Gauge Needle Fade
 

I'm getting ready to replace all the gauges in the Scarab. I've owned Livorsi in the past and have been disappointed in how fast the orange needles fade out. Basically in 3 summers in northern Michigan, they all needed to be refaced, and the boat is covered most of the time. So the only other real option is Autometer. Who here has used them, and what has your experience been with needle fade, with the orange needles? If I go with the carbon version, they have polished metal needles so, they will be fine, but I'm not positive that is the route I want to go.

The orange Autometer needles will fade from the sun just the same...buddy had them on his boat.....i just throw a towel over the dash when we are not boating to keep it out of the sun as much as possible.

The paint they use on the needles from over in ching chang land is junk I'm sure.

Time to go carbon !

have a cover made and keep dash covered when not running

I've done the towel trick, but it gets old and IMO you shouldn't have to do that on a set of high-end gauges. I used to work for PPG and I know they make paint that would hold up. I've talked to Fred at Livorsi about using a UV protected lens, which they have no intention on doing. I've also talked with a friend of mine that does plastic injection molding, and he said they could produce a needle that wouldn't fade. I just find it outrageous that it's possible to solve this issue for a few dollars, yet they are not willing to do that. Looks like I'll be going with the Autometer Carbon and metal needle option, I'm done throwing a towel over my gauges. Thanks for the input guys!

A good argument to tint the windshield on my 272. I was going to go with Autometer just because of the stories of the Livorsi units fading, but I guess that's irrelevant.

Livorsi gauges will fade noticeably in two seasons, which equates to maybe 20 days in the sun for me. The rest of the time, my boat sat under a full cover and the gauges got ZERO sun. For what these things cost from Livorsi, they should use quality parts. It's not just the needle that will fade. My last set I had, the silver carbon started to yellow. How is it that my 30 year old gauges in my Scarab still look pretty good. Think about it, you can get UV protected sunglasses for $10, yet a $70 gauge has just a generic plastic lens? Unacceptable! If you're spending the money, buy the carbon Autometer gauges, IMO it's the only option.

UV protectant acrylic clear coat on the lenses? That should help.

Thought I read somewhere that Autometer manufactures Livorsi gauges, or do I have company names mixed up?

Livorsi and Gaffrig are the same, I know that. I'm not sure about Autometer making Livorsi, it is possible though. Gaffrig and Livorsi are both in Greys Lake, IL and Autometer is in Sycamore, IL. All are within 20 miles of each other, so you may be right!

No not true....there used to be two Gaffrigs...one was in Grayslake the other was in Elk Grove i believe (they have moved out to Huntley now) Im not sure as to the hows and whys, but they went through a legal battle over the name and thus Livorsi was born after they lost...Now i'm not sure if the Gaffrig line was made by Autometer...but i do know that the Gaffrigs by Livorsi stuff was made by them back back in the late 90's early 2000's because you can look on the very edge of the gauge under the bezel and see in tiny print "made by Autometer" As to who makes the gauges now i don't know as i haven't bought any in quite some time from either one...

I never understood the whole Gaffrig/Livorsi thing, that's right I forgot Gaffrig is in Huntley. So there was 2 separate companies. I'm assuming one the made flame arrestors and sea strainers, and the other gauges. That explains why the Gaffrig stuff looks exactly like the Livorsi stuff. I thought I read on here somewhere, that Originally they were the same company and then there was a fight between two brothers and the name needed to be changed.