Good day, I enjoy reading your comments, I have a hunter 33 1984 with a Yanmar 2QM15, with no tack. I have been told that it is not possible to add one on. I have been settling with cruising at about 5.5 knots with the engine. This is not really and issue, but in bad weather I get concerned when I try to maintain 5.5. Is there a tack available for this engine and do you recommend that I add one?
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Call E&M Marine
My 1981 H33 has a tach on the engine control panel. I thought all the 33's had tachs(?) Local experts in Toronto are E&C Marine at (416) 363-7770. Ken Palmer, S/V Liberty
My 1981 H33 has a tach on the engine control panel. I thought all the 33's had tachs(?) Local experts in Toronto are E&C Marine at (416) 363-7770. Ken Palmer, S/V Liberty
Say What?
Sailing without a tach is completely safe. It is motoring that gets risky.
Seriously, there is no reason why you can't add a tach. On diesel engines the tach feed often (usually?) comes from the alternator not the engine itself. You just have to program the tach for the number of poles in the alternator and the ratio between engine RPM and alternator RPM. Only problem is if your alternator doesn't have a tach output -- is that what some someone really meant? -- then you'd have to swap alternators...or add a second one. Or, you can just get a little portable tach, and learn how your engine sounds at different speeds / throttle settings.
Sailing without a tach is completely safe. It is motoring that gets risky.
Seriously, there is no reason why you can't add a tach. On diesel engines the tach feed often (usually?) comes from the alternator not the engine itself. You just have to program the tach for the number of poles in the alternator and the ratio between engine RPM and alternator RPM. Only problem is if your alternator doesn't have a tach output -- is that what some someone really meant? -- then you'd have to swap alternators...or add a second one. Or, you can just get a little portable tach, and learn how your engine sounds at different speeds / throttle settings.Add tach -- or not
The Yanmar Tachometer setup is essentially simple. A "sender", which counts flywheel teeth screws into a threaded boss on the flywheel housing. The instrument goes into a hole provided in the engine control panel -- this gets tricky; some have the "A" panel with no space for the tach, some have the "B" style with a hole for it but no tach, and some of us lucky ones have a hole filled with a functioning tach. The plug-in wiring is probably already on the engine, but depending on the panel style, may or may not be there going from the engine to panel. Installation should be a simple 1-2-3 affair. There is NO CALIBRATION. The only thing is you have to make sure the number printed on the face of the tach matches the number of teeth on the flywheel. Do you really need it? Probably not. Is it a nicety? You betcha. You will undoubtedly determine it's necessity based on the price.
The Yanmar Tachometer setup is essentially simple. A "sender", which counts flywheel teeth screws into a threaded boss on the flywheel housing. The instrument goes into a hole provided in the engine control panel -- this gets tricky; some have the "A" panel with no space for the tach, some have the "B" style with a hole for it but no tach, and some of us lucky ones have a hole filled with a functioning tach. The plug-in wiring is probably already on the engine, but depending on the panel style, may or may not be there going from the engine to panel. Installation should be a simple 1-2-3 affair. There is NO CALIBRATION. The only thing is you have to make sure the number printed on the face of the tach matches the number of teeth on the flywheel. Do you really need it? Probably not. Is it a nicety? You betcha. You will undoubtedly determine it's necessity based on the price.
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