer on a deserted dock near Portland's Sauvie Island. It's 44 degrees outside and dropping. Should freeze tonight...clear skys.

I'm running the Honda 2k genny 20 feet from my boat. Can't hear it at all. It's hooked into the boat's shorepower outlet. I'm running a Holmes twin ceramic heater full blast through a GFI outlet, expecting it soon to get my enclosed cabin up to a toasty 67 degrees.

Here's my question. I'm thinking of leaving the heat on low all night, like I would do with shorepower, expecting that the genny will eventually run out of gas around 5 am. Any safety problems with this scenario.

Final decision will be made in 3 hours.

-Greg
 
I think I only get about 3 1/2 hours out of my Honda 2k Gen. I would not refill it while it is running or hot. I would think about turning it off to cool then refill and if you wish to get the gen running and some more heat later on or early in the morning you are all set to go. Those ceramic heaters do a great job warming up the boat and it's a nice dry heat. Have a great evening! I like cold nights and a warm boat. :thup
 
why not use the wallas??? it will run all night and not run down your battery. Should use a lot less fuel. converting gas to electric to heat is not a efficient at turning fuel to heat.
 
starcrafttom":c3nwcan0 said:
why not use the wallas??? it will run all night and not run down your battery. Should use a lot less fuel. converting gas to electric to heat is not a efficient at turning fuel to heat.
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I don't have a Wallas. In fact, I don't even have red dot heat, although the Campion did originally. The previous owner tore it out. Not much need for it in Oceanside, Ca. When we're underway, we use a propane heater.

-Greg
 
My wife asked why you were out there in that......But my thought, and probably everyone else here was.....gee I wish I was there with him...
What fun... even if it is cold... your doing it... your using the boat... yer having fun... Hopefully you survived the night...
I don't have a wallas, sure wish I did....just for nights like yours...I have propane...(no heat) and a 1k generator...so only a small heater.

Joel
SEA3PO
 
So Greg,

how did it work out for you? We camped a couple years ago on the boat while at anchor on the Oregon side of of Sandy Island and watched "A Perfect Storm" on the laptop with the sound run through the boat's speakers..... with the gentle rocking of the boat and the sound of the breeze outside, it made for a very eery and realistic viewing of the movie. We kept looking outside for 50 ft. sneaker waves amongst the 3 inch ripples. Another good one to watch is "Master & Commander" while on the water.

I'm probably going fishing tomorrow (sturgeon & steelhead) afternoon if you want to go. High tide should be around 1:00 pm.

CW
 
CW":tfmu2gld said:
So Greg,

how did it work out for you? We camped a couple years ago on the boat while at anchor on the Oregon side of of Sandy Island and watched "A Perfect Storm" on the laptop with the sound run through the boat's speakers..... with the gentle rocking of the boat and the sound of the breeze outside, it made for a very eery and realistic viewing of the movie. We kept looking outside for 50 ft. sneaker waves amongst the 3 inch ripples. Another good one to watch is "Master & Commander" while on the water.

I'm probably going fishing tomorrow (sturgeon & steelhead) afternoon if you want to go. High tide should be around 1:00 pm.

CW
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Augh....I'd love to join you but I'm on das boat until 6 pm tomorrow. Afterwards, I pick up the kids in Oregon.

How abouyt next weekend....or weekday, (if you get a scratchy feeling in your throat).

About last night, it worked out great. I took the advice of running the genny part of the evening, leaving some gas for the morning. Twas wise...since it was a frosty 29 degrees when I fired it up at 6 am. Slept till 8 and woke up to a toasty cabin until the gen ran out of gas. Spent the rest of the day kayaking with an old friend at Scappoose Bay, then celebrated our athletic feat with some excellent beer and pizza in St. Helens. There is a new pizza joint here and it's fabulous. I'm at the marina now, enjoying shore power. Intend to catch a movie (Juno) at the local theatre.

I really enjoyed both movies you mentioned although but have yet to experience them on the water. Will have to. We usually enjoy Seinfeld dvds and do the same trick you do with the speakers. Ain't surround sound but tis better than laptop speakers.

Hope you get some action fishing. Plenty of boats out today.

-Greg
 
There are two other possibilities. One is to run the heater on "low" during the middle of the night--some are 600 watts, some are 1000 watts, some inbetween. Also you can easily make a 6 gallon fuel tank for the Honda EU 2000i or 1000. Just an outboard fuel tank, an extra gas cap for the honda generator, and a small fitting, plus tubing to the fitting on the cap. The fuel will siphon over, and the genset run several days on 6 gallons.

I personally would feel safer with the Honda running off the boat--as long as the exhaust was down wind--than with propane.
 
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