Members' Online Book: Electrical Systems For Cruising Boats, Chapter 16 of 27

Do You Need A Generator?

Published Apr 24, 2014 67 comments Updated March 6, 2020

JHH5_100693

A few weeks ago, Chris and Eric, both engineers and sailors with deep experience and lots of technical smarts, got into an interesting discussion about diesel generators and when it makes sense to install one. I highly recommend reading that thread full of useful information. I did, and it got me thinking...

As a voyager who has had a generator for the past 20 years, it suddenly struck me that for most usage profiles, the decision, generator or not, is an amazingly simple one.

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Meet the Author

John

John was born and brought up in Bermuda and started sailing as a child, racing locally and offshore before turning to cruising. He has sailed over 100,000 miles, most of it on his McCurdy & Rhodes 56, Morgan's Cloud, including eight ocean races to Bermuda, culminating in winning his class twice in the Newport Bermuda Race. He has skippered a series of voyages in the North Atlantic, the majority of which have been to the high latitudes. John has been helping others go voyaging by sharing his experience for twenty years, first in yachting magazines and, for the last 12 years, as co-editor/publisher of AAC.

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