Shore Power Plug - Expedition Rental HB

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Blue x2 said:
Marina Bum,

Just curious if you can tell which generator has the better fuel consumption? Maybe you haven't ran them long enough to tell?
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My understanding is the Honda and Yamaha are pretty equivalent on fuel consumption.

We have a pair of the blue Yamaha EF2000iS generators for our personal houseboat. They really are great on fuel and quiet.

One generator will run at least 8 hrs on a gallon of gas in Eco mode. This keeps our batteries and phones fully charged and runs a chest freezer, Starlink and TV. Pairing with the second one, we can run microwave oven.

The cool thing about the Eco feature is it will automatically throttle up/down based on load. So in the morning it runs a bit harder while charging house batteries. After a couple of hours, it throttles down as batteries reach 80% when the converter draws less energy to top off.
 
Blue x2 said:
Marina Bum,

Just curious if you can tell which generator has the better fuel consumption? Maybe you haven't ran them long enough to tell?
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No idea since the neighbor gave me the Yamaha just this season. I have not ran it enough to make any such calculations. The honda is 15 years old and well used, the yamaha is maybe half that age and has very little use on it.

One thing I like about the Honda's is that they have a fuel pump so it will run an external extended tank. I've set up a 5 gallon outboard can as its external supply so it will run for 24 hours without refueling. The pump pulls it through the adapter cap is how that works. IDK about the Yamaha if it can do that or not but I'd think the fuel consumption would be similar
 
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Marina Bum said:
IDK about the Yamaha if it can do that or not but I'd think the fuel consumption would be similar
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No fuel pump on the Yamaha but you can still make it work gravity fed. That’s what we did when I used to bring my Yamahas to Powell.

The main advantage of the Yamaha is that it comes with a fuel shut off valve so it’s easier to run the carbs dry of fuel so they don’t foul during periods of non use. That, and the fact that blue is a much prettier color than red…..
 
Ryan said:
And to save some hassle, if one is powering the houseboat only off the 110 outlet I’d highly recommend buying or making a neutral ground bonding plug. Otherwise you may not get any power.

I learned that the hard way last weekend when trying to power my new to me fifth wheel off my Yamaha

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This causes issues in boats .. do not bond neutral and ground in anything going into a boat. If you buy normal appliances (ones not made for boats) you need to cut the ground neutral bond so you are not energizing the hull. Note that this can cause electrocution, FYI.
 
Jackalope said:
This causes issues in boats .. do not bond neutral and ground in anything going into a boat. If you buy normal appliances (ones not made for boats) you need to cut the ground neutral bond so you are not energizing the hull. Note that this can cause electrocution, FYI.
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Well, if your boat has the same converter as my RV you will be unable to get power from a portable generator from the 110 outlet on the gen without it.

When I ran the Yamahas in parallel there was no problem. Only running off the 110
 
Ryan said:
Well, if your boat has the same converter as my RV you will be unable to get power from a portable generator from the 110 outlet on the gen without it.

When I ran the Yamahas in parallel there was no problem. Only running off the 110
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I would think they are using marine grade, but who the heck knows for sure. I know what I found on my Houseboat and had to correct from the manufacture.
I try not to jump in on these but I am only trying prevent someone from getting hurt. Do not bond the ground and it should work without it. Remember that on a boat there is no earth ground or grounding rod.

I don't know if you remember a few years back where a person on a rental houseboat was electrocuted when he made the connection between the hull and the generator frame? <-- this was because the wiring was done for a home instead of marine.
 
@Jackalope and @Ryan , well this is a confusing topic for someone who doesn't understand electricity. I have a Honda 2200 and assumed it was safe to power my 5th wheel (which I have done in the past) or a boat via the 30amp outlet on the Honda. A special adapter is needed to safely power things with the Honda because it has a floating neutral? Don't worry - I'm not relying solely upon your repsonses for my safety. Just trying to understand the issue so I can educate myself. Thanks!
 
@mmullin I am not talking about neutral (white wire). The genset is fine, plug it in to the boat and select shore power or, plug the appliances in directly to the genset, even better.

What I was trying to tell you, is that you should not connect the Neutral (white wire) to the Ground (green wire). This is called bonding and not good on boats.

Now this is sometimes needed if you are trying to charge an EV with a genset or some inverters (in RV's and other places) need the ground neutral bond to work.

As for connecting generators to houseboats, I have done it with twinning 2000 Hondas and 2200 Brigs and it works great for keeping things going for cheap. I installed solar/batteries and we only need to run the generator for AC and stove, no more bringing portable generators.
 
Jackalope said:
@mmullin I am not talking about neutral (white wire). The genset is fine, plug it in to the boat and select shore power or, plug the appliances in directly to the genset, even better.

What I was trying to tell you, is that you should not connect the Neutral (white wire) to the Ground (green wire). This is called bonding and not good on boats.

