Engine Panel Rebuild

[Steve Laume]

While working on the panel, has anyone considered or installed an engine start switch and glow plug button inside the cabin? On occaision, it would have been nice to have.

Bob, what would be the reason for wanting a start button in the cabin?

It seems like you really should be in the cockpit when starting. Check to make sure transmission is in neutral, adjust throttle, turn on key, preheat and start. Readjust throttle, check cooling water flow and gauges. Then you can go below, Steve.

[Bob Ohler]

I can think of at least 2 situations:

1. Heavy weather when it is time to start the engine and you can't let go of the wheel.

2. It is raining and cold and you want to make hot water to wash dishes or take a shower. You can see the transmission lever from the cabin and the engine was at idle speed when you shut it off.

I just saw a boat a couple of weeks where the only place you could start the engine was from the cabin.

I'd at least like to have the option. Has anyone made this modification (with the preheat button and ignition switch)?

[Maine_Buzzard]

I'm putting a starter button in one of the upper corners of the engine compartment, all the way aft and starboard. A small beveled piece of plywood will hold a trailer's interior light and a remote start switch.

If I'm bleeding the injectors, I don't want to start yelling for someone to turn the key to start, I'd rather flip the decompression lever up and bump the starter right there. Wiring is easy, I'll add a terminal block inline right next to the engine junction block on the bulkhead.

[mike ritenour]

OJ,
I couldn't agree with you more. The panel could not be in a worse position for viewing of the rpm, oil and other info.

When I had the panel rebuilt I looked at all my options and there really wasn't any other place to put it, especially since the factory had brought everything to that position.

I also looked at bringing it farther out into the cockpit but that presented mounting problems, so there was really no better solution.

I did think of putting it at the helm, but the shear amount of cabling wouldn't fit nicely up the pipes.

Over the years I've developed a technique of leaning way over to port and glancing down. At night I keep the lights low so any warning light will cast a different glow into the cockpit sole.

On the positive side the s.s. panel has held up extremely well, isn't effected by UV and when I get mad at the engine I can kick it and not worry about putting my foot through it.

sea u,
rit

[Frank Vernet]

I, too, have marvelled (and not in a good way) at the location of the engine panel.

While the panel in not in an impossible location, it does nothing to simplify things for the singlehandler which is my situation more often than not.

In addition, the legs of anyone sitting on the starboard side of the cockpit will block visual access to the panel.

I cannot give Cape Dory credit for this part of the design and, as others have stated, it is just too hard to relocate.

Live with it I guess.

[Oswego John]

I've been thinking about the location of many CD panels. (Oh oh, thinking, that could prove to be dangerous.)

It's just a thought, no details. I'm wondering if it is possible to install a second, remote panel in full view of the helmsman. Leaving the original panel intact and tapping into the systems in parallel, as they were, and displaying the same data to a more suitable location.

I have seen this done with cabin cruisers having flying bridges.

O J

[mike ritenour]

I've been thinking and I'm doing a search for some minniature gauges that could be located at the binnical.

Don't know if they exist, but perhaps in a digital form? Who knows.
If they are out there, it would be an easy manner to mount them.

Maybe just idiot lights could work but I do like to see tha analog gauges.

rit

[Maine_Buzzard]

Dakotadigital can put some motorcycle gauges in your hands, expect about $250 eaqh for water temp or oil pressure...

The idiot lights are easy enough to duplicate up top. Run fused +12 from the ignition switch to the light and tie the return wire to the sender wire at the motor junction block.

whitehorsegear.com has a great little $40 LED voltmeter that lives on my bike and Jeep right now. Two wires, waterproof, and a 1.0V resolution. Not NASA grade, but it will let you know when the alternator or regulator dies.

