Tachometer needed?

[bputney]

Hello,

My newly purchased 1964 Columbia Defender's Atomic 4 does not have a tachometer installed. Do I need one? Can I just go off the feel or sound of the engine? I do have a volt meter, water temperature and oil pressure guages, just no tach.

Thanks

[Don Moyer]

I don't think anyone would argue that a tachometer is really essential, with the possible exception of old pilots who would probably break out in some kind of rash if they had to make a power adjustment without staring at a tachometer.

In defense of tachometers, however, it is very difficult to discuss propeller and engine performance without being able to relate to RPM at different boat speeds and power settings. Tachometers are also useful in certain troubleshooting scenarios.

Don

[bputney]

Thanks Don.

[rgoff]

I didn't have a tach for a long time on my Ericson 27. However, I really like having one now.

When I'm making a trip under power, it's fairly easy to bump the throttle lever when I'm moving around the cockpit. With the tach, I can get right back to the same RPM setting I had before.

[bputney]

Any recommendations on model/make? Does yours have an hours meter?

Thanks.

[Don Moyer]

We've had excellent results from the ISSPRO 0 to 4000 RPM tachometers (both in the 3" and 2" models) shown in our online catalog throughout the six or so years that we've been listing them. We actually began listing the tachometers because most (if not all) of the tachometers on the market at that time had 8000 RPM ranges, which didn't work too well for our low RPM application.

During the first year we offered the tachometers, we offered them both with and without hour meters. For reasons that we never could figure out, the hour meters were very problematic. After pursuing many recommended fixes (adding electrical filters etc), we finally abandoned the hour meter version of the tachometer and added a separate ISSPRO hour meter in our catalog. To my knowledge, we've had no problems with either the tachometers or the hour meters installed as separate units.

Don