Top quality barometer thoughts....

Got a call from a friend asking the question, " if you were going to buy someone a very nice top quality barometer for their 50ft boat, what would you buy?" I thought about it for a bit and decided to ask the trawler forum brain trust...soooo, who makes the best brass, not made in China barometer ?
Thanks for the opinions in advance.

Atlantis Brass Collection

Thoughts?

Try this - http://www.amazon.com/German-Precision-Barometer-Porthole-Design/dp/B008WAJEZ2

Depending on the budget I always prefer barographs to barometers. Weems are around 1500 but there are others for a bit less.


Via iPhone.

cafesport said:

Depending on the budget I always prefer barographs to barometers. Weems are around 1500 but there are others for a bit less.


Via iPhone.

Click to expand...

I always thought they were too delicate for a marine application?

If the boat is a trawler or a sailboat it will be fine. Planning hull not good.


Via iPhone.

wall mounted or table top mount?

Trinitec are great but they have a low $ version that is just ok

the NAU-04-IN model is under 450

I like the Chelsea stuff, very high quality, though nothing wrong with Weems:

Antique Brass, Nickel & Chrome Barometers | Chelsea Clock

Greetings,
Mr. rw. I searched for "brass barometer" and got dozens of hits. Everything from W&P (WOW are they expensive) to antique (mostly of German or French origin). Prices seem to range from $50 on up. I expect the end user of your friends gift will not be setting up a scientific weather station so I think "eye appeal" would be more important than absolute accuracy. I didn't notice ANY of Chinese manufacture.

It seems to me at some point, we can safely cast the old methods and equipment aside and embrace the new.

I'd forego the barometer in exchange for good modern weather forecasting with subscription service so I could get the info anywhere I cruise. In my case, I'd just need 3G/4G internet access since my boating waters are pretty much limited to the SF Bay and California Delta estuary but others could benefit from subscription satellite coverage.

Another option might be a digital weather station for onboard observations and data tracking. My LaCrosse Weather Station tracks temps, humidity, winds, barometer with baro trend weather forecasting and rainfall. It retains data which is accessible wirelessly via laptop with a USB stick.

Other examples of out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new include celestial navigation for GPS, charts for chartplotters, CB for DSC VHF with AIS, manual pump heads for electric, ship's bell for an electric horn and auto foghorn. But there's still no substitute for a really good loudhailer to get the first mate's attention in a hurry!!

I have a matched pair of barometer and clock(can`t recall brand, European from memory. I suspect most of the money is in the polished brass case and dials. When the "fine chronometer" failed to restart after a battery change(it did eventually after some 'percussive persuasion") I looked at the "highly accurate mechanism", it strongly resembled the clock power module of the kitchen wall clock.
IMO there is no substitute for seeing a barometer drop rapidly while onboard and anchoring out, it concentrates the boating mind.
I recently bought, on Ebay, a used "banjo" type barometer/hygrometer/temp to hang on my study wall. Inexpensive,West German(dates it nicely) manufacture. The barometer is very accurate( reset and checked against Sydney Airport readings online), being at my desk regularly, the pressure changes are surprisingly frequent and obvious. Then I bought an expensive looking (it wasn`t) English oak cased 1930s "temperature compensated" Smiths barometer for the hallway...once a collector always a collector...hard to reset correctly, not as accurate as the cheap West German one.

Before you make a decision, look at http://www.maximum-inc.com/weather-instruments-barometric-pressure.htm

We have a Chelsea barometer and a Chelsea ship's bell clock (windup) on our boat. Both have performed flawlessly for the 16 years we've had the boat so far.

BruceK,
So that's what you call it!
"percussive persuasion"


1983 Present 42 Sundeck
Twin Lehman 135's

If the boat will cruise the barograph is the most useful.

As a decoration , big and shiny brass will do.

I like both Chelsea and Weems and Plath. Buy one with a cast housing. The ones with sheet brass housings just feel cheap.


I was once given a Chelsea clock. It has a serial number on it. I wrote to Chelsea to ask when it was made. They wrote back with the year of manufacturer (1930 something) and the name of the man who first bought it.

