www.iFourWinns.com

Hi there ,I am in the process of making some mods to my 268 to make it more usable for my boating needs ,I have a marine fabricator making a stainless railing for the swim platform which will have 6 fishing rod holders(3 per side) and mounts in the centre for a nice filleting /bait table,it is also being made so it is removable,so when no fishing etc it can be left at home.I was discussing ideas about portable generators with the engineer and he suggested that the generator(honda ez 2200) could be removed from its cage and mounted in the transom storage locker,he suggested installing some descent vents in the locker door and says its quite ok to operate the generator with the locker shut! Im not convinced and checked with another marine engineer I know ,he also says its fine ,although he suggested running the generator with the locker door open for better ventilation.Im still not sure about this.I think the gen will fit in the locker just,if needed I could cut out a small area of the transom area(back of transom locker) from inside the boat just below the rear lounger and install a fibreglass box of somekind(like a storage compartment) to allow a little more room,Im sure it would look fine and would be difficult to even notice considering it would be hidden at the very back of the rear lounger at almost deck level.I figured I would also ensure the locker is completley sealed off from the rest of the boat to avoid any risk of fumes or danger.In short if its safe to do this I am sure I can make it look good and sure it would be a great mod.realistically I only use a generator for 1 to 2 hours at the maximum,so dont think carbonmonoxide poisoning is a problem for me ,but more the generator getting too hot,am I correct? or maybe I could run a wet exhaust hose from the gen into the water to assist in removing gases? any help (as usual)would be greatly appreciated as I really dont know what to think now,cheers ,Mike

I have seen 268's for sale that have generators so isn't there room for the portable in the bilge? I have a gen in my 298 and it gets hot and I would worry about what the heat would do to the gelcoat.

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Current Boat: 2000 Four Winns 298 Vista
Previous Boat: 2000 Carver 406MY

Portable in the bilge ?? absolutely not. It needs to be vented outside the boat. making all those mod's to a transom locker just for 1-2 hours of genny use? Crazy IMO. Just strap the Honda to the swim platform like many others do, and put it away when you are done with it. Sounds like way too much unnecessary mod's that will only serve a limited purpose, and do nothing but decrease the re-sale value of your boat, and possibly be an accident waiting to happen.

It always amazes me that people buy the boat they like, and can afford, but try to mod the hell out of them to make them into something that they were not intended to be in the first place. I understand personalizing the boat to your needs, but there is a limit to what makes sense, and what is just plain unnecessary.

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

I know what you are saying ,it was just thought thats all ,I have access to tools and have friends with mechanical engineering knowledge ,theyre great guys and always helpful.If it was too involved Im happy to run it on the swim platform instead,just thought it would be neat and tidy to have it out of the way in the locker.Its more the concern of wheather or not is would be safe to operate the generator in the locker.The generator I have is mounted on 3 rubber mounts ,so all I really have to do it remove it from its frame and drill 3 holes in the floor of the transom locker for the generator mounts ,put some penny washers and spring washers with wingnuts on the underside for easy removal and seal well,it could then be removed quickly and easily if the gen needed repair (or maintainance/servicing) if its a little tight for space It would be really simply to cut out a small amount of the transom area below the rear lounger to allow the gen to fit,then I can mount a fibreglass box or inspection panel of somekind over the hole,from inside the boat looking under the rear lounger it would hard for the untrained eye to even detect if it were done properly,that way if I ever upgrade my boat for a newer or bigger one,I can always take the gen out and keep it.Us Kiwis are well know for coming up with ingenious ways and methods to make things work.I was watching the news the other week on tv and there was an american helicopter that had landed awkwardly or overshot its landing area or similar and was stuck(think it was in the middle east somewhere) everyone was preparing to leave the chopper where it was when the Kiwi army sas troops came along with an all terrain vehicle and somehow dragged it to saftey with a tow system they came up with,The guy on the news said it was the 1st time a chopper had ever been shifted this way and the us troops were amazed,Being a kiwi I laughed when I saw it and thought to myself "good ol Kiwi enginuety! good job guys!" I guess what Im saying is we are a very resouceful nation as a whole,probably due to the isolation of our geographic position in the world ,guess we just adapted and learned to make ways around things that others would not bother with lol ,cheers ,Mike

Can't he vent it outside? I guess if it were that easy, none of us would have paid $8k to $10k for a generator.

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Current Boat: 2000 Four Winns 298 Vista
Previous Boat: 2000 Carver 406MY

As far as it being in the bilge, not only would the exhaust have to be vented outside, but the starting/changing system would have to be ignition protected, just like an inboard engine is, or else it could cause an explosion.....
In a transom locker, for one, could you vent it safely, without exhaust fumes leaking back into the boat, and would it be cooled adequately, these gen sets are air cooled, there might not be enough airflow there....
It's not uncommon for boats to have a problem with Carbon Monoxide being sucked into the cabin just from engine exhaust under certain conditions, I would not take a chance with this, could be deadly....

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

As others have stated, it's a phenomenally bad idea to stuff a portable generator inside a locker or the bilge. For all kinds of reasons. Heat, air flow, exhaust fumes, risk of explosion, fire, etc. One of the biggest risks to portable units is spilling gas while refilling it. These are not constant-duty devices, they have small gas tanks for just that reason. Yet some people make the colossal mistake of trying to pour more gas into it, even while it's STILL RUNNING. It's bad enough to have something like this go wrong when it's out in the open at home. But inside a highly flammable fiberglass locker? It'd be a lot worse.

Also consider that your insurance company will likely refuse coverage for damages from such a gerry-rigged setup.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Two Gloucester County men, overdue from a weekend boating excursion, were found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning in the sleeping compartment of their 32-foot cruiser Tuesday morning. Col. Steve Bowman, chief of Virginia Marine Resources Commission law enforcement division, identified the victims as Charles Anthony "Tony" Tillage, of Tillage Estates Lane in Gloucester Point, and Richard Dane Coates, of Field's Landing Road in the Hayes area of Gloucester. Tillage, owner of the cruiser, Split Decision, and Coates, were both 42. "We theorize the fumes from the auxiliary generator that runs off the main fuel supply transferred into the passenger compartment," Bowman said.

http://www.flainjurylawyerblog.com/2010 ... wsuit.html


http://www.oregon.gov/OSMB/safety/Carbon2.shtml


http://robaloboatowners.net/forums/inde ... topic=1594


Read these post especially the last one that specifically details a portable generator being used. Carbon Monoxide can kill quickly consider that our bodies will absorb Carbon Monoxide 200 times faster than oxygen.

Whatever you descide to do please have multiple carbon monoxide detectors onboard.