Day 234, Year 7: Proud Owners of a Honda EU2000i
Date: Friday, June 29, 2012
Weather: Another Gorgeous Day After Morning Clouds
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
We’re not very good at this “living on a fixed income” thing. Instead of
buying a cheaper alternative or looking for a used generator, today we
bought the top-of-the-line Honda EU2000i. Thanks to all who responded to my
call for help in last night’s log. Rich Corbett, a friend we met through
our log, wrote saying that he didn’t think we would be satisfied with
anything less than the Honda. When we read that, we looked at each other
and we knew he was right. Then our son-in-law Jed did some research for us
and his response was, “You get what you pay for.” Again, we knew he was
right. The marine environment is tough on generators and the reason we
didn’t buy one for our trip around the world was that we didn’t want one
more thing to work on in exotic places. But running our powerful diesel
engine an hour or two a day here in little Eel Pond for another summer just
didn’t make sense to us. And buying a cheaper alternative that could end up
costing us much more in the long run with expensive repairs also didn’t make
sense. We know lots of cruisers who have a Honda generator and we know they
are the most reliable out there. Once we decided to bite the bullet, we
actually toyed with buying the even more powerful EU3000iS, but when we
found out it weighs over twice what the EU2000i weighs, we changed our
minds. The EU2000i weighs about 60 pounds and can be easily carried by
either of us. It is small enough to fit in the cockpit until we get some
sort of permanent cover built for it on deck. We know it is as quiet as
generators come and we know that it is reliable. So for double the money,
we hope we get double the performance. Unfortunately our gas cans are in our
storage unit in New Hampshire, so we have nothing to buy fuel in to try out
our new purchase. The gas cans we have here all have gas mixed with oil for
the dinghy. We hate to buy new gas containers when we already have more
than we need, but somehow I think we’ll buy a small container tomorrow so we
start using the new purchase.
It was cloudy this morning and we slept in a little later than usual. We
ate breakfast and did some internet research on generators, and before we
knew it, it was almost noon and time to eat lunch. So it was well after
noon when we got out of here. When we left we still didn’t know if we were
going off-Cape to Home Depot and Lowes to look at generators or if we were
going to a farm store that sells irrigation equipment and sells Honda
generators to buy one. But in either case we had to drive across the bridge
over the Cape Cod Canal and fight our way back through holiday weekend
traffic later in the afternoon. So as long as we were out there, we decided
to drive Portsmouth, Rhode Island to buy the adaptor for our dinghy pump
that we have somehow lost this week. Our dinghy still has a slow leak, and
after our week staying at Heather’s, it was quite deflated. We spent the
last three days searching for an adaptor close to home, but we came up with
nothing. When we called the AB dealership in Rhode Island this morning and
found out it would be Tuesday before they could send us one, we decided that
we should go get it for safety’s sake as getting in and out of deflated
dinghy is tricky. So we spent our afternoon driving to Portsmouth to get
two adaptors, one that we will put away for safe keeping, and then coming
back to Wareham in Massachusetts to get the generator. We also stopped at a
Target to get some decorations for Jonah’s birthday party tomorrow. We
actually didn’t have too much traffic coming home. We arrived in Woods Hole
around 6 pm and spent an hour on land assembling Jonah’s birthday present
before heading out to the boat. We will head to Heather and Jed’s in the
morning for a birthday brunch and gift time for Jonah. Then we’ll either
come back here so Mark can rest for a few hours before the party starts at 4
pm or we’ll find a place for Mark to rest at Heather and Jed’s and I will
help with party preparations.
