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From: Arild Jensen (no email)
Date: Sat Aug 02 2003 - 14:20:52 EDT
Frank Osborne wrote:
Does anyone know of an inexpensive, ie cheap, source of mechanical tachs
for a 120 Lehman?
REPLY
Last year I worked on a boat with triple engines. The boat had been repowered
and we needed to get mew gauges to suit the transducers on the new MANN
diesels.
Pricing out the needed gauges in analog form revealed the total cost of
re-incrementing both the helm stations amounted to about $5,000 OUCH!
For anyone looking for analog gauges ( low cost) about the only place left are
the surplus shops that recycle equipment from used boats.
A great many older fishing boats are being scrapped or abandoned because of
declining fisheries.
The better ones are being purchased for conversion to pleasure boats and this
also means the old engine gauges often get replaced.
The unfortunate truth is that electronic instruments are cheaper to
manufacturer since the automated procedures do not require skilled trades such
machinists and instrument makers.
If appearance is secondary and you can live with a 5 - 10% tolerance in
accuracy, the best bet for low cost gauges is the local automotive after market
shop that caters to hot rod and custom car builders. However even here you
will not find mechanical tachometers. The tachometer is the most expensive
instrument to manufacturer.
When pricing out a dual station or dual engine plus dual station
instrumentation, the most cost effective way is digital displays.
While a single engine, single helm display has a high cost per function, the
ability to repeat the information in multiple locations makes it more cost
effective in the long run. Now that several engine builders offer digital
engine displays ( as opposed to individual gauges) it also becomes possible to
record that data for later maintenance use. Trends and failure prediction
becomes easier to do. Admittedly some models are easier to work with than
others.
Here is another thought.
Why should the engine gauges occupy the largest part of the helm or console
area to the detriment of navigational displays?
How frequently do you look at the gauges compared to the compass, chart plotter
or radar and depth sounder.
Seem to me that the most frequently used instruments should be front and center
to the helm station.
Why not have a console that moves the engine gauges away from front and
center to a side position and place the most important instrument where you
need it.
Whether you use analog gauges or an electronic display makes little difference.
You still use the information in the same way.
Engine performance is typically only monitored at lesser intervals such as a
glance every five minutes or so.
Electronic displays permit alarm functions to be included in every value
monitored and the flat displays now available means that you can hide them
when not in use. I saw a reconstructed 1927 cruiser where not one instrument
was visible except for the original brass binnacle.
Instead the entire glass helm was hidden in fold down panels under a wooden
cover.
It provided al the safety and convenience of a modern yacht but presented the
clean and uncluttered look of a traditional wooden vessel from the 1900's era.
Food for thought!
cheers
Arild
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