A test run...

No, not on the boat - it's still in our storage unit, waiting for the dredge to finish in our canal.  I spoke with them today... realistically, I don't see them finishing this canal in less than the next two weeks.  And that's if they don't have yet another breakdown.

Today, the plan was to try out the generator and the portable air conditioner we bought.  The power company is going to shut off power on our island this Tuesday, from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm.  If it was just going to be for that day, we'd likely just live with it.  But, no, they will be doing this each week for the next 4 weeks.

We have run a small air conditioner with the Honda generator on our C-Dory in the past.  This new a/c is larger, with more cooling capacity.  I was concerned about how the generator would handle it; thus, our test run today.

We looked at several small generators, all less expensive than the Honda... but, having had and depended on a Honda in the past, we felt it was money well spent.  It comes "dry" - no oil in it.  Only uses 13 ounces of oil...

We wrestled the a/c out of the box and test fit it in a window...

Off to a nearby gas station to get fuel for the generator.  Then, the test run...

The Honda fired up on the 5th pull.  Not bad for a machine that had no fuel in the lines.  It immediately set into a gentle purr on Eco-mode.  Time to see how it can handle the new air conditioner... piece of cake!  The generator hardly spooled up much to handle the load of the a/c.  This new a/c puts out more cooling with less noise than the one we sold with the boat; and is obviously more efficient doing so.  We will have plenty of juice left over to keep the fridge and freezer going during the power outage.

Hopefully, the power company won't have any "glitches" that cause more problems than they fix.  But, just in case, we are prepared.

That wood support under the air conditioner in the photo above isn't something we made up for this use - I made that as an outboard motor bracket in our cargo trailer.  I took it out a couple years ago, but didn't toss it.  Never know when you're going to have a use for something like that... one 2x4 as a shim, and it is a perfect fit. 

As long as we were sweated up from working outside, I put the batteries back in the scoots and fired them up... also Hondas, also purring like a kitten.  Good stuff.  :-)