With summer in full swing, everyone seems to be spending a large portion of their day on the water boating or camping in their RV. When it comes to your boat or RV design, instrument dials and gauges can help to identify important controls or indicators for the end-user. They add to the aesthetic and quality of your vehicle’s dashboard and are also important to its look and overall design. Colors for these faceplates are often chosen to stand in contrast to others so that immediate awareness can be drawn to them. This makes it easy to identify and resolve potential problems you may be experiencing with equipment.

Instrument Dials and Gauges in Boating

Boats are like cars: everyone wants the latest and greatest aesthetically pleasing technology. Instrument dials and gauges are a great asset to add the overall curb appeal to a vehicle. Instrument dials and gauges are usually found in the dashboard and will provide the driver with important information like fuel level, speed, and more. With so much technology available, how can changing out the dials and gauges make your boat look better?

The answer is simple: The smallest things can have the biggest impact. Plus the driver is looking down at the dashboard the majority of the time. You can create gauges and dials to fit into the parameters of your previous dial or gauge. Choose a design that represents your brand and reminds the driver why they picked you over your competitors.

Not only do they visually enhance your boat, but they also help add an element of safety. Boats are known for having several different gauges, such as when it comes to measuring water density, water depth, water clarity, speed, RPMs, and fuel level. All of these are critical to your boat and the boat’s functionality. Instrument dials and gauges can help ensure that the driver can easily monitor all of these essentials. They can even be designed in your brand colors to stand out from other features found within your boat.

Instrument Dials and Gauges in RVs

RVs are also known for having several different dials and gauges, which can be customized to your brand. When it comes to an RV, you’ll have several different gauges and dials found on the dashboard. Examples include the speedometer, tachometer, fuel levels, volt meter, engine temperature, transmission temperature, tire pressure, intake temperature, etc. With all of these being essential to ensuring the function of your RV, how can you make them more noticeable and prominent?

Again, by customizing your RV’s instrument dials and gauges, you can make them stand out from other colors displayed on the dashboard. It would make essential controls more prominent for the driver so that they can ensure the safety of everyone within the RV.

Throughout the customization of your dashboard, you can also make the dials and gauges to enhance the visual appeal of your vehicle. So not only are you helping to increase the RV’s safety, but you can help to make your RV flashier to attract more customers!

Common Features of Instrument Clusters in Boat or RV Design

1. Deadfronting

Deadfronting goes hand-in-hand with backlighting capabilities within instrument clusters. It allows for a message to be hidden until it becomes backlit. Meaning that the message will not be displayed unless a warning needs to be sent. In that case, the deadfronted display will become prominent through the use of backlighting. This is especially common within marine and automotive instrument dials.

2. Backlighting

Backlighting is easily the simplest and best way to make your design stand out. Through the use of LED lights, prominent and important messages can flash. This would alert the end-user of any malfunctions or warnings they should be made aware of in your boat or RV design.

3. Embossing/Debossing

Embossing and debossing are other unique features you can add to your instrument cluster’s design. Embossing is when sections of the plastic pieces are raised. Debossing is when sections of the plastic pieces are recessed.

4. Inks

Inks can be customized to your liking strictly for design purposes. You can add metallic or glossy inks into the instrument cluster’s design to make them more visually appealing.

Next Steps

The instrument dials and gauges made at Butler Technologies, Inc. oftentimes starts at the graphic designer’s desk. This is where exact measurements are created and implemented into the product’s design. Once the guages are ready for production, we use a precision screen printing process to create your instruments and dials. This allows for a wide range of materials and inks that could be used. The material is then formed to fit the custom dimensions. Our products are custom-made in the United States for a variety of different industries, including boat or RV design.

With summer in full swing, many people are looking for ways to enhance their boat or RV design. Well, look no further. By enhancing your instrument cluster’s design, you can increase the safety of your boat or RV and provide it with far more curb appeal.

If you’re interested in getting your next user interface project started in your boat or RV design, reach out! Our team will be happy to help you!

Meet the Author: Jaclyn King

Jaclyn was previously the digital marketing specialist on the BTI Team.