How many guages do you have

Other than the GPS A garmin with a multitude of information including Radar and sonar.** I have

A flow scan.

Water temp.

Oil Pressure.

Transmission oil pressure.

Hobbs meter.

A link 2000 battery system monitor.

The question is.

What other guages*would you find usefull to have on board.

*

SD

*


-- Edited by skipperdude on Monday 9th of January 2012 01:25:15 PM

pyrometer just past the turbo on front of the exhaust el.

Also, a handheld IR thermometer for many things, alternator temp, packing gland temp, etc. But very useful for checking the water temp for swimming - anything below 70 deg, I am not swimming.

bshanafelt wrote:
pyrometer just past the turbo on front of the exhaust el.

Click to expand...

*Did you get this as a kit? To include the sender and guage?

SD

Fuel/water*gauge and fuel pressure/"resistance" gauge (whatever):

Engines (2)--- Tach, oil pressure, coolant temperature, amp meter (lower helm), volt meter (upper helm), Hobbs meter, EGT gauges for both exhausts, master volt meter switchable between batteries, fuel gauge on day tank (other tanks have sight gauges).

Navigation-- Echotec GPS plotter, Furuno NavNet VX2 Rader/GPS plotter, depth/speed/timer/odometer, Standard Horizon CP190i GPS plotter (moveable between GB flying bridge and Arima fishing boat).

Communications--- Icom M504 (lower helm) Icom (can't remember model-- upper helm), Standard Horizon LH-5 hailer/intercom/fog horn, Icom handheld VHF.

Inverter--- Remote control and monitoring panel for Heart 2500 inverter/charger.


-- Edited by Marin on Monday 9th of January 2012 01:06:18 PM

Marin, Sounds like you have a pretty good set up. Anything else you would like?

Seems to me you can't have to much information when it comes to running the boat.

SD

skipperdude wrote:
Marin, Sounds like you have a pretty good set up. Anything else you would like?

Click to expand...

*Appart from a different boat surrounding the instruments not really.* We don't find ourselves saying "I wish we had....."

A raw water flow alarm would be nice to have but not so much that I'm goign to run out and get one.* I don't put much faith in alarms anyway--- years of responding to various alarms has taught me that the purpose of an alarm is to tell you that the piece of equipment it is monitoring has just catastrophically failed.* Same thing with fuses--- the piece of equipment they are protecing is actually there to protect the fuse by failing first.

We have a very nice Furuno Loran-C unit in the instrument consol. The unit works great but Loran-C doesn't anymore.* I've been thinking off and on about what we might like to put in its place but so far have not made any decision.

The Icom radio at the lower helm can do dual and tri-watch, scan, and all the other bells and whistles that so while a second VHF is a possible candidate for the hole the Loran-C would leave behind it's really not needed.

Actually, there is one instrument that we find ourselves sometimes wishing we had, and that is a weather station.* Wind speed, wind direction.* We would mount the direction and speed head on a PVC pole mounted where the Loran-C antenna is now.* This would make it very easy to run the connecting cable down to the unit at the lower helm.

But I haven't really looked into this so I don't knwo if there are panel-mount wind display units that are approximately the size of the Loran unit.* Someday maybe.....

Its not as much what gauges as how accurate and reliable are they?

Electric ?, pop a fuse and its ALL GONE?

or Mechanical with 270deg sweep dials and no power required?

One we like is an electronic recording barometer. Ours from Oregon Scientific cost $100 15 years ago. It clearly shows the rate of change in pressure over the past 24 hours. If it's changing really quickly, find shelter!

"Actually, there is one instrument that we find ourselves sometimes wishing we had, and that is a weather station. Wind speed, wind direction. We would mount the direction and speed head on a PVC pole mounted where the Loran-C antenna is now. This would make it very easy to run the connecting cable down to the unit at the lower helm."

Why bother with cables? I bought a wireless weather station a few years ago. I had it mounted off the mast and it worked great. I liked it so much I moved it off the boat at fall haul out and mounted it on my shed at home. Now I need to buy another one for the boat. They are not expensive.

jleonard wrote:
Why bother with cables? I bought a wireless weather station a few years ago. I had it mounted off the mast and it worked great. I liked it so much I moved it off the boat at fall haul out and mounted it on my shed at home. Now I need to buy another one for the boat. They are not expensive.

Click to expand...

*What type did you buy? *Brand name?

SD

jleonard wrote:
Why bother with cables? I bought a wireless weather station a few years ago.

Click to expand...

I don't want anything on the boat I have to change batteries in other than portable devices. Particularly batteries stuck up on top of a pole.

Not exactly an instrument but a warning system I have is very good for one of the most frequent causes of engine failure. Cooling system. It's called a Murphy switch and sounds a buzzer way before engine damage. It measures the height of coolant in your system and when it gets low it sounds the buzzer. On my boat the buzzer comes on when the coolant temperature is still normal. Saved us once on a nasty day very close to Cape Caution. I want to get a flow sensor too.

Eric

Eric,
Where did you get that coolant sensor- sounds like it could save big $$$.

skipperdude wrote:jleonard wrote:
Why bother with cables? I bought a wireless weather station a few years ago. I had it mounted off the mast and it worked great. I liked it so much I moved it off the boat at fall haul out and mounted it on my shed at home. Now I need to buy another one for the boat. They are not expensive.

