Ft Lauderdale - genset died today!

Looking down main street - notice the sign about the turtles! 

I went in to walk Hoolie and when I returned to the boat I noticed that the genset was not running?! Going down below, Ann said she heard a loud "bang" and then the high voltage alarm went off on the Prosine, the charger. This is not good, I thought. Starting the genset, I heard a rattle and white smoke came out the exhaust so I shut it down immediately. It's supposed to output 120v and anything higher means the rpms are too high, it running too fast. So I started the genset again and measured the output voltage, it was 170v! No wonder the Prosine charger cut out, the voltage was much too high and indicative of a higher than spec rpm. 

They do not allow alcohol of any kind on the beach! The police patrol to be sure the law is followed. 

With that I called Panda technical support and in going over the happenings, we agreed that it was most probably the governor once again going bad and not controlling the engine rpm. I had it replaced two years ago and they are designed to last the life of the engine - not so in this case! By the way, replacing the governor involves lifting the genset out of the starboard locked with a crane since the engine governor is so deep inside the engine that it's impossible to replace it while in the confines of the locker.   

So that just about killed the day. A walk along the beach road confirmed that the spring breakers are arriving  en masse. They should peak next week according to the list of schools giving schedules of breaks. The waves from the winter storm up north should also peak over the weekend with surf up to 9 ft, I'll take photos if the surf really gets that high!

So now we're consumed with arranging a genset replacement, making plans, comparing models, etc. As Marty so often said, "It's a boat"!