HELP: Rental Houseboat shore power connection

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spirg

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We've got a rental scheduled out of Wahweap next week on a 75' Excursion. Yes, I know, we are rolling the dice. Wish I would've known how bad it could be but here we are and we're going to give it hell and see what happens. Our expectations are about as low as they can be.

My understanding is you've got about a 75% chance of the generator taking a crap on you. So, to head this off, we're thinking of bringing a 5kw generator. I know it won't power the AC or run a lot but it should be able to keep the batteries charged and run a few things if needed. I have a lot of Lake Powell and RV experience and I am familiar with the RV 50 amp and 30 amp circuits.

My question is, is the houseboat shore power connection the same twist lock as modern 50A RV plugs? I'll bring my own 50a cable .

Thanks for your help. I'm just trying to minimize the inevitable let down that is in our future. Any other advice is greatly appreciated.
 
spirg said:
We've got a rental scheduled out of Wahweap next week on a 75' Excursion. Yes, I know, we are rolling the dice. Wish I would've known how bad it could be but here we are and we're going to give it hell and see what happens. Our expectations are about as low as they can be.

My understanding is you've got about a 75% chance of the generator taking a crap on you. So, to head this off, we're thinking of bringing a 5kw generator. I know it won't power the AC or run a lot but it should be able to keep the batteries charged and run a few things if needed. I have a lot of Lake Powell and RV experience and I am familiar with the RV 50 amp and 30 amp circuits.

My question is, is the houseboat shore power connection the same twist lock as modern 50A RV plugs? I'll bring my own 50a cable .

Thanks for your help. I'm just trying to minimize the inevitable let down that is in our future. Any other advice is greatly appreciated.
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I'm wondering the same thing. We're renting a 46' expedition next week and was thinking of bringing our own 5k watt genny as a back up but didn't know if there was a way to wire it to the houseboat itself. Interested to hear what people say.
 
Besides the obvious concern with Co2 from a portable gen on a boat there are also concerns with the ground. Not all Portable generators have neutral-to-ground bonds.

So I would research a little more before you just hook up a portable 5kw gen to a boat shore power cord.

For our small honda we have on our Axopar we got a special adapter that gives the proper ground. And we run the gen on the beach so the co2 goes to the water level and does not fill up the bilge of our boat.

If you put a portable gen on the front deck
Of a Housebaot the co2 will find the lowest spot in the boat and accumulate there. Most boats have basement rooms which could be bad for anyone sleeping there.

On the surface it seems like a great idea but it’s serious business and lots of ways it can go really bad.

Mike
 
I’d consider renting one of the Honda EU7000is models. That’s what we have as a backup in our boat. We run it on the top deck and let the breeze take care of any venting concerns.

It will run anything on our boat that is 120. Relatively quiet and very fuel efficient. We had to run it 24/7 on our July trip due to a bad inverter and big generator problems. Saved our trip.
 
I believe the Honda backup generators that both Ryan & Michael are using, have "floating neutrals", vs a "bonded neutral". I think what Spirg was asking, is how are you hooking that into your houseboat, or at least a rental boat. I would think these houseboats all have the same shore power connection. Spirg wants to know if the houseboat connection is a 4 wire 50 amp rv plug. I think it is, but it's been a few years since I plugged a house boat in.......
 
too funny.......
so it's not a 50amp RV plug......which is two hots, a neutral, and a ground. Ryan's is just one hot leg!!
 
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