Faced with major repairs to Bay Pelican's 27 year old Westerbeke 8kw generator I initially planned on replacing it with a new generator. Several members on the list asked that I report as to my decision as to which generator that I would buy. In the end I decided on one further repair, with a $3,000 factory refurbished back end (ac generator) shipped to St. Lucia and dropped into the existing generator. A factor in this decision was that many of the attachments to the existing generator had been recently replaced including the heat exchanger, fresh water pump, salt water pump, and exhaust elbow. In addition I have on board replacement alternator, fuel pump, stop solenoid, salt water pump, belts, sensors for coolant, oil, and exhaust elbow, glow plug, as well as good supplies of oil filters, fuel filters. My existing generator also had a remote panel, sound enclosure and remote oil filter setup. My investigation of a replacement generator led me to conclude that Westerbeke was no longer a major player in terms of being mentioned by purchasers of new generators. I don't know how this relates to actual sales. Of the three brands mentions most often, Northern Lights, Koler and Onan, Northern Lights appeared to have the strongest (most vocal) group of proponents. Thus without any solid evidence I focused on Northern Lights. More interesting to me was my thoughts on the size of the replacement generator. I was leaning to going against the current trend by going with a smaller generator. My current generator is an 8kw. When the generator is used, I turn on two 100amp chargers. Roughly this is 3600 watts maximum. The ongoing house load for refrigeration is less than 200 watts. In addition we would turn on a teapot for 1500 watts or a water heater for 1500 watts. Both the teapot and the water heater are short term uses, 4 minutes and 15 minutes respectively. If we were overloading the generator we could run the water heater after the initial 15 to 30 minutes of the chargers when they drop into absorb mode. When I added all this up there seemed to be no reason to go to a 12kw generator. The 8 kw would be fine. Possibly even a 6kw. My thoughts were to the current usage. Here in the Caribbean air conditioning is not used. Even if we were to return to Florida and use the A/C at anchor an 8kw generator would be able to run both A/C units and the normal house load. Running a generator with a 50 amp alternator for hours a day would eliminate any necessity to run the chargers and thus the 8 kw would be satisfactory even in Florida with A/C. A 15 minute running of the water heater or tea pot would be within the capacity of the generator. Several benefits to using an 8kw generator rather than a 12kw generator. Running the generator at three quarter load is good for any diesel engine, and the 8kw would use less diesel per hour. At $5 per gallon for diesel this is a real benefit. Sound reduction and space are always an issue and I believe the 8 kw would be a benefit in both areas. While not enormous there was also the added cost of a 12kw generator versus an 8kw generator. Thus the decision was to go with a 8kw Northern Lights Generator but to investigate first whether the 6kw would be sufficient. The costs were high, roughly $11,500 for the generator, $500 for the remote, $2,000 for the sound enclosure. $2,000 to duplicate my current spares. $800 for shipping to St. Lucia, clearing customs and delivery to the marina. We estimated the costs for removal of the current generator and installation of the new generator at $2,000. Altogether this brought the cost to $18,000 to $20,000. The decision to undergo an expensive repair rather than replace is always a risk. Frankly, I won't know whether it was a good or bad decision until the generator breaks down and needs to be replaced or several years pass without the generator breaking down. Marty Campanella Bay Pelican KK42

Marty, To support the "smaller" theory, I replaced a 15 kw Onan with a 9 kw NL three years ago. I have never regretted the decision. Arild and others helped with thinking it through and I am glad they did! Jim Laudermilch iPhone On Apr 23, 2013, at 8:25 AM, "Marty Campanella" <baypelican@gmail.com> wrote: > Faced with major repairs to Bay Pelican's 27 year old Westerbeke 8kw > generator I initially planned on replacing it with a new generator. Several > members on the list asked that I report as to my decision as to which > generator that I would buy. > > > > In the end I decided on one further repair, with a $3,000 factory > refurbished back end (ac generator) shipped to St. Lucia and dropped into > the existing generator. A factor in this decision was that many of the > attachments to the existing