Once apon a time there was a 1978 ONAN. It was shaky and loud but did an ok job making power for the boat until one day. It was a day like many others in California, sunny and warm when Trevor thought….. Maybe I should change the fuel filters and service the water pumps on Mr O. I had filters and water pump parts so it should be an easy enough task. Note that I had successfully took the Perkins apart and put it back together just fine. So I finished up after 4 hours of working on Mr O. And he started up fine after I blead the air out of the system. Things were fine for a few days and we took the boat to the Channel Islands for the weekend with Chad and Larissa. All was well until we got back and I noticed a small diesel smell and a bit of oil showing around the base of him. I ran the ONAN for about 30 minutes and also heard a funny click and grind that was new. We went to Catalina Island out of Ventura and found that after about an hour of run time the diesel smell in the boat was to much to bare. It was time for professional help and San Diego was our next stop so I made some phone calls when still at Catalina and had a mechanic lined up for when we got in. After we got in I had the mechanic down and he directed me to try a few things. He left me to try for the last time to fix the problems but I kept running into rusted parts that choose to brake off creating more to fix not less. Swearing and shaking my fists at Mr O. I thought it time to plea my case to Kimi on us getting a replacement Mr O.
I hunted for 10 days for a new generator that was available in a timely fashion but all I could find was 2-5 weeks as a delivery date and that was going to make it impossible to convince Kimi to make the sea of Cortez this summer. It was time for Trevor to put on his “Get ur Done”hat and so I bought Kimi a ticket to NC to see her dad for Father’s Day. This allowed me to put on the hat that was tucked away in the closet. The hat that I usually need to remind my self is put away for a reason… Rest and relaxation…. And the slower pace of a cruiser. This is why Kimi needed to go away. Sunday I spent on the internet all day looking, hunting for info, options. I had 3 pages of notes and phone #s to call. Time zones listed, I woke at 6 am and started calling at 6:15. By 8:15 my calls gave me two options and then it was time to hit the pavement. By 10 am I canceled one order and placed another. A 9 kW Northern Lights was available next day and by this time in my search it didn’t matter that it was the most expensive or the best (it was) all that mattered was that it was possible to be done NOW. Kimi was scheduled to come back on Friday night but knowing how we were going to need to open up the engine room and how messy this process was going to be I thought it best to extend her stay so with little effort and a very helpfull United airlines employee the tickets were changed to Monday. The mechanic was ready to start on Thursday and Friday morning Mr. O. was yanked and “Genny” put in his place. I was still wearing my “get ur done” hat and the mechanic was a challenge to work with. Our neighbor, Todd, warned me about our choice in mechanics not being the best or easiest to work with and he was right. It was Monday afternoon and the boat was back together for the most part. Kimi came home to a clean boat. Tuesday the mechanic completed and Kimi and I took the boat out for a test run to make sure everything was working.
Northern Lights Generators are made in Seattle about 4 blocked from where I lived in Ballard for 7 years. They made there name in the fishing industry and can be found in boats of all shapes and sizes. There generators were used extensively in Alaska for the oil and gas industry and the military and gave schools the power they needed to heat and light the classrooms. They have global distribution network and service world wide. I felt confident in my choice. I just needed to tell Kimi I went over budget and I wasn’t comfterble with that.
O Genny you so fine, you so fine you blow my mind!
