Eric Brindley was kind enough to share his
experiences in refurbishing his battery voltmeter on his Chrysler 26. While the
writeup demonstrates the process for a C-26, owners of the other Chrysler
cruising boats (C-20 & C-22) can use this process as well as they may also have
this device on their boats.
I was doing some repair work on the Danforth battery voltmeter on my C-26.
I would have junked it and replaced it with an automotive voltmeter, except the
Danforth was already on the boat and the 2 3/4 inch mounting hole cut. A new
meter would probably be closer to 2 inch diameter, so it was easier (and more
satisfying) to refurb the old one than to kluge up an adapter to fill the hole.
The dial was somewhat corroded and faded, so I decided to make a new one. I
removed the meter from its housing and carefully removed the old dial. I then
set the dial on my scanner and scanned in an image. Using Photodeluxe I was able
to remove virtually all of the blemishes and sharpened up the artwork. I added
color to the voltage scale to show red for Discharged or Overcharged, green for
Charging etc.
The new image was then printed, cut out, and then glued to the back side of
the old dial. Since the dial is symmetrical, it fits perfectly well when flipped
over. The new dial is then reattached using the original two front screws.
I have attached a JPEG file of the refurbished dial, so the time-consuming
"paint job" is already done.
Many thanks to Eric Brindley for taking the time
to write this "how to" tutorial! Eric sails his 1977 Chrysler 26 in Minnesota,
where he has a virtual Chrysler fleet - he also owns a 1974 Pirateer, and a
1976 Chrysler 22. If you would like to ask him any questions about this process,
send an e-mail message to ebrindley@sprynet.com.