Honda Generator Blues
22 October 2009 | the dependable Honda
Capt Rich
I noticed that our trusty Honda 2000 generator was sounding a bit bogged down with a little black smoke coming from the unit when I was running my battery charger. So out came the volt and Amp meter and I discovered that when a load is placed on the generator the voltage output drops form the normal 125v down to 85v. This of course isn't a good thing considering the Honda is the main way of charging our battery bank, rather than running our 30hr old Westerbeke 40hp engine. I've spent a few days now working on the unit, and can't fix the problem, so for now we are Hondaless. Finding a repair facility down here in Mexico isn't exactly an easy task, but we will keep out the feelers to see what we can find but for now we will be forced into running our main engine for battery charging. While the protective covers are all off, I'll take things apart one more time in hopes of finding the problem, but the odds of a repair at sea are not looking good.
Other than that, it's just another day of waiting to see what other piece of equipment will fail down in the Sea of Cortez. We will be starting our trip south on Saturday as the temperatures are getting noticeably cooler for both the air and water, making swimming not as enjoyable.