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What is everyones opinions of what gauges you need on a 17 montauk. A tach is a must. Is a trim gauge a must have? I'm not sure a speedo is even needed anymore with GPS taking its place.
I am just thinking about what I would do if I repowered my boat. If it were to be an ETEC, is it worth it to have the Icommand gauge? I feel like I need to see the analog dials. I think I would go for a tach, temp, and trim, maybe volts.
I thought the trim gauge would be a waste cause I can always just look over my sholder, but after being out on the boat for 6 hours fishing with 2 guys standing behind the RPS while running I was tired of not being able to see the engine and how it was trimmed.
Any thoughts? I know alot of this is personal preference, but I figured I would get some feedback.
Thanks
Ed

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Number one like you mention is the Tach.

Must haves in my opinion
1. Tach
2. Voltmeter (either standalone or one built into a fish finder etc....) (if you don't have a voltmeter, then you never know if your charging system is working until you go to start the engine. That usually happens when you are far away from nowhere.)

Optional but important for many.
3. Hour Meter (if your engine does not have a computer)
4. Trim Gauge (I find it much easier than guess where it is or even looking back and guessing what angle it is)

Speedometer is not needed if you have Fish Finder with Speed or a GPS. However a GPS will not give you speed over the water, it gives you speed over the ground.

Temp gauge could be useful if you have an inline motor with one head. If you have a V motor with two heads, then it would be better to have temp for both heads which could be over the top.... Remember, most engines have an overheat alarm.

I have the four gauges above plus the speedometer only because I already had the hole for the speedometer.
http://www.whalercentral.com/images/a...nts_t1.jpg

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If your going with the I-Command go with the digital gauges, you can see any thing you want about the engine. The I-Command gauge shows tach, trim, volt (what the engine is putting out), engine hours, EMM hours and with the right accessories, water pressure, fluid levels and fuel management info. With the digital gauges you can make them look like digital or old analog which ever you can see best. I can try and shoot some photo's of my gauges when i'm down at the boat if you want to see the screens but the one 3 inch gauge can tell you everything you ever want to know about the engine.

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A Tachometer is the only gauge you really need.

Beyond that it is personal choice. I used to like to have as many gauges as I could fit. Now I'm the opposite: less is more.

It is always nice to have a Volt Meter but almost every depth sounder or GPS has one built into it.

GPS serves as speed measurement vastly better than the old pitot tube speedometers we used to have.

It is much easier and accurate for me to just look at my outboard motors to see the trim so I dispense with the Trim Gauge.

The one instrument I like for outboards is a water pressure gauge; it helps you monitor the cooling water in the motor BEFORE it is too late. It only works if you make a habit of scanning it regularly. That is a habit a lot of boaters do not learn.

An Hour Meter is nice for a new motor, though computers in the motors these days track that piece of information too.

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i disagree that the trim is useless but maybe my situation is different. Since I am trying to drive onto a dock the trim on the engine can make the difference between driving on smoothly and either going too far or not far enough. It's a matter of 2 or 3 % between success and failure, so i set the trim using the gauge. I agree that for most applications, a degree or two here or these doesn't matter much.

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Ed,
The nice thing about the I-Command Digital gauges is you can have both or all and still only have a single gauge. Now there is no reason to choose, you can have a tach and with the push of a button you can stare at your engine trim or get 4 pieces of info on the same gauge, say you want to know RPM, Water Pressure, Fuel Flow and SOG, you can get all that in one spot. I installed and setup my I-Command and I have helped another member get theirs configured it's a wonderful system. If you have questions just ask.

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NO gauge is useless.

Some people may not have a need for certain gauges.
We need to look at the big picture for everyone and not be narrow minded or have tunnel vision.

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I just installed a fuel flow sensor with my HDS unit. It gives me realtime gph from an inline fuel flow sensor. Definitely not necessary but pretty neat info to have.

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Wish I had more gauges on my boat so I could "take a few more readings"..... A captain can never have too much information available to them.

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Thanks for all the replys. With regard to Kamies comments, So if I wanted to go with one Icommand gauge and add a seperate analog Tach I can still do that? It sounds like the Icommand with the possibility of having one of 2 analog gages on top of that will give a person the best chance at seeing everything at one glance and one button push. My only other concern is seeing the digital gauge with polarized sunglasses on. Has anyone used an angled bezels?? I was also surprised that the Icommand was only a $300 upgrade??

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If i were to repower with a modern engine, I would most definitely install a multifunction gauge. I believe the I-Command gauge is a Lowrance LMF-400 gauge with added capability to communicate with the Etec engine in proprietary Evinrude language, in addition to standard NEMA 2000 language. You could connect all sorts of external sensors to the gauge including speed via GPS or paddlewheel which would allow you to monitor fuel flow, fuel remaining, and economy.

The Etec engine would provide a number of inputs to the gauge, and with external sensors (temperature(s), fluid levels, water pressure, engine trim, speed, and on and on). You can configure the screens on the display to show any combination of data, and switching screens is simply a button push away.

In short, with the I-command, you have the capability to display as much or as little information as you wish.

I have a LMF-200 and with the backlight all the way up, I can read the display with polarized sun glasses.

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We have amp, tilt, rpm, & speed on ours. The Honda gage package also had the fuel gage, but using the white moeller 24 gal tank, we don't need it. Like Joe said, it really comes down to personal preference. I really like what we chose. You can see it on our personal page. Good Luck!

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Some members here can't seem to stay on topic for this question but rather insist on giving their opinion on what they think is useless.
That is not the question here nor is it appropriate.

Here is the question again:
"Opinions of must have gauges on a 17 Montauk"

Please stay on topic.

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I don't believe you can mix and match the analog with the digital, but you could get a second digital, i actually have two three inch gauges, one that shows tach all the time and one that I switch between a 4 line display (water pressure, temp, fuel flow, fuel econ) and tilt, trim. I know someone that had holes to fill in their console, so they got a three inch gauge and a couple two inch ones.

Newt, the gauges are LMF-400 and LMF-200. Not sure there is anything special, they do know how to display engine data, but so do the Lowrance head units, like their GPS.


I use mine with polarized sunglasses all the time, no issues.

To the topic at hand, now with the modern engines and multi-function gauges you no longer have to choose, you can have a single gauge do it all.

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I think we should know more about the engine he has now and what gauges he is considering.

His personal page state this:

I don't think he can use I-Command gauges but I could be wrong.
Here are the I-Command gauges for E-Tec motors only according to their brochure.
http://www.whalercentral.com/articles...icle_id=43

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Thanks again. Yes, I do have an older mariner 90 hp now, but, I am in the planning stages of a repower to an Etec 90 hp.
I have ordered new gauge panels from Sue at twin cities and was not sure if I would stay with a cluster of classic gauges or go to digital. I am now leaning towards the multi function after hearing info here and at the etec site.

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Ed,

I was thinking along the same lines as you when I upgraded my gauges. I also was looking forward to one day putting on a E-Tec but didn't want to also change the gauges later.

I went with the Tech Series gauges that could also be used with a new E-Tec.
Although I did change some of the older wiring now so I could use the newer gauges, the engine harness would need to be changed out later for the new engine.

Here is what I did which allows me to use the newer gauges now and also later if I ever get a new E-Tec.
http://www.whalercentral.com/articles...icle_id=72

The above does not use the I-Command series gauges as I already had holes in my instrument panels and chose not to go with the I-Command.
Because you have new instrument panels coming, you can go anyway you choose.