I own a Honda 2000 and have owned a Yamaha 1000. buy the Honda 2000, it makes the same noise, just produces more power and has a bigger fuel tank.

Another opinion--Mermaid is also one of the smaller units for the btu output so it's easier to install in limited spaces. King Marine Air also makes a real size effeicent unit of excellent quality and they will sell direct to end user.

They also make a thing they call the Condensator that uses the water discharge to suck up and get rid of the condensate water rather than let it drain into bilge.

I'd absolutely put one of those on system I was installing--mine works great and gets rid of a major PITA--

Poorsche

Thread is 2+ years old guys.

I have a 2000.

I use my Honda with the Mermaid 5000 BTU AC unit and it works great. It does take alot of draw when the compressor kicks on but it will handle it as long as you're not running anything else. It will work in the economy mode and bump up the rpm automatically with just the AC running. If you're running anything else you need to keep it out of the ecomony mode or it will kick off on overload. Once running you can run just about anything, battery charger, fride, etc. and it will kick back down to ecomony and lower the rpm (and noise level) once the compressor has started.

If the eu2000 isn't enough power for you they also sell a eu3000. it retails for about 1600.00. Its well worth the money though. They are the quietest generators I have ever heard run. Nothing is better than the Honda in small generators. I've owned Yamaha and Honda generators, The Yamahas are very nice, quiet and long lasting but in no way are they better than the Honda, either one would be a good choice, but used, the Honda holds its value better than anything on the market. Look on Ebay for eu2000's and 3000's. Buy one thats in nice condition and save yourself a couple of bucks. I've had good luck buying and selling generators there. I use them in my business and go through them like water.

The 3000 is significantly larger. Not really a "portable" like the 1000 and 2000.

1000i is 29 pounds.
2000i is 46 pounds.

3000is is 134 pounds. Ugh. You ain't gonna reach in next to the motors and one-arm it out of the engine compartment. Not a good unit to use if you plan to haul it in and out of the bilge.

The 1000 and 2000 can be paralleled. This means you can hook 2 of them up for 1000+1000 or 2000+2000 watts.

And I've watched a 1000i start and run a 5000 btu Mermaid unit (with the timers staggered properly). The man says a 2000i will start and run his 12,000 btu unit (with the addition of timers). As was mentioned, you can't leave it on ECONO mode and expect it to handle the startup surge of the 12k unit. The startup surge is right at 2000 watts on the 12k btu unit (the circ pump AND blower can be "off" on compressor startup).

What IS econo mode? Econo mode lets the generator slow down according to load. When it gets hit with a startup surge, the motor TRIES to speed up (from like 3000 rpm to 6000rpm or so). Can't do it against a max load.

Anyhow, they are good generators for portable use. The 2000 won't give 2000 watts continuous, though. So size your load to 1600 watts.

Permanent installations, go ahead and expect to add 300 pounds to the boat. And for a performance boat, you need to pay attention to the water intake for it (and the A/C). You should use a good transom mount intake instead of the thru hull. They can lose prime at speed.