Instrument Gauge and Panel Replacement for my Catalina 30

[Donchnz]

Hello everyone I would like to thank you all for the great posts on this site. I can’t tell you how much your forum has helped me through my great journey and adventure to rebuild my Atomic4 engine.
Armed only with the MMI service manual and a great supply of first hand world class knowledge from this forum I started out one day with only a tune-up in mind and one year later I am almost finished with a total engine rebuld. I have replaced or rebuilt every system on the engine. I have painted the engine room, cleaned out the gas tank and will replace my through the hulls when we pull her out soon for a bottom paint job and then we can start on a total cabin refit.
I am now faced with a problem that I hope someone can offer some advice. My above deck instrument panel is the original equipment and is in extremely poor condition. I assumed I would replace all of the gauges with Stewart Warner because the ISSPRO brand was unfamiliar to me. The Stewart Warner gauges have a bare metal ring and the ISSPRO have a coated black rim. When I took a better look at the original equipment they look like they were bult better able to withstand the weather and they are not bare metal.
My question is, did I make a mistake buying the SW gauges with a steel ring or is there a special mounting for replacement gauges. My fear is that they will not stand up to exposed tropical conditions above decks and perhaps I should have replaced the hole panel from Catalina Direct for about 580.00 and change and just eat the SW gauges and chalk it all up to experience.
I will be posting a complete photo story of my adventure soon.

[sailbristol]

I have SW gauges on my bristol that have held up fine for 40 yrs and they are not covered or even in a recess just on the face of the uotside cabin bulkhead

[sastanley]

Donchnz,

I am still using the OEM gauges, and I've added a few extras. I ditched the ammeter and added a voltmeter & cheap tach.

I made a new panel assembly out of a "Perfect Brownie Pan" that already had the bottom cut out of it, mounted the gauges in a HDPE cutting board, and screwed that to the pan. To protect them better than they were before (mine have been also totally exposed since 1977), I cut a piece of plexiglass and hung it over top on a hinge. You could add a tinted cover or something else UV stable. Unfortunately, the pan is NOT stainless steel.

The size of the OEM cutout is roughly 11 x 7, if your panel is down in the port cockpit seat/locker, but as you've probably already discovered, Catalina wasn't real careful with power tools, and most things look like they were cut with a chainsaw. I had to trim out about a 1/2" to make my new panel assembly fit.

I hadn't posted up any pictures of my project yet, because I was sorta waiting to see if my non-SS pan fell apart right away, or if it lasts a while in the elements. So far it is holding up, but I only just installed it this spring.

If it were me I wouldn't waste $500+ on what CD offers. Even a 1/3rd size stainless serving pan is about $20..with that and a couple of hole saws & a drill press, you can make your own panel assembly. I went thru a couple different iterations of mine, but in the end, it only took one weekend to make.

Neil Dutton has done a much more professional gauge panel in his Catalina 30 also...there are pictures here on this site. Search for "Kalina", his boat name, and I think it will come up in the search results. Neil's thread also has more info on that SS pan & some links to it.

edit - here ya go..Like everything Neil does, a totally professional job. Link to that thread right here --> http://www.moyermarine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4843

[Jesse Delanoy]

I replaced the original SW gauges on my '77 Catalina 30 with the ISSPRO ones, right into the original Catalina panel down near the cockpit floor. I actually preferred the black bezels to the stainless metal ones. I was very happy with these gauges, but I only kept the boat for a few years after, so I can't speak to their longevity.

[Donchnz]

Thanks for the info looks like I will keep the SW gauges and go for making my own panel. Once I got over the shock of all the wires it all started to make better sence. The SW gauges have been around a long time I sure they will be OK.

[sastanley]

Yeah...initially it is a bit of a shock, but basically the gauges are daisy-chained together with (+ purple) via power from the ignition switch & ground. The oil pressure & water temp each have one wire from their respective senders.

I would recommend ditching the ammeter at this stage, which will require a slight re-wire of your charging circuit. The problem with the ammeter up in the cockpit is the LONG run of that #8 wire carrying charging amps from the alternator to the ammeter, and then all the way back down. There is a lot of loss that way.

I think the simplest solution is to run a large cable from the alternator output stud to the big terminal on the starter. Then, replace the ammeter with a voltmeter..if you see 13+ volts with the engine running, you know the alternator is charging, & you've eliminated about 28 feet of charging cable.

I, of course, have a different setup, so if I forgot some of the details, hopefully someone will fill in the blanks.