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Digital Boat Gauges: 7 Common Questions Answered
Any avid boater knows that keeping a boat running as efficiently as possible requires a lot of work. Captains need to know everything they can about the surrounding marine environment to ensure not just efficiency but also safety, and that requires gauges that provide readouts of key environmental conditions. Read on to find answers to seven common questions about the digital boat gauges used by today’s boaters.
What Are Digital Boat Gauges?
Digital gauges are small pieces of equipment that monitor aspects of the boat’s current operation, the water quality, or the marine environment and provide captains with real-time readouts of specific parameters. Each gauge provides a different reading. A Tachometer Gauge, for example, measures the engine’s RPMs, while a depth sounder lets the captain know how deep the water is at any given point.
What Types of Digital Boat Gauges Are There?
There are at least a dozen different types of digital boat gauges, each of which measures a specific parameter. The most common of them include:
Fuel level gauges
Hour meters
Oil pressure gauges
Speedometers
Tachometers
Trim gauges
Voltmeters
Water temperature gauges
And others
Most boats don’t need to be outfitted with every gauge available. Rather, their owners typically choose the most important parameters to measure and install gauges that can do so efficiently and effectively.
How Do Digital Gauges Work?
Digital gauges work by using sensors to measure the required parameter, then sending that information to the boat’s dashboard for use by its captain. Digital-analog models use traditional displays but combine them with sensors to measure things like water temperature, pressure, and salinity. Digital-digital gauges also have sensors but offer more accurate readings.
What Are the Benefits of Going Digital?
Going digital allows boat captains access to more accurate, real-time data. The gauges are typically more compact and customizable so that captains can focus on the information they need the most. There’s also less to go wrong since digital gauges don’t have as many moving parts as analog models.
Are There Any Drawbacks to Digital Boat Gauges?
The primary drawback of digital boat gauges is that they are more expensive than analog models. However, digital gauges also tend to be made from higher-quality materials and tend to last longer than their analog counterparts.
Can Older Boats Be Retrofitted With Digital Gauges?
Older boats can be retrofitted with digital gauges. Many captains choose to do just that so they can access more accurate information in a more useful format without having to clutter up their boats’ dashboards. Some boat owners prefer to keep some analog gauges and add digital models on top of them, but most choose to go fully digital.
Are Digital Gauges Worth the Money?
Digital gauges are more expensive than their analog counterparts, but they’re worth the money. These modern pieces of equipment can provide far more accurate and precise measurements, giving boat captains access to the information they need to determine everything from the depth of the water to its temperature, and more.
The Importance of Quality
Digital boat gauges are an investment, so boat owners should always prioritize quality over cost. There’s little sense in purchasing a digital tachometer, speedometer, or water quality reader that will need to be replaced after just a few trips out on the water. Avoiding this problem is a simple matter of buying from a reputable parts vendor instead of buying the cheapest gauges available by default.
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