ORIGINAL: ken webb
Try Tower hobbies. Look up robitronic. They offer a complete system for what look's like a pretty good price.
Seems to be exclusively for cars. There might be a problem or two translating to boats, start with cars being on a track with the ability to mount the sensing hardware somewhere convenient, as opposed to on water with the associated difficulties of mounting. I only saw lap counting devices, not timers. The best answer might well be somebody trustworthy who can handle a pair of stop-watches, or just the one if its a single lap timing requirement.
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