Gauges Gauges and more Gauges

[Rootsy]

so many out there... from plain to fancy to totally custom.. i have a good idea of a few i want but i want to see what everyone else things will look good in this thing...

i have even considered pursuing Livorsi to make some Carbon Fiber, yellow letterning with the donzi prop logo.. but i donno what hurdles i'd ahve to go through to get that done for me...

so either fire me your opinions or vote in the poll... a few photos of the options are attached...

btw, who needs a speedo when you have a GPS and #2 who needs a trim gauge when you have your ass planted in a seat and you have a GPS in front of ya... (tach, water temp, oil pres, voltage and fuel level in the dash only)

also note i have to use 2 1/16 gauges and a 3 3/8 tach... no room for bezels under them either, so i cant have any fancy smansy color combos.. bummer...

[Ranman]

What is the color scheme of the boat and interior again? Red hull, white stripes and white interior? What will the dash panel be or are you mounting like the new ones and/or X-18 style?

[tmdog]

There is a another gauge called SS Competition that I seen on OSO. They look good and price is cheap. The guy from Ohio who distributes, stands behind them. They only come w/ white faces. Might be another alternative. Price alone is worth looking into.

[tmdog]

There is a another gauge called SS Competition that I seen on OSO. They look good and price is cheap. The guy from Ohio who distributes, stands behind them. They only come w/ white faces. Might be another alternative. Price alone is worth looking into.


Web site: sscompetition.com

[Rootsy]

money is not the object when it comes to instrumentation...

Ranman, i am using the stock dash panel, brushed SS, that cliff is reproducing..

boat is all red.. white stripe, white interior, red carpet, white steering wheel.

[mrfixxall]

Gaferig Monster Series,white With Red Rings..made In Usa Not Like Livorsi's (china)

[BERTRAM BOY]

You "forgot" to put up a pic of my favorite....... This poll is rigged...rigged I tell ya.


This is what the Stewart-Warner looks like.

[Cuda]

Not my cup of tea, but did you see the new Carbon Fiber Silver?

[BUIZILLA]

top row, third from the left

K.I.S.S.

[maddad]

Bertram Boy, those are the ones. At least for me anyway.

[p729lws]

btw, who needs a speedo when you have a GPS

I don't think I'd do a speedo either unless it was a GPS type. One less thing to clutter up the transom also.

Dan

[smoothie]

Same here Stewart Warner's:yes:

[MOP]

I am an old Stewart fan but I do like the look of the Autometer, I also agree with dumping the trim and speedo. You trim by feel and conditions I pulled mine out a few days after I got the boat and put a clock in the hole, the speedo is there just to make the passengers believe they are going faster!!!!

Phil

[farmer tx]

http://isspro.com/index.php

[Ranman]

Root,

I think I would Autometer Silver or Autometer Silver with chrome bezel with a red trim ring mounted to polished stainless.

Another option may be to do a chrome trim ring on a red gauge bezel (silver face) mounted to polishes stainless.

I think asthetically speaking if you want modern boat look, you will want to stick with silver, SS and chrome with a red accent to match the paint color. Plus you can't beat the original NASCAR UltraLite feel.

The carbon fiber faces while popular are just too "offshoreonly" (flashy fad that will go out of style;) ) if you know what I mean.

One last option may be to incorporate the SW's (Black face and chrome bexel with a chrome or SS angled trim ring accomplishing a modern twist to a traditionally classic look. Do the SW's come in 2 5/8? and 5"?

[gcarter]

Did anyone mention Livorsi's are made by Autometer?

[Rootsy]

i was waiting to see if anyone would catch onto that george... and as you can tell i am an autometer fan...

just too many damn choices i reckon... i really want something that i can read easily at speed... dark background, bright lettering and contrasting pointer... such as the carbons, i've stared at enough of the silver for extended periods... they are ok but strain my eyes after a while... i also don't want the dash to appear to "monotone" which is one thing i am afraid of with silver faced gauges.. and white just doesn't go with the whole scheme of the boat..

one thing i havn't figured out... is... why in the HELL autometer insists on only offering a 10K tach in the ultralite line...

