Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I meant to post this a couple of weeks ago after this happen to my brother and sister-in-law, but it slipped my mind. Anyway, just a word of caution to anyone running a generator off you boat and especially if your sleeping on it. So my brother has a sail boat with the below cabin and A/C, but they have a portable generator to run the A/C when they are anchored for the night on the lake. Well the other week as they were anchored he placed the generator at the back of the boat well below the deck and doorway into cabin to run the A/C, and there was a very good breeze that night and I'm assuming they had the "cover/wood slats" for the door on since the A/C was running. As you probably guessed by now, 4 out of the 5 (3 young kids around 9-11 years old) had a very good dose of carbon monoxide poisoning. I hate too say it but with some of the symptoms they had, I think they were very lucky. With the placement of the generator I too found it hard to believe, but I'm thinking with the breeze coming around the boat it may have caused enough swirling that it got into the cabin, again very hard to believe with the distance and open air and breeze, but you never know. And, we're not 100% sure it was from the generator but I believe that was the only gas thing running, maybe a refrigerator on propane.

They did end up going to the hospital in the morning and everything ended up ok but damn it was scarry hearing and witnessing some of the effects, lots of headaches, kids throwing up and darn near passing out.

The moral of the story, if your running a generator or something near your boat, get a carbon monoxide detector! They did not have one, not quit sure why the boat didn't come with one since it has the cabin, but they've got one now.

Great advice walter. Thanx

When we converted the bus into a RV for Mom and Dad, I told them they needed a Co2 detector, to many have died in RV's from Co2

Not to be picky, but it's CO that gets you. CO2 is what we breathe out all the time.

dtruly wrote:Not to be picky, but it's CO that gets you. CO2 is what we breathe out all the time.

And it can keep a keg of beer fresh for a long long time

Yep your right, it is CO, got the two mixed up, that's what I get for typing sober

The most dangerous part of the hurricanes is the weeks after when you have thousands of people screwing with generators.

Yep, not a good ideal to run in the garage

The PC has a CO detector on board. Wouldn't run my generator without it.

The other issue is whether you bond neutral of the generator to the boat. There are two schools of thought on that. I tend to fall down on the "no" side.

Thanks for the heads up,it just reminded me that I will need to get one for my pontoon weekender project.