Thank you all for the education on Barometers and have a thanks filled Thanksgiving

This is what we use on INFINITY.
Simple, robust, extremely accurate. I glance at it several times a day, and when on passage, record the reading into our log hourly.

River Cruiser said:

Try this - http://www.amazon.com/German-Precision-Barometer-Porthole-Design/dp/B008WAJEZ2

Click to expand...

I too like this one

Barograph rising is the time to cast off lines. The trend is more important than the reading. Mine was a gift and I love it.

The one that matches the clock is not so useful for us. The weather glass is as reliable.

Forkliftt said:

BruceK,
So that's what you call it!
"percussive persuasion"

Click to expand...

In fairness someone else here said it first. Knowing I`d be replacing the clock mechanism if nothing changed, I tapped it, increasingly firmly, with the blunt end of a screwdriver, and it got going.

A barograph would be the thing to have for someone cruising full or nearly full time, or doing long ocean cruises.

For people like us who do strictly coastal cruising in fairly protected inside waters (PNW) on weekends and (right now) vacations only, a good barometer, combined with the broadcast/on-line marine weather forecasts seems to be sufficient.

We've found that the forecasts in this region are generally very accurate. What is sometimes not so accurate are the predicted times things are supposed to happen. Local winds and fronts sometimes arrive later than forecast (generally a good thing) and sometimes earlier than forecast (generally a bad thing). Having at least a barometer on board helps us know if what's supposed to happen is or isn't happening on schedule.

I often wondered if any of them had different interior works or just better packaging.


Today the electronic recording units seem most useful but the old stuff was prettier.




I get the best weather from TV where I can see the charts. Feel naked when that is unavailable and I have to listen to voice descriptions of frontal patterns.

I have a W&P. Every boat needs one. I look at it a lot, especially when I have been told the weather is changing, which is a little convoluted. I like to watch it move as a cold front comes in, or before a hurricane hits. It fell like a stone right before Rita hit, after that I dont recall looking at it. I was kinda busy hangin on.

I've got several

Seem the previous owner had a lot of friends that thought giving him a W&P clock and Barometer was cool so Iv'e got three sets. Here in California the Barometer doesn't move much and My Droid weather program is usually dead on. I almost never look at the barometers, maybe the needles are stiff or stuck or something. The brass looks real nautical however. I know what you mean about the clock mechanism on the electric models, same plastic piece of crap that's on the back of every novelty clock. The eight day clock is real brass, and you get to wind it up. None of them are as accurate as my phone.

Scary said:

... I almost never look at the barometers, maybe the needles are stiff or stuck or something. The brass looks real nautical however. I know what you mean about the clock mechanism on the electric models, same plastic piece of crap that's on the back of every novelty clock...

Click to expand...

It seems odd, but aneroid barometers, no matter how expensive the brass case, still need to be tapped to show correct pressure. And they usually have an adjustment screw so you can set them to a known correct source, I used the online reading from Sydney airport. All this week Sydney expects afternoon thunderstorms. The sky is darkening now, and the pressure is surely falling, now 1002 mbars.

Our Chelsea barometer is the same way; it needs to be tapped to make the needle move. Even the instructions say to do this. But once tapped, it's right on the money for the reading at nearby Bellingham airport (once I adjusted it for that station).

I've got a pretty "nautical" barometer hung up in my shop. Like others, have to tap on it to get needle to move. Unless a hurricane is nearby, which I should already be aware of.

There is a good bit of machinery inside these things, and unless super well crafted, it will tend to be sticky.

I think the new digital ones are the way to go. A quality sensor is easier to build than a mechanism.

My TDI VW hooked up to laptop shows charge air pressure. With engine off it displays barometric pressure with what appears to be good accuracy. Probably a similar sensor to those used on the weather stations.

Off topic, but for those who wonder about the origins of the term "percussive persuasion."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persuasive_Percussion

I actually have this album. Got it from my parents. It was quite revolutionary in its day.