Trojan Boat Forum

You're right - its SMOKSTAK.com ... (no "E"")

a couple of things to conclude this.

1st my local cummings has been great, if may help if you have the manuel, but they have been great.

2nd- last yr we put on the new carb, when we did so, I am not sure we adjusted the choke correctly. As it got a little cooler, that made it hard to start. We fooled with the choke, and I think we forgot to set the little set screw on it. We got it to start right up messing with the choke.

3rd when I was adjusting the output I was messing with the throttle screw, I needed to mess with the little governor arm. When we messed with the correct thing (governor arm) it took us no time to get it adjusted (and thanks to whomever pointed that out)
4) lastly I was a little impatiecent with the whole thing. That is when I put it under a load, (the a/c compressor), it didn't look like I was putting out enough power. but give it a minute and it will pick up to where it needs to be.

g36 wrote:

aaronbocknek wrote: if you do not, once you turn it off you run the risk of sending a power surge through the system and it will blow fuses. this one running.

i believe it is good practice to turn the ac power selector switch from generator to off before starting or stopping or even shore power to off when connecting or disconnecting power to the boat from any source. to avoid just those issues and also burning your power cord plugs when the power arcs to it when connecting them

the pre-start/run procedure i ALWAYS use is, 1. on the boat, main breakers off. power selector switch from SHORE to OFF. 2. at the dock, turn off circuit breakers for shore cords. 3. disconnect at boat, put shore cords (vessel side) wrap vessel ends and extra cord length around the power post on dock, face down and covered--- (i got the idea to make a cover from my neighbor. he used two spare rings, traced out the opening using rubber gasket material and he and i use this idea as a waterproof dock side cover ) 4. engage genset switch and let it warm up for about 5 minutes with no load. during the warm up period, i normally remove the spring lines. 5. i then switch the panel selector from OFF to GEN, then engage the breakers. after the brief warm up period, the genset is now able to carry a load. when i get back to dock, i remove any load and let the genset run without a load before shutting it down, usually while i apply the spring lines. this might be over kill, but, it works for me and with a 34 year old genset, i might as well get all the use out of it that i can.

my shut down procedure is in reverse.

the reason i had the power surge blow the breaker initially came from the engine speed and governor out of adjustment. when you 'up' the speed or lower the speed the governor needs to be adjusted in tandem, otherwise you will get stator spinning faster than it is supposed to and will end up with more power being generated than necessary. i used a clip on volt meter placed in the control box to get the right sequence and the correct voltage. pretty easy once i got the hang of it.

Aaron is basically correct , even thou I never warm up the get set for 5 mins . But I do wait to to turn the boat form shore to gen or back . I give a few minutes in between . the reason is If your turn of a compeser like in a A/C .refrige or ice maker . and turn it right back on they will be over loaded causing a high draw and over loading the genset . 3 minutes is the std. wait time before turning on a compressor after shutting it off . this gives time for the freon to stabilize pressure .

So i have yet to address my gen issue, going to rebuild the carb over the winter months.

I do have a question on the running procedure though. My gen set is in the center of the salon floor. It has three options, off, on and auto. If set on auto it will start the generator when you move the power switch to onan on the power board on the wall.

Question is short of lifting up the floor to move it to ON, there is no way to start it to warm it up before putting power draw on it is there? Opening the floor every time is a PITA. Which is what i have to do now because it isn't starting well.

I'm just looking for some suggestions? Or do i flip the main breakers off and turn the power selector to Onan to start it with no load?

Why move the floor? Extend the starter wiring.

aweimer wrote:So i have yet to address my gen issue, going to rebuild the carb over the winter months.

I do have a question on the running procedure though. My gen set is in the center of the salon floor. It has three options, off, on and auto. If set on auto it will start the generator when you move the power switch to onan on the power board on the wall.

Question is short of lifting up the floor to move it to ON, there is no way to start it to warm it up before putting power draw on it is there? Opening the floor every time is a PITA. Which is what i have to do now because it isn't starting well.

I'm just looking for some suggestions? Or do i flip the main breakers off and turn the power selector to Onan to start it with no load?

hey aaron, aaron in baltimore here. the 3 position switch you are referencing is on the control box just above the brushes right? this is a mechanic switch that can be used for winterizing etc.... will your genset start from the panel in the salon? is there a sep. start button on there? on our 1972 tri cabin, we had a 7.5kw kohler installed after we had her delivered from the factory. trojan put onans in exclusively and dad wanted something with a lot more power..... believe me, that kohler lived up to the task. the kohler also had a 'mechanics switch' on the control box, but at the panel, the 3 way power switch said, SHORE OFF KOHLER. when you turned it to KOHLER, the gen set started from there. our genset also had an auto function, and would start/stop whenever something electrical would kick on or off. on my f-32 that just sold, the genset had the 3 way mechanics switch, a start/stop toggle switch on the lower helm station and the 3 way selector on the breaker panel. you might have to add a remote start toggle on your panel.
aaron in baltimore