[Rootsy]

come to think of it.. i do have a bunch of old sun gauges circa 1960's i could stuff in the dash... wonder where i'd mount that control box for the tach... it's a bitch when your AA's go bad though :banghead:

[penbroke]

...10K tach...
:eek:
Frank

[gcarter]

I love my monster series gauges.....VERY easy to see and read!
And they have 8K tachs.

[Rootsy]

I love my monster series gauges.....VERY easy to see and read!
And they have 8K tachs.

i am limited to 2 1/16 gauges and a 3 3/8 tach with the original dash panel... the automotive ultra-lites only come in a 10K tach... gotta go to the marine pro-comps go get 6 or 8K... asthetically the automotive gauges are nicer than the marine counterparts.. .but don't have sealed lenses or non corrosive terminals and aluminum housings...

fwiw, every marine gauge with sealed lense that ive ever had... VDO, SW, Autometer and Gaffrig all have fogged... :banghead:

[blackhawk]

I don't get all the new looks of gauges? Yeah they look kewl but some of those would be hard to read. I'll take the good ol' white faced gauges with some bezels to make them look "flashier". Still modern looking and very easy to read.

I replaced my guages in my blackhawk with Faria gauges. They looked and worked great and were not expensive at all.

[BERTRAM BOY]

What about this one?

[roadtrip se]

Easy to read, a little bling with the red rim that won't take much room,
nice contrast to the stainless dash, and a company that stands behind their stuff typically with no questions asked.

Mike Livorsi has always been very good to me, even if someone else does make his goods, which isn't really any big secret.

He even has replaced a few of the foggy ones you talked about, but the ones in the Classic haven't tried doing this yet!

Have fun!

[Looped]

Rootsy,
Just to throw another idea at you, have you looked at the Beede gauges? The last time I spoke to them they said that CP Performance was a dealer for them.
Here is a shot of what a few look like. You can customize the face color, bezel color & shape, number colors...... The website is http://www.beede.com

http://www.beede.com/Products/2kseries.gif

Craig

[DickB]

The gauges on my Honda Reflex scooter were orange on black and hard to read under some lighting conditions. The speedometer was also off by about 10%. I wanted black on white gauges but decided to do black on yellow to match the color of the scooter. I corrected the speedometer error by changing the scale. I made my own gauge faces using simple Microsoft Word drawing tools and Avery label material. It’s possible that the ink will fade in strong sunlight, but actually photo inks are pretty good from what I’ve read so I don’t think it will be a problem. Adding a manufacturer’s logo or personalization is limited only by creativity (I was not too creative in this case). Also an easy way to add 5 mph speed!

[seano]

http://www.thunderboatalley.com/albums/album65/DSC00513.jpg

[Carl C]

Very cool pic, SEANO, and 7 grand tachs!

[seano]

yup...I had 'em made special. :)

notice they have the hour meters built right in...

[Dredgeking]

i bought some sweet black autometers a few years ago and and matched up a black analog gps speedo with them. nice and simple. the autometers are top quality.

[Rootsy]

yup...I had 'em made special. :)
notice they have the hour meters built right in...

now you can go to rex and buy them off the shelf...

[seano]

now you can go to rex and buy them off the shelf...

yeah...i'm an innovator :rolleyes: :eek: :D

[Barry Phillips]

They are all good choices, especially Autometer and Livorsi. It really depends on the your taste, the boat’s color scheme, and legibility. I recently received a catalog from Livorsi and they are offering custom gauge faces, logos, colors and such on their Monster series now. A gauge face to match your boats color scheme with a Donzi logo like the 40th Anniversary Addition could be really cool.

BP

[Rootsy]

and the winner is....

wonder what i can give away as a prize for the first one to guess correctly... though i must exclude a couple of people ;)

[FlatRacer, aka BarrelBack]

I like the look of the SW guages for the same reason I'm stuck on BarrelBacks: because I'm OLD! LOL!
I can remember those SW guages in the dash of my cousin's '55 Chevy. I can picture them in a 5 window chopped and channeled deuce coupe.
I had the Sun guages (very similar to the SW) in my Crackerbox when I was fifteen.