generator had been recently replaced including > the heat exchanger, fresh water pump, salt water pump, and exhaust elbow. > In addition I have on board replacement alternator, fuel pump, stop > solenoid, salt water pump, belts, sensors for coolant, oil, and exhaust > elbow, glow plug, as well as good supplies of oil filters, fuel filters. My > existing generator also had a remote panel, sound enclosure and remote oil > filter setup. > > > > My investigation of a replacement generator led me to conclude that > Westerbeke was no longer a major player in terms of being mentioned by > purchasers of new generators. I don't know how this relates to actual > sales. Of the three brands mentions most often, Northern Lights, Koler and > Onan, Northern Lights appeared to have the strongest (most vocal) group of > proponents. Thus without any solid evidence I focused on Northern Lights. > > > > More interesting to me was my thoughts on the size of the replacement > generator. I was leaning to going against the current trend by going with > a smaller generator. My current generator is an 8kw. When the generator is > used, I turn on two 100amp chargers. Roughly this is 3600 watts maximum. > The ongoing house load for refrigeration is less than 200 watts. In > addition we would turn on a teapot for 1500 watts or a water heater for 1500 > watts. Both the teapot and the water heater are short term uses, 4 minutes > and 15 minutes respectively. If we were overloading the generator we could > run the water heater after the initial 15 to 30 minutes of the chargers when > they drop into absorb mode. When I added all this up there seemed to be no > reason to go to a 12kw generator. The 8 kw would be fine. Possibly even a > 6kw. > > > > My thoughts were to the current usage. Here in the Caribbean air > conditioning is not used. Even if we were to return to Florida and use the > A/C at anchor an 8kw generator would be able to run both A/C units and the > normal house load. Running a generator with a 50 amp alternator for hours a > day would eliminate any necessity to run the chargers and thus the 8 kw > would be satisfactory even in Florida with A/C. A 15 minute running of the > water heater or tea pot would be within the capacity of the generator. > > > > Several benefits to using an 8kw generator rather than a 12kw generator. > Running the generator at three quarter load is good for any diesel engine, > and the 8kw would use less diesel per hour. At $5 per gallon for diesel > this is a real benefit. Sound reduction and space are always an issue and I > believe the 8 kw would be a benefit in both areas. While not enormous there > was also the added cost of a 12kw generator versus an 8kw generator. > > > > Thus the decision was to go with a 8kw Northern Lights Generator but to > investigate first whether the 6kw would be sufficient. The costs were high, > roughly $11,500 for the generator, $500 for the remote, $2,000 for the sound > enclosure. $2,000 to duplicate my current spares. $800 for shipping to St. > Lucia, clearing customs and delivery to the marina. We estimated the costs > for removal of the current generator and installation of the new generator > at $2,000. Altogether this brought the cost to $18,000 to $20,000. > > > > The decision to undergo an expensive repair rather than replace is always a > risk. Frankly, I won't know whether it was a good or bad decision until the > generator breaks down and needs to be replaced or several years pass without > the generator breaking down. > > > > > > Marty Campanella > > Bay Pelican KK42 > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > http://lists.trawlering.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers_lists.trawlering.com > > To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options (get password, change email address, etc) go to: http://lists.trawlering.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers_lists.trawlering.com > Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World > Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited.

Marty, Great info on your repair vs replace decision. How many hours on the old genset? I often see cruisers bandy about $1 per kwh as their guestimated "home-made" electricity cost, but my guess is much higher. Mark Richter, Ortona, FL on the Okeechobee Waterway ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marty Campanella" <baypelican@gmail.com> Subject: T&T: New generator decision > Faced with major repairs to Bay Pelican's 27 year old Westerbeke 8kw > generator I initially planned on replacing it with a new generator. > Several > members on the list asked that I report as to my decision as to which > generator that I would buy. .