Now this is sometimes needed if you are trying to charge an EV with a genset or some inverters (in RV's and other places) need the ground neutral bond to work.

As for connecting generators to houseboats, I have done it with twinning 2000 Hondas and 2200 Brigs and it works great for keeping things going for cheap. I installed solar/batteries and we only need to run the generator for AC and stove, no more bringing portable generators.
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Thanks!!!
 
Thank you all for the great input.

Just a follow up to the original post, our rental houseboat shore power adapter solution works. Nice to save some generator fuel and have a backup to the onboard generator.

We cruised from Wahweap to Oak Bay yesterday on the Navigator rental with a Predator 3500 plugged into HB shore power (exhaust safely ventilated overboard via a side boarding gate). HB panel indicated the Inverter status was float charging and 110v AC outlets, lights etc functioned properly as if connected to shore power.

In an offline discussion (thanks Marina Bum), he had a great suggestion. Since the 3500w generator wouldn’t likely run the HB residential size air conditioner package unit, he recommended flipping off the HB A/C breaker just to prevent an inadvertent start command from the thermostat, so I did that.

Here’s the adapter:IMG_8953.jpeg

Amazon.com : Upgraded NEMA L5-30P to SS2-50R RV Marine Power Generator Adapter, Shore Power Adapter, 30A 3-Prong Male Twist-Lock Plug to 50A Female Connector with Locking Ring, ETL Listed : Tools & Home Improvement

Amazon.com : Upgraded NEMA L5-30P to SS2-50R RV Marine Power Generator Adapter, Shore Power Adapter, 30A 3-Prong Male Twist-Lock Plug to 50A Female Connector with Locking Ring, ETL Listed : Tools & Home Improvement
www.amazon.com

Here’s a generator/shore power cord similar to the one we used: (already had this cable for our old 1980 Kayot HB)IMG_8951.jpeg


Side note, the Navigator is painfully slow. Barely managed 4 mph at 3500 rpm towing a single PWC. Had to bump rpm up to 4200 just to eke-out 5 mph. But hey, it was fun watching football on the big screen while driving up top and the scenery never gets old😎
 
Rivergoer said:
Thank you all for the great input.

Just a follow up to the original post, our rental houseboat shore power adapter solution works. Nice to save some generator fuel and have a backup to the onboard generator.

We cruised from Wahweap to Oak Bay yesterday on the Navigator rental with a Predator 3500 plugged into HB shore power (exhaust safely ventilated overboard via a side boarding gate). HB panel indicated the Inverter status was float charging and 110v AC outlets, lights etc functioned properly as if connected to shore power.

In an offline discussion (thanks Marina Bum), he had a great suggestion. Since the 3500w generator wouldn’t likely run the HB residential size air conditioner package unit, he recommended flipping off the HB A/C breaker just to prevent an inadvertent start command from the thermostat, so I did that.

Here’s the adapter:View attachment 33912

Amazon.com : Upgraded NEMA L5-30P to SS2-50R RV Marine Power Generator Adapter, Shore Power Adapter, 30A 3-Prong Male Twist-Lock Plug to 50A Female Connector with Locking Ring, ETL Listed : Tools & Home Improvement

Amazon.com : Upgraded NEMA L5-30P to SS2-50R RV Marine Power Generator Adapter, Shore Power Adapter, 30A 3-Prong Male Twist-Lock Plug to 50A Female Connector with Locking Ring, ETL Listed : Tools & Home Improvement
www.amazon.com

Here’s a generator/shore power cord similar to the one we used: (already had this cable for our old 1980 Kayot HB)View attachment 33913


Side note, the Navigator is painfully slow. Barely managed 4 mph at 3500 rpm towing a single PWC. Had to bump rpm up to 4200 just to eke-out 5 mph. But hey, it was fun watching football on the big screen while driving up top and the scenery never gets old😎
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To confirm - the houseboat male receptical is 50amp, correct? So, theoretically I can bring my 50amp power cord from our 5th wheel and use that to connect to our portable generator. I already own the 30amp to 50 amp adapter for the generator to power cord connection. I guess I'm asking if the RV cord twist lock fittings are the same as the marine.
 
mmullin said:
To confirm - the houseboat male receptical is 50amp, correct? So, theoretically I can bring my 50amp power cord from our 5th wheel and use that to connect to our portable generator. I already own the 30amp to 50 amp adapter for the generator to power cord connection. I guess I'm asking if the RV cord twist lock fittings are the same as the marine.
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HB male receptacle is not labeled. I assume it’s 50 amp.

If your 50A RV female plug has this pattern it won’t work.
IMG_8956.webp
Your 50A female plug must have this pattern
IMG_8955.jpeg
As for your portable generator connection, that’s up to your application.
 
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