For the first time ever, we spent almost two weeks on the lake (back to back weeks). Here are some updates and insights. The boat ran well although the engines were a little slow to start. The new slide location was great! It is nice not having to avoid the slide supports. I put some padding on the angle brace to decrease head bumps and ran a new water line to the slide so it is ready to go. We also removed the old brackets. Bulldog has installed new bumpers on the back so it should be much nicer to bring a boat up against the back of the boat. Our main problem was that the generator would start but not rum more than a second. I spoke with Bulldog and they thought it was likely the fuel pump, but they could not do anything without me bringing the boat back in so we decided to see how we did without it. The 6V batteries would not hold a charge and were old so we changed them out. Once that was done then the refrigerators and everything else worked perfectly. Everything even stayed frozen in the freezers. When we came back in then Bulldog got the generator running again.
I have a solar generator called Safari from inergy that weighs about 5- 10 lbs and will run everything except the AC and microwave (or as my wife reminds me - a hair dryer). It kept up with the TV, fans, drill, pumps and the endless charging of personal electronics. Each day I hooked it up to the solar panel and it recharged. This is the unit that I take with me to Haiti on the medical/dental trips and we can run our dental equipment all day without a problem. By using this, I save a ton on gas not running the generator, so not having the generator was not much of a problem as long as the batteries were good. I thought about getting a solar generator for the group, but it is expensive and has small parts that could be easily lost if one is not careful. This is something that each owner could consider for themselves though if they want to. I think it pays for itself in a few trips trips. They are super useful and reliable. I have had mine for several years. I just looked at inergy and Goal Zero. I have both and like inergy much better. I would only get lithium and I have not tried the new Goal Zero lithium battery so it might be comparable (both are about $500). inergy did not have its smaller (5 lb) unit, Safari, listed so I will have to find out if it is still available. The Kodiak is their big one and it is awesome! I have one and it will run almost everything but is much bulkier than the Safari, and is much more expensive (about $1800). The Goal Zero lithium 400 looks fairly close to the Safari but it is 17lbs rather than 5lbs. Don't get the really big Goal Zero. I have that one also, and it is super heavy and very expensive, and not even in the ballpark with inergy. If you just want to run the basic things that I listed, then I would probably get the Goal Zero lithium 400 unless I could find the inergy Safari.