[hilbert]

After a shakedown cruise on my new (old) boat, I wasn't satisfied with the location of the engine panel or the chart plotter. Like everything else on my sailboat, I made compromises and came up with something to try. I am currently building a control panel/box to mount on the port side of the cabin.
The box has the following features:

• It concentrates all the instruments at eye level for my tiller boat. The chart plotter will also display depth and speed by NMEA 2000, as reported by a thru-hull transducer.
• It is across from the battery panel and above the engine for short cable runs.
• The king starboard face plates are easily modified or replaced. When not in use, the plate with the chart plotter can quickly be switched with a blank plate.
• The outside of the box is covered with two layers of fiberglass and all the holes in the box are drilled through epoxy plugs. The starboard plates have neoprene strips. Life Seal will be used to form a gasket between the box and the cabin and I'll use a 2" plastic thruhull for cable runs.

The electrical system of its 1995 Yanmar 2GM20F was showing its age and the panel did not have gauges for the oil pressure or water temperature. I discarded the wiring harness and engine panel and I kept only the tachometer. To keep things as simple and reliable as possible, I selected polycarbonate encased mechanical gauges, with internal limit switches to energize the buzzer/light and led. The start button and pull stop will be next to the levers.

Location

Control Panel. There is an accessory outlet on the bottom.
Engine Panel (note the limit switch teminals on the mechanical gauges)
New Wiring Under Construction In Engine Compartment. The engine has its own dedicated battery switch and a seperate fuse for each circuit.

[Frank Vernet]

Does anyone know the specs for the water temp gauge sender?

I am looking at the Teleflex Amega gauges and the temp gauge requires a Sender that sends:

240 ohms @ 120F, and
33 ohms @ 240F

None of the three manuals I have (Owners, Service and Parts) provide any detail. Can't seem to find it via a web search either.

Thanks.

[Frank Vernet]

OK - new data. I was just told by an experienced Universal guy that the original Universal 5424s came with a temp switch and "idiot light" and not a temp gauge/sender.

Do you concur? If so, it means that the temp gauge/sender I have is an after-market thing.

Thanks

Frank

[Tom Keevil]

We have an idiot light for the oil pressure, and a gauge for the water temperature on our 5424.

[Frank Vernet]

This is where I am on this project. It's taken longer than I planned (imagine that!) to gather the various bits and pieces.

Panel when I pulled it off this fall:



Panel today:



I start wiring the back tonight. I removed the buzzer (that was the silver box I asked about in the original post) and replaced it with the green pilot light to the right of the Glow Plug switch on the left of the panel.

[Steve Laume]

Frank, that panel is looking really good today.

I have been working on mine in a piece meal fashion. A gauge hear a switch there. What you did makes really good sense.

Raven only had a light for the warning and I always worried a bit that I might not notice it until some damage was done. Last year I added senders and hooked up a buzzer. I found it to be really annoying during start up and shut down of the engine. Maybe there are less abrasive buzzers but mine led me to disconnect it. What I intend to do this year is hook it back up with a toggle switch so I can turn it off and on. I would only turn it on when the engine was running. There is some danger of forgetting to turn it on but it is not absolutely critical, so the chance of a lapse would be tolerable.

I keep my ignition key with the seawater intake for the engine. Forgetting to operate the seacock would not be okay, Steve.

[gates_cliff]

Just yesterday, as I was heading back to my car after a nice day on the West River, I noticed a very lovely boat a few slips in from Katie Girl. It had the engine guages mounted in the forward end of the cockpit, on the cockpit bulkhead. Wondering if it's feasible to do the same on a CD 27 (the boat I saw was not a CD). I guess they would be protruding into the engine compartment so maybe not enough room or not wise to place into the engine compartment. As I recall I don't believe the ignition switch was mounted in the same area.

Agree with the need to relocate the engine controls though. On my boat, just to get it started I have to get down on my knees to insert the key. Plus since mine has a tiller, so it's nearly impossible to be able to actually see the guages without either kneeling down or bending way over. Plus my engine control panel needs to be replaced anyway.

Next weekend if the boat is in it's slip I'll take a photo.