Trojan Boat Forum

My 98 Trojan express 390 has a Kohler ESZ 6.5 generator. which has failed again. This time I am told it is the governor, the nylon balls are worn out.
In order to repair it the boat has to go to a dock with a suitable crane to have it lifted out and about 8 hours work to fix the governor.
My thoughts were to dump the generator and replace it. This turns out to be almost impossible as Kohler stopped making gas generators.
Has anyone any experience with this problem and any suggestions as to what to to do?

I was going say look at Onan, but they have gone all diesel I believe. You could go to a diesel one that's rated for a gas boat (Onan and others), but that would involve adding a diesel tank. This is becoming more common. You can also look at Westerbeke, they are still making gas units.

Hi David,

The original owner of my 1994 370 express opted for the 6.5 kw Westerbeke generator. It works well for me. I mention this just to let you know that you don't necessarily need to use a Kohler. There are new and used Westerbeke units available and I would assume there are also rebuilt Kohler units available. Maybe that's a solution.

Rick

Thanks for the suggestions. I will look at both ideas, the space down below is critical as a previous owner upgraded the main engines to Merc 8.1S's. Also the cross bar connecting the rudders passes just over the generator

David, My boat has the Bluewater engines too. They were a $9,000 add-on option at the time of purchase. Lucky for us the original owners apparently had money to burn.

Regardless, lots of room in the engine compartment for the Westerbeke - the rudder cross bar plus those Bluewaters.

By the way, did your previous owner get around to changing up the wanky stock Trojan (Carver) battery arrangement that your boat arrived from the factory with??

Rick