Nostalgia is a wonderful thing on a warm spring day!
Eric

[Hotspare]

Not trying to derail this thread or anything, but seem's to me manufactures are making a one last stand at selling all the new instrumentation they can ... Is independant direct reading instrumentation becoming a thing of the past ........... Might be ....... Seems to me trends have operated like this in the past ...... Pulling the plug on all the gimmicks to purge their inventorys before tooling up a new trend ............ Glass Cockpits are the future and will be showing soon in the sport boat market ......... Having all information displayed in a single CRT is really nice ....... With just one little computer, you'd have full trouble code scanning (no more scan tool) and all other performance data you could possible want from GPS, to Depthfinder and everything in between ............... The stage is being set, as costs continue to align themselves with this market .......... :eek:

[Cuda]

I'm betting SW won.

[onesubdrvr]

I'll guess AutoMeter Carbon Fibre.

I'm going to go with SW's when I replace them in the X

Wayne

[Bob]

Who makes analog display GPS speedometers beside Livorsi and Gaffrig?

[Carl C]

Not trying to derail this thread or anything, but seem's to me manufactures are making a one last stand at selling all the new instrumentation they can ... Is independant direct reading instrumentation becoming a thing of the past ........... Might be ....... Seems to me trends have operated like this in the past ...... Pulling the plug on all the gimmicks to purge their inventorys before tooling up a new trend ............ Glass Cockpits are the future and will be showing soon in the sport boat market ......... Having all information displayed in a single CRT is really nice ....... With just one little computer, you'd have full trouble code scanning (no more scan tool) and all other performance data you could possible want from GPS, to Depthfinder and everything in between ............... The stage is being set, as costs continue to align themselves with this market .......... :eek: I can't see that happening. Remember the digital displays in cars? They never caught on. Also the trend toward bigger gauges and monster tachs in hot rod cars and boats indicates just the opposite. Yes, boats will have built in GPS and chartplotters but IMO the do it all digital displays will not be popular. PS, I think a full set of new gauges would be an appropriate prize!:boat:

[Rootsy]

wayne, you must be a mind reader ;)

[Hotspare]

Carl ..........

Yea, your right about the digital displays in cars, just a bill of good's thrown out there ,,,,,, not very well thought out ..... The newer stuff will be analogue in apperance, with no moving parts and cheaper to make .......... Notice the engine instrument cluster in CRT #3 of the MD-11 Flight Deck ...... And also notice that there are only 2(ea) direct reading gages remaining on the whole Aircraft ........ They are standby indication only, powered off the DC battery buss in the event of a total AC Gen power failure in flight ............ The gages are gone forever ......... I guess I'm just seeing things from a different perspective here ........ :propeller Of all the gages polled though, I'd go with the SW's ........

[onesubdrvr]

wayne, you must be a mind reader ;)
They are up there on my list too, but, gages are at the bottom of my list, so it'll be a while, probably be some new ones to the market for me to add when I get there!!

So what's the prize? :D :pizza:

Wayne

[onesubdrvr]

I'm kind of liking these,....now if they could remove the odometer, and exchange for an hour meter, I'd be all set!! OH yeah, 140 might be a little optomistic, let's make that a GPS, and change the red coloring for blue
http://www.egauges.com/images/Classic/Large_Pics/BN01SLF.jpg

or maybe these

http://www.stewartwarner.com/Catalog/pwrimg/82250.gif
Wayne

[blackhawk]

I can't see that happening. Remember the digital displays in cars? They never caught on. Also the trend toward bigger gauges and monster tachs in hot rod cars and boats indicates just the opposite. Yes, boats will have built in GPS and chartplotters but IMO the do it all digital displays will not be popular. PS, I think a full set of new gauges would be an appropriate prize!:boat:

I agree 100%. I can't see guage clusters being replaced in boats anytime in the near future. Even if a single control panel performed better, the more guages you boat has, the faster it looks! Look at the new cars, they are going back to old school with lots of seperate guages. :D

[Rootsy]

btw, here is my choice.. and here they are temporarily assembled into the dash panel.. the Stainless is Cliff's handywork for the ones he is reproducing... the alumium is an original... til i get around to making a new one... :)

btw, i also need to open the left hand hole for the push button ignition... the key is just on/off, the starter is going to be fired with the button...

[Carl C]

Where's the speedo?:confused:

[Rootsy]

Where's the speedo?:confused:

who needs a speedo when you have a GPS?

[onesubdrvr]

OUCH!! Yeah, that kinda sucks eh?

