What gauges? '73 Evinrude outboard

[58 Dorcett]

Thanks again in advance for advice. The boat I received has no gauges of any type. It has a '73 65HP Evinrude. I'm wondering what gauges make sense to use - and what is available with sender units, etc.
Gas guage makes sense, but for now will be on the tank itself. Voltmeter seems a possibility. Is a Oil pressure or temp guage available or recommended? Of any real practical value for this motor? It doesn't have elec. trim given the age. A speedo could be good possibly.

thanks for suggestions (the boat is a '58 Dorcett Monterey - 16' "cabin cruiser")

Jim R.

 

[HighTrim]

Re: What gauges? '73 Evinrude outboard

If you are going to add a gauge cluster of sorts, I would think of putting a tach in there as well.

 

[Lakester]

Re: What gauges? '73 Evinrude outboard

hello, where is the tach pickup for a tachometer on this engine? thanks. lakester

 

[F_R]

Re: What gauges? '73 Evinrude outboard

A tachometer is driven by the alternator. There should be a grey wire in the control harness to connect it to. A side advantage is that if the alternator is not working, the tach won't work either. Therefor, no volt or amp meter is really needed. Boat speedometers are another useless gadget. They are never accurate. Get yourself a hand held GPS if you want to know how fast you are going. Temp and or water pressure gages are useful, I suppose, but don't think for a minute that you should rely on them to warn of overheating problems. Note that there already is a horn in the control for that purpose. The problem with any of them is that by the time they warn you of an overheat it is already too late. The best protection against overheating is a new water pump. Change it periodically and sleep well without worrying.

To sum up, a tachometer is a good thing to have. And a fuel gage if built-in tanks. From there on, it is gimmicks and gadgets.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: What gauges? '73 Evinrude outboard

In order of importance I rate gauges as follows (but that's JMHO):
1) Tachometer
2) Water Pressure
3) Cylinder Head or Water Temperature
4) Voltmeter
5) Gas Gauge (built-in tanks only).
6) Speedometer

And just so you know, your engine does not have a crankcase full of oil and no oil pump so it develops no oil pressure -- because it's a "two-stroke" and that's why oil is mixed with the gas.