What instruments do you have?

[joe_db]

Wow - this poll is three years old. Still wondering at the engines that seem to have ONLY an oil pressure gauge

[Hymodyne]

triton gauges

the Triton has water temp, oil pressure and volts. as the refit continues, I will add engine hour meter, tach fuel pressure and fuel gauges.

James

[HOTFLASH]

Is there a way to see or update my reply?

I have added some instruments and I seem not to be able to change my initial reply to this poll, or know how I "voted". Yes, I am from Chicago and we all know Chicagoans are known for voting "early and often" --well, not really--just want to change my vote. Is there a way here?

Mary
HotFlash
Tartan 27 Yawl #570
Chicago

[Administrator]

I have added some instruments and I seem not to be able to change my initial reply to this poll, or know how I "voted". Yes, I am from Chicago and we all know Chicagoans are known for voting "early and often" --well, not really--just want to change my vote. Is there a way here?

Mary
HotFlash
Tartan 27 Yawl #570
Chicago

If you tell me what you want added/subtracted, I think I can manually edit the totals.

Bill

[joe_db]

I still seem to have the only fuel filter vacuum gauge. I know mostly diesels use these, but you can find problems that otherwise would drive you insane

[Flyingmike]

All new wires under this bad boy also!!

I actually just finished rewiring my A4 this week and ran all the wires to the helm where I built a nice instrument cluster and cup/wine bottle holder.
I also have a volt/amp meter on my electric panel in the cabin so I can see exactly what I am drawing with each item I am using.

[BunnyPlanet169]

Until I voted a few days ago, I was surprised to see more manifold vacuum than fuel pressure.

[Flyingmike]

Here is a pic of my old wire harness that I replaced this last week. It was melted but it still worked.

[sastanley]

Mary, The options in intalic represent the ones you selected.

Mine is out of date too, I now have (or had at one time) both fuel pressure and vacuum, but I didn't when I voted..I also don't have an ammeter on the motor panel, but I do have one on the boat panel.

[thatch]

"What kind of gauges do you have, and why?"

Recently, while doing an engine re-wire and gauge replacement on my A4, I tried to figure out what the most important units to install were. The first three were pretty easy, Oil pressure, water temp and voltage, which tell us the "vitals" of the important systems. The fourth, a vaccum gauge, tells us something different. A vaccum gauge gives us an idea of how hard our engine is working or how efficiently it is performing. While motoring around the harbor, I rely on my GPS to keep me within the speed limits, motoring in an open waterway is another story. Depending on sea and wind conditions, along with hull speed numbers, the best way to figure out how efficiently we are making progress, is with the use of a vaccum gauge. If, for instance, we are motoring along at 6 kts, at 10 inches of vaccum and a headwind picks up, we can either leave the throttle alone and slow down, or increase the throttle, to maintain our speed, and watch the vaccum decrease. The higher we can keep the the vaccum, the better our fuel mileage will be. I tend to be a "seat of the pants" type of sailor who lets the wind and water conditions dictate my direction and speed. Using a vaccum guage is an appropriate tool in that endeavor.
Tom

[Dave Neptune]

Ah the vacuum gage, the only way to measure the load on the manifold or how hard it is working to feed the engine under a load.

Another good thing is tracking performance IE lets take calm conditions and a load of 10" of vac. Now lets say that when clean we get 5.5 kts @1600 rpms@ 10" in calm water! Now we go out another time in calm water and it takes 8" of vac to get the same 5.5 kts @ 1750 rpms, what happened? Dirty prop, dirty bottom or an engine issue. The gage and monitoring it can track performance far better than just a tach which only gives RPM's not load.

Dave Neptune

[toddster]

Rats. How did you guys know I was just about to order new gauges? Oh well, I guess I can eat Ramen for another week.

[capnward]

yes to a vacuum gauge

I find the vacuum gauge to be very useful, too. When I retarded the timing while running at cruise speed under load, the rpm went up, but the vacuum stayed the same. At 10" vacuum, rpm changed from 1500 to 1700. The engine sounded throatier. After this spring's haul-out and new bottom paint, speed at 10" changed from 5.5 to 6 knots. I could get 6.25 knots at 7 or 8", 2000 rpm. The little extra speed was not worth the increased load on the engine.
It's a good feeling to know when your engine is not working as hard at the same speed, and that mileage has improved. Looking at the tachometer, the knotmeter, and the vacuum gauge relative to each other can tell you a lot.

[joe_db]

Very true. When I had 5" at about 1600 RPM for 4.9 knots, I knew the bottom or prop was fouled.

[thatch]

A vacuum gauge could be considered as "looking into the lungs" of an engine.