Generators and raft ups

Definitely a concern particularly if you are rafted with gas boats. As such you should only have diesel friends :). All kidding aside as stated above you should get a few updated CO monitors as a backup. I like the ones that give the PPM reading. The biggest concern is when you have stern anchors out which may allow the CO to come back into the raft or on really calm nights with no winds. We had CO enter our boat at a slip from a boat running its engines from another fairway early one morning so its definitely a serious risk.
 
I would think you are responsible for everyone around you if an accident would happen. You can't be sure someone else wouldn't be affected by you running your generator.
 
My experience is I do not do it, at least overnight, raft or no raft. It's just not my thing for safety, noise, etc. Regardless of the amount of monitors and such, it's too much of a risk for me, and then there is the noise. It was common to do when I boated on the James River. I never ran mine, and felt uneasy being in the cabin around the others.

That said, I agree with the comments here, especially @Irie308
 
My biggest complaint about the 500 design. Why would they put the exhaust port right next to the swim ladder? We keep it on if we are cooking lunch or my wife wants the AC on (which is almost always) I do turn it off for swimming. We also warn friends we keep it on, as do most we raft with. We have no air flow in the bunk room or the mid cabin (windows don't open) without the genny running at night.
 
SKybolt said:
I leave my generator on 24/7 period. I will also not stay tied up overnight with a gas boat because of what @Irie308 mentioned. Who needs to be woken up to CO alarm, and to be honest, your lucky to be woken up. No thanks.
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I don’t like anybody else with a boat enough to be willing to sacrifice my night of air conditioning to raft up. I do have three CO detectors in this very small boat though.

You should see how poor of a condition the exhaust hoses on my generator system were at purchase. They would actually bubble in cracks along the radiuses during operation
 
Best friend always had gas boats. We tied up with them with his gen exhaust beside my 44DB. If was early in the day and in about an hour, CO detectors were raising hell. Turned the boats to put my diesel gen blowing his way and his on the other side blowing away from us both and never another issue. Lesson learned.

Bennett
 
Stray Current said:
I don’t like anybody else with a boat enough to be willing to sacrifice my night of air conditioning to raft up. I do have three CO detectors in this very small boat though.

You should see how poor of a condition the exhaust hoses on my generator system were at purchase. They would actually bubble in cracks along the radiuses during operation
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Rafting up for the day is a lot of fun, but then night comes in and you need to worry about staying safe. Sleeping in AC is the only way I sleep on a boat. And to your point, is not worth giving that up. Health is also a bigger reason not to risk it.
 
I'm generally anti-social when boating. I only raft up with one other boat (my in-laws) and they don't have a generator so my info may not be super helpful.

That said, I run our diesel generator when it's hot out in order to use the AC, as well as when we sleep on the hook. The exhaust outlet is on the stern port corner and has a water separator so just the exhaust comes out the side. Even with the other boat on the same side, the generator exhaust is rarely noticeable. We have multiple CO detectors on the boat.

Since it's a diesel genny, I'm much more comfortable running it than if it was gas powered.
 
Why are people saying diesels are safe from CO poisoning? You can get toxic levels from any Carbon fuel burning unit.
 
Flyer5 said:
Why are people saying diesels are safe from CO poisoning? You can get toxic levels from any Carbon fuel burning unit.
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I think that CO poising is much less likely with diesel gennys for a couple reasons. They produce less of it, and diesel exhaust is much less odorless compared to a gas engine.
 
Ericinmich said:
I think that CO poising is much less likely with diesel gennys for a couple reasons. They produce less of it, and diesel exhaust is much less odorless compared to a gas engine.
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CO is odorless. Diesel actually has a higher carbon content. I would not treat either any different or either as safer. Neither is safe. CO is a cumulative gas in your lungs.
 
Flyer5 said:
CO is odorless. Diesel actually has a higher carbon content. I would not treat either any different or either as safer. Neither is safe. CO is a cumulative gas in your lungs.
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CO comes packaged with the rest of the output from an engine, and the CO in a gas engine exhaust is generally odorless. The CO mixed with the what comes out of a diesel engine smells. There isnt something separating the CO from the rest of the exhaust output...

Generally CO poisoning sneaks up on you when you don't realize you are breathing IC exhaust output. That is less likely with diesel... unless you regularly inhale diesel exhaust fumes.
 
Lots of people die from malfunctioning oil fired heating units too. If you are sleeping the smell may not be obvious. But I am not telling you what to do. We are responsible for ourselves. I just don't think it is good to promote a diesel generator as safer.
 
Flyer5 said:
... I just don't think it is good to promote a diesel generator as safer.
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Diesel generators are safer, much safer and for many reasons. They do emit CO, but only a few percent at best, and in most cases when mixed with open air it is not measurable. But to your point, a death was linked to diesel engine burn recently.
 
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