Sadler Point Marina - the Panda leaves!!

Good Ridance!!

The Panda genset left today. All the old ties were cut by the electrician, the fuel line was severed, mounts undone and without a whimper (but a roar of approval from the crew) the old genset levitated into the sky! We had thought about letting it go from a great height just to see it bounce and break into a thousand pieces but the EPA would not have approved (oil and various sundry parts scattering to the four corners of the compass...) but it would have made the crew happy.

The electrician spent the rest of the day getting the locker ready to accept the rather larger 6 kw Kohler genset. I measured the locker dimensions and it will fit but it takes up much more space than the Panda and it weighs 150 lbs more! It's due to be lowered into place Tuesday and it will be very interesting to see if it's quieter than the Panda as advertised. Of course, at that point, we own it anyway so it's a mute point.

So you always wondered how these very heavy objects got into a boat in the first place...

After the initial turn on and tuning, we'll be moved to an outside dock that doesn't suffer from the shallow water and see how the boat balances. I suspect we'll add ballast to the port side of the boat to balance the added weight of the genset in the starboard locker. Even with the old Panda, we had a list to starboard and the new genset certainly won't improve on that.

So all in all it as an interesting day and will be even more interesting Tuesday. The new genset will be a very tight fit in the opening to the starboard locker. There's enough room inside but the opening will be a challenge. Never a dull moment.