I put a vacuum gauge on my 25 at Bushwacker's suggestion. Best, most useful gauge I had.

On the oil temp gauge: My 300 hp Volvo 5.7 did not come with an oil cooler. I put one on(and an oil temp gauge) before I started using it and the oil temp was still on the high side. Stay above 7 inches of vacuum(to keep the exhaust valves from burning) and all was fine, but not if I exceeded that vacuum. For sure, that engine would have been running too hot without a cooler.

Running too hot on oil temp once cost me an engine, so I'm a bit sensitive to that issue.

5 in. Hg = 12.23 psia map (manifold absolute pressure) = 78.21 KPa. The formula for converting inches Hg to psi is: PSI = 14.69(1 - “Hg/29.92).
KPa = 6.395 x PSI

If it were me, I’d put a big 270 degree sweep 2 5/8” Vacuum gauge like this one https://www.autometer.com/2-5-8-vacu...n-hg-mech.html, above & centered between your tach & speedo! You’ll find that it’s very sensitive to engine load and health. You’ll want to be able to detect a change of 1” or less, so the more readable it is the better! I used a vacuum gage on my truck when towing and it was so sensitive on Florida’s flat roads that I could tell if I was running into a headwind or not!

Ty! I’m planning on putting a Holley terminator x handheld on the helm area. It displays KPa in real-time from the LS. But, You’ve convinced me. I’ll probably move the Hobbs meter to a smaller one below near my high bilge alarm and I’ll put the vac gauge and oil temp in the cluster. I’m trying to make them look close but there are lots of options out there.

Sounds like a good plan! Agree with Connor on importance of an oil temp gage. I’ll admit to being a bit of a fanatic when it comes to instrumentation, but I was involved with some testing of some very advanced fighter engines where, in the quest for maximum thrust, we really pushed the limits of the materials, with safety factors commonly as low as 15%! I used to get really upset when an instrumentation technician would try to measure a 50 psi pressure with a 500 psi transducer! (Accuracy is always a fixed % of the full scale reading.) By having good instrumentation, we were able to avoid many engine failures that would have occurred if we didn’t have accurate measurements of critical items.
I
On a long Bahamas cruise on our 8 knot trawler, I make it a habit to do an engine room check every couple hours with a hand held optical pyrometer, where I can check stuff like temperatures of the prop shaft packing glands, transmissions, exhaust elbows & hoses, belts, alternators, oil coolers & heat exchangers, as well as spotting fluid leaks, etc. Helps add to your piece of mind when no land is in sight for 6-8 hrs!

Good luck with the rebuild. Looking forward to hearing how that rig rides and performs!

My gimbal housing came in last night! Ty IslandTrader!
https://i.postimg.cc/CzzvJYtM/095-BB...23-E6-D1-F.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/LhyCzhx0/1713-F...386-E77173.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/ctJFpNLm/2-DEC2...C4-BBF7-F8.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/Q9m6YMhC/738-CC...15-EEF0584.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/3Wrf42Fv/7-AC20...AE07-AE4-F.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/3Wrf42Fv/7-AC20...AE07-AE4-F.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/F78TB85y/F0-DD0...DE2-CC1924.jpg

So was talking to flexpat. He and I were discussing engine risers, billet vs cast etc. I will need some on my engine amongst other things we talked story about.

In midst of the convo he mentioned Carl m. Told him, I wish we’d have filled in that transom area on bottom side of the hull. I’m dealing with the same issues blue heron did on trim tabs. Some may not remember but basically he had to take a mold of that bottom area to customize his trim tabs. Otherwise they are half in half out no matter what speed you are running.

By filling in the bottom areas in question, you end up with an inverted trapezoid. You’d have to taper that out 12-18”. I could easily do that. I want to get a little closer to done. I’m not sure if I want to do that now while on stands or wait until it’s back on trailer… my preference I think.

I was thinking I’d run it as is. Get a baseline and then make that change so I have before and after data. I don’t think it’s gonna matter other than trim tab efficiency. But would appreciate feedback on this.

Have you looked at the Volvo Trim Blades? I have them and they work great!

https://www.volvopenta.com/en-us/mar...t-trim-system/

That’s a good idea Terry for that boat.

Strick

Those look real interesting terry do you have a pic of yours installed? I’m going to measure it out and get an idea of what it would look like.

Thank you for that idea.

Here you go!

Attachment 24658

Attachment 24659

Local guy here had ZipWake on his newer 21' and loved them. Same theory, different manufacturer.

https://zipwake.com/