Why A Marinized Generator is a Must for Cruisers

Our Stevens 47, Totem, is anchored with 370 feet of chain in 90 feet of water off Majuro Atoll. Around us lie the rusting hulks of cargo ships. We are also amid the coral reefs, aquaculture pens, and a mooring area with a half-dozen cruising boats. Squalls are frequent here, just 7 degrees north of the equator, in the capital of the Marshall Islands. 

Between downpours, my husband, Jamie, and I dinghy in to collect a package at the post office. It’s filled with pure convenience. Two weeks earlier, our portable gas generator wouldn’t start. This isn’t a problem in mostly sunny places, where Totem’s 1,215 watts of solar typically exceed our power needs, but here in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, thick cloud cover blots out the sun for days at a time. 

Without solar power, the suitcase-size generator is essential for charging our batteries. Jamie tried everything to diagnose and fix the issue: carburetor, fuel pump, spark plug, coil, oil sensor. No luck.

There was no suitable replacement available locally, but a shipping agent in Honolulu, for a nominal fee, helped us purchase and deliver a new Honda EU2200i. We might have squeaked by without it, but with more remote islands ahead and a desire to avoid running engine hours just to charge batteries, this felt like a worthy investment. 

Since then, we’ve found the generator’s portability to be vitally useful. At a remote atoll, we once hauled it ashore to power our tools for repairing a rudder on a boat that had struck a coral reef.

Back aboard Totem, Jamie marinized this new generator. A single hour spent adding protective coatings will make future maintenance far easier. Jamie started by removing the exposed fasteners one at a time to apply Tef-Gel to the threads. Once reinstalled, the exposed heads got a coat of CRC Heavy Duty Corrosion Inhibitor or Boeshield T-9.

Next, Jamie marinized the rubber feet that help dampen vibration and sound. Each foot is held on with a bolt—one that tends to rust, stain the deck, and eventually fail. In the past, Jamie tried protective coatings, but none lasted. This time, he filled the inside of the rubber feet with silicone to create a water barrier. If you try this, keep the generator upright if there’s any oil or gas inside.

For the exhaust muffler, Jamie removed the plastic cover and the muffler itself, then sprayed the muffler with high-heat paint for protection. Covering the generator when not in use also helps keep internal components protected from rain and spray.

Once this was all done, and after the engine oil and gas were added, there was one final step before putting the generator into service: installing an hour meter. Ours is activated by engine vibration, giving us a quick visual cue for tracking run time and performing scheduled maintenance. No guesswork. No forgotten log entries. Just change the oil, clean the air filter, and stay on top of maintenance based on real hours run.

With electrical convenience restored, we’re able to top up the batteries and water tanks once again. We’d be catching up on laundry too—but the generator doesn’t keep squalls away, and we’ll need a little more sun to dry our clothes.

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