One step at a time for me, I've got a bid on the Ragazza, Will be bidding on a short block soon, got to paint the 280 drive / transom group, then the stringers and assembly, then were moving!!

At least gauges can be done at home while I just sit there and stare at her!!

Thanks for the heads up,
Wayne

[Patrik Sweden]

I just bought these include the Chromed angled Bezels.. I hope they will work, without replacing the senders..

[Greg Guimond]

TTT for new gauge ideas and a 5 year look back on glass displays

[Carl C]

5 years old and Rootsy no longer owns this boat..............

[maddad]

And the black faced stewies are still almost twice as cool as any thing else!
http://www.donzi.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=52271&d=1259031385

[Carl C]

And the black faced stewies are still almost twice as cool as any thing else!
http://www.donzi.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=52271&d=1259031385

Take that dock line off...................

[maddad]

Carl, that pic's a couple of years old, I've changed my ways. And my lines, they're blue now.

[Buddyc]

5 years old and Rootsy no longer owns this boat..............
I do now and it still needs gauges..lol

[Carl C]

I do now and it still needs gauges..lol

That's funny, so maybe this poll is still pertinent!

[GBond]

Take that dock line off...................

Not that Big a Deal ... With the bow line attached under way IMO... What's the hype again? :biggrin:

[GBond]

And the black faced stewies are still almost twice as cool as any thing else!
http://www.donzi.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=52271&d=1259031385


Agree..lookin good ol' school!

[Pismo]

My Lyman has SW, they are the best...

[Buddyc]

And the black faced stewies are still almost twice as cool as any thing else!
http://www.donzi.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=52271&d=1259031385
That is the dash I need but want to get it in Stainless... Where the heck do I get that???

[maddad]

That is the dash I need but want to get it in Stainless... Where the heck do I get that???
Buddyc, the stainless insert sits on that plastic backing leaving a black trim at the edge. After the plastic cracked on mine I put the stainless in the back to support it and brackets that hold the gauges without breaking it further. Someone here was making real nice reproduction panels, maybe Bertramboy, and I planned on getting one, but have had it like this for a few years now. If you do a search you'll find them.
http://www.donzi.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53541&d=1264875932

[Rootsy]

The dashes were originally cast aluminum. There is a thin stainless sheet insert that sits in a recess in the casting. When Cliff and I were making them he was using his EDM to cut the profiles of the dash and stainless insert and I was using the CNC to mill the recess and I was then powder coating the aluminum with black wrinkle PC.

[maddad]

I should have mentioned the early ones were aluminiun. I bought one I saw at a local marine salvage store a few months ago.

[pipnit]

The dashes were originally cast aluminum. There is a thin stainless sheet insert that sits in a recess in the casting. When Cliff and I were making them he was using his EDM to cut the profiles of the dash and stainless insert and I was using the CNC to mill the recess and I was then powder coating the aluminum with black wrinkle PC.

Wow, sounds trick but I have a question, isn't a wire EDM overkill and slower than slow to cut something like that? I would imagine a laser would be the ticket. Just wondering...

BTW, I'm in the process of reguaging my '76, 2+3. The boat is sort of a resto-mod so I don't need to keep in original. I went with the AutoMeter line of NV guages, they look pretty clean and lightup like a Timex Indiglo at night. Also added two more guages, oil temp in the pan and then trans temp for the MERC II

[Rootsy]

Wow, sounds trick but I have a question, isn't a wire EDM overkill and slower than slow to cut something like that? I would imagine a laser would be the ticket. Just wondering...
BTW, I'm in the process of reguaging my '76, 2+3. The boat is sort of a resto-mod so I don't need to keep in original. I went with the AutoMeter line of NV guages, they look pretty clean and lightup like a Timex Indiglo at night. Also added two more guages, oil temp in the pan and then trans temp for the MERC II


Overkill, yes.. but when you own an EDM shop and not a LASER or waterjet I guess it is the natural way to go...

[Buddyc]

Overkill, yes.. but when you own an EDM shop and not a LASER or waterjet I guess it is the natural way to go...
Cliff has one for me , $160... Just curious what is the other hole next to the key for?

[Conquistador_del_mar]

Cliff has one for me , $160... Just curious what is the other hole next to the key for?

I am almost sure that it was originally used for the bilge blower switch. Bill