Click to expand...

*What type did you buy? *Brand name?

SD

*http://www.weathershack.com/la-crosse-technology/ws-2317u.html

I didn't see the model I bought here. I'll have to check mine and maybe that one is no longer available it has been 3 years. To Marin's comments, I only change batteries in the antenna mounted unit with the wind gage once a year. The readout panel needs them 2 x per year, but that also can be plugged into 120 (with the transformer) , and probably 12v with the right adapter. For the cost it works very well.

*Edit: Mine is an Oregon Scientific WMR90A


-- Edited by jleonard on Tuesday 10th of January 2012 05:14:48 PM

jleonard wrote:I only change batteries in the antenna mounted unit with the wind gage once a year.

*

Click to expand...

*We have a wireless weather station at home (no wind info, though).* The batteries in the remote sensor outside last a long time.* But no matter how long they last, I always get annoyed when I have to get out a ladder and climb up and change them even if it's been a couple of years since I last did it.* Since running a cable would be so easy in the situation on our boat, I would prefer a unit powered by the boat.

Marin wrote:
*

Click to expand...

We have a wireless weather station at home (no wind info, though).* The batteries in the remote sensor outside last a long time.* But no matter how long they last, I always get annoyed when I have to get out a ladder and climb up and change them even if it's been a couple of years since I last did it.* Since running a cable would be so easy in the situation on our boat, I would prefer a unit powered by the boat.

*Ditto: If you find one. *A good one let me know.

I want one.

SD

Marin wrote:jleonard wrote:I only change batteries in the antenna mounted unit with the wind gage once a year.

*

Click to expand...

*We have a wireless weather station at home (no wind info, though).* The batteries in the remote sensor outside last a long time.* But no matter how long they last, I always get annoyed when I have to get out a ladder and climb up and change them even if it's been a couple of years since I last did it.* Since running a cable would be so easy in the situation on our boat, I would prefer a unit powered by the boat.

*In my case running cable was not practical or maybe it annoyed ME more than changing batteries. It's a good option. On my boat lowering the mast it way easier than dragging out a ladder so changing batteries is no biggie.

skipperdude wrote:
*Ditto: If you find one. *A good one let me know.

I want one.

SD

Click to expand...

*Well, twenty billion sailboats seem to have them as well as a fair number of powerboats.* I've just never made the effort to find out what the most popular brand names or models are.* Most of*the GBs in the Bellingham charter fleet seem to have them so I guess if I get serious about it I could ask their lead broker*who's a friend of mine.**

There was a nice one on the racing sailboat I crewed on for a bit in the early 80s--- it had wind speed, direction, temperature, and maybe even a barometer all on one display, but I don't have a clue what brand it was.

Jay,

*It's called a Murphy switch. Mine is plumbed into my steel exhaust manifold. See picture. I think they probably work fine on a bulkhead near by but I'm not sure. Mine was installed on my new Mitsubishi by the marinizer Klassen Engines. You probably could order it from them. 206 784 0148 *You can see how it's plumbed on the top of the manifold......it's plumbed on the bottom the same. It allows the coolant to assume the coolant level in the Murphy switch chamber the same as the exhaust manifold. Since I have my sea water/coolant heat exchanger on a bulkhead aft of the engine my exhaust manifold has a high volume of coolant in it's upper half as the usual heat exchanger*is not there. I like the arrangement very much.

Eric

*

EGT on main

Engine and Transmission oil pressure and temperature

Flowscan

Anemometer and wind direction (very nice to have)

Murphy gauge on main coolant level (http://www.fwmurphy.com/l150/)

Potable, gray and black water levels

Low flow alert on genset raw water

Remote water maker controls

Remote inverter controls

Remote thruster, rudder, transmission controls

Link 2000

Voltmeter, ammeter for 12, 24 vdc and 120 and 240 ac

Dock voltmeter (very nice to have)

Sumlog

Remote windlass controls and chain counter (very nice to have)

Daytank fuel level

Rudder angle indicator (very nice to have)

Tach


-- Edited by Delfin on Tuesday 10th of January 2012 06:48:49 PM

Thanks for posting the Murphy link Carl

Also I'd like to have a rudder indicator too.

Eric

Marin wrote:jleonard wrote:I only change batteries in the antenna mounted unit with the wind gage once a year.

*

Click to expand...

*We have a wireless weather station at home (no wind info, though).* The batteries in the remote sensor outside last a long time.* But no matter how long they last, I always get annoyed when I have to get out a ladder and climb up and change them even if it's been a couple of years since I last did it.* Since running a cable would be so easy in the situation on our boat, I would prefer a unit powered by the boat.


*We just picked up this one at COSTCO.*

Elwin*

Although it is not easy to install Murphy also has an oil level monitor.

Even if the pressure is still fine , when the amount of oil in the pan goes below a set level, the alarm tells all.

EGT alarm will alert you to cooling system failure before the water temp goes up. I have a sensor mounted on outside of exhaust elbow (no drill required) I think 180F makes the switch and alarm goes off. $25 from Pat's Marine engines in Seattle. They call it a Norm switch after Norm Dibble, local Lehman guru. It straps on *where the temp is pretty low. If the raw water flow stops, it gets hot.