One of a vessel owner's largest expenses is, of course, the powering of vessels. The initial purchase, continuing maintenance and repair, qualified personnel and, unfortunately, downtime, make engine expense a primary concern in the allocation of capital. For the most part, instrumentation to reduce this expense has fallen into two categories. The first being inexpensive, simple, yet effective alarm and/or shutdown systems geared towards preventing catastrophic failure. The second category is that of more expensive, complex integrated systems that perform these functions as well as providing numerous additional functions such as displays and data collection. A new breed of electronics hitting the market is designed to fill this void. Perennial Monitoring Systems, Inc. of Baton Rouge, La.