The owners of these devices invariably claim, "they are so quite you can't hear them." Oh yes you can! Maybe, after running them for hours and days on end a person gets so used to the noise they don't notice it - kind of like living next to the railroad tracks or owning children. But others notice and it is annoying.

While tied up to Pickering Wharf in Salem during Hurricane Irene, a fishing boat three boat lengths distant ran theirs constantly throughout the storm. It was clearly audible above the wind for the duration. Yesterday, anchored at Vineyard Haven a very nice looking Valiant 40-something, Honda on the forward side deck running for many hours well into the night. About 400 ft away and the loudest sound on the water. Tonight, in Oak Bluffs harbor, in comes a very nice looking traditional yawl, picks up a mooring and immediately starts the Honda generator. This is not the quietest of waterfronts and yet the most clearly audible noise is that damn generator.

If they do not make noise as their owners claim, why do they inevitably place the generator as far from the cockpit as they can get it, and point the exhaust away from them (and towards me!)? If you love its purring sound so much why not hug it in the cockpit, or better yet down below?

These things are insidious and should be outlawed.

OK, end of rant, carry on.