Gauge placement on 1972 Katama console

[hermit]

My 1972 Katama came to me with no gauges, and I think none were ever installed, except for a speedometer mounted on a bracket on on the top horizontal part of the console.

I intend to add a tachometer, a water pressure gauge or an engine temperature gauge, and a voltmeter. Mounting them on the small vertical mahogany plywood panels seems too low. I am looking for advice on a minimal set of gauges and their placement on a Katama console.

[Don McIntyre - MI]

Unfortunately I've got no photos, so I'll try and explain best I can:

We had the same teak console, and wanted a tach, speedometer, water pressure and battery gauge within easy eyesight. In other words, not on the small vertical panels, that you'd have to bend over to see. I mentioned this project to a master marine carpenter who was maintaining my father's larger Chris Craft, along with some other families cruisers. He took some measurements, determined that the tachometer and speedometer were the same diameter, and the water pressure and battery gauge were same diameter too, but smaller.

About two weeks later, he stopped by and presented me with two teak "blocks" (for lack of a better description) that we mounted on the flat portion of the console, close as possible to the windshield, on both sides of the vertical center windshield brace. Each piece had an angled "face" that the instruments mounted into, flush, with radius edges that had been routed. The angle allowed for easy viewing. He had varnished them too. Cool.

If I recall, looking from left to right, they were water pressure, tach, speedo, battery. He made sure there was a certain symmetry to the display. The sides, back and front were 3/4-inch, and the face was 1/2 or 3/8-inch. Face was epoxied along with screws with bungs on top to the sides, back and front. So, essentially hollow underneath. There were additional wood cleats on both sides of the side plates, that allowed for two machine screws on each cleat to mount to the console. Washer and nylock nuts from underneath secured each one down. The wiring and speedo tube were routed up from underneath. Clean.

It got comments.

Since your console is fiberglass, you might consider using a composite material, like Starboard. Comes in a multitude of colors, probably Artic White or White-White would match the console. There are a number of suppliers out on the internet:

https://www.kingplastic.com/products/king-starboard/


If I can get Jeff Rolfing onto this thread, he might be able to knock out a drawing of above.

Regards - Don McIntyre

[hermit]

Thanks Don! I understand very well what you describe, well enough to build or have built something similar. I'm just surprised it is needed.

I feel I must be overlooking what the original design intent was, since mounting them either vertically below the steering wheel or horizontally on the console top seems obviously less than ideal, and I can't tell what one was supposed to do. The compass was mounted on a bracket on top, forward of the wheel, and that seems appropriate. Maybe bracket-mounted gauges were also contemplated. That was a fairly common method for additional gauges in cars of the era.

[jimh]

Fig. 1. Tachometer gauge mounted in sloping wood enclosure.

DSCN0597.jpg (37.42 KiB) Viewed 8715 times

The illustration above shows how I added a tachometer gauge to the small flat console of a SPORT 15.

[hermit]

Thanks Jim, that gauge installation is nicely done. At least the top of the Katama console provides ample space if one chooses to use it.

[whalerron]

Katama console tachometer box

tachbox front.jpg (58.95 KiB) Viewed 8517 times

I had a 1969 Minot which uses the same console as the Katama. I built a box out of Starboard which I mounted to the top of the console. I then mounted a tachometer in that box. You could lengthen the box to allow for more gauges.