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Bertram31.com General Bulletin Board
Re: Gauges - Final Selection
Posted By: Bill Fuller In Response To: Gauges - Final Selection (Ernest)
Date: Saturday, 20 November 2004, at 6:29 p.m.
Ernest
After having made these decisions in 2000 and living with them for 5 seasons so far, here is what I did and what I would do differently. I used the Yanmar tachs in the standard location, knowing what I know now I probably would use different tachs. In your upper two holes I have the oil pressure and water temp. (like original Bertram). In your lower two holes I have the ignition switch (from Yanmar) and the Yanmar alarm. I would strongly recommend that you use the Yanmar alarm system for low oil pressure or high water temp. It fits nicely in the inboard lower hole. I would put the volt meter in the lower outboard hole (where my ignition switch/key is). I would go with no key. You also have to have a fuel shut off switch. Use the one supplied by Yanmar. It’s I nice rubber incased button switch with STOP written on it. I mounted it just below the tachs and inboard of the lower two “holes”, this location has worked well. I have seen several B28s with the fuel gauge mounted above the steering wheel, between the tachs, you would probably have room to put it there. Your problem with it not working is most likely the sending unit. Replace the sending unit and carefully and thoroughly paint the steel mounting area. With good connections and a new gauge it should be good for years (my current sending unit has been in operation for 8-10 years and worked well with both the original SW gauge and the new Datcon gauge).
I would dump the idiot lights! Or if you really want them remote mount them on the side panels the way I did. There really is not room on the dash for them (I tried). The reasons I would not use them are that you have all the information in gauges and you have alarms for the critical items. And the clincher is that the voltage to trigger the alternator charging goes through the idiot light. By the way, this is standard wiring for autos, etc. with idiot lights. To make a long story short, I lost charging because the idiot light socket developed high resistance and would not pass enough current to trigger the alternator and start charging. If anyone is interested I will post a more complete explanation.
I added the section of dash below the original dash and I have the volt meters and fuel gauge mounted there. This has worked very well, but you may not want that added, hanging down piece. And you should not need it with the gauge arrangement above. I like boost gauges because they give you a very good indication of engine loading and are easy to install. As mentioned earlier, you do not need to have them right in front of you, so mount them on the side panels. This has worked very well.
As for switches, I have four on each side in the location of the original Bertram switches. Nav./off/anchor; instrument lights, parallel (batteries); and alarm on/off on the port side. On the starboard side, alarm on/off; bilge pump on/off/auto; bilge blower; and horn. You will also need an on/off (ignition) and a spring loaded (start) switch for each motor. Yanmar provides for a switch to turn off the alarm, which is a nice feature when working on the motors. This could be mounted someplace away from the dash. So you have room for about 4 more switches if you keep to the original configuration across the bottom (maybe six if you can get 5 on each side, but it would be tight). I would keep the Nav light switch, the horn, the bilge pump, the instrument light switch along with the ignition and start switches (8 total) in the original location. Mount anything else off to the side on the recessed panel.
As for material for the dash, I am very happy with the fiberglass sheet I used for mine. No worry about corrosion or staining, but it is more expensive to fabricate and paint properly.
I will email you some pictures of my dash and side panels.
Bill
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