I wanted to share this with the folks here at iboats.com. After all the awesome restoration threads I have spent hours perusing I am adding my little bit to the forum.
I bought this boat last year and it is the first boat I have had in over 20 years. The boat itself was in very good shape and it ran perfectly but the dash and all the associated wiring was a complete disaster. There were 8 different connections on the positive post of the battery and none of them were fused. So after getting the boat out this Spring I decided that before I hit the water this year I would fix the rotted dash, replace the wonky fish finder, and rewire this floating aluminum fire hazard.
Up first I figured I would share a picture of the boat itself. Not the prettiest thing ever but I caught a lot of fish while on it last year and had a ton of fun.
Here is a picture of the dash in the boat as I bought it. The Eagle fish finder worked sporadically, sometimes displaying good data, and sometimes just beeping and showing a whole bunch of crazy things, like 900 feet of water in a lake that had a max depth of 25 feet. The three pull switches were totally dead, the speed-o didn't work, and the tilt gauge wasn't even hooked up. The lower right corner of the dash shows rot. I did replace the entire steering cable and rack last fall as it took so much effort to steer that I felt it was unsafe. So while there is not a picture of the very ugly steering wheel that had been on the boat, you should get the idea. The tilt/trim switch worked but it was ugly and worn out.
Here is my replacement dash. It is a piece of 3/4" plywood that I cut out in a carbon copy of the original and then somehow managed to get it reversed left to right. Since it doesn't hurt the function at all and actually looks pretty nice I left it the way I cut it.
I coated the entire thing in Plasti-Dip spray on coating. Four heavy coats and I think it looks good and should be fairly waterproof. A new four switch fused panel, tilt/trim switch, and two 12V cigarette lighter outlets for a GPS and whatever else I may want to power round things out. You can also see the new Garmin Echo fish finder, what a nice piece of equipment for not a lot of money! Also note from the marks on the carpet that the entire console has been moved forward about 9 inches. The way I bought the boat had the steering wheel practically in my lap, it was VERY uncomfortable to drive this way so I think this one change may have been the biggest improvement to the boat so far.
And here is the backside of the dash showing how I wired it all together. I'm obviously not an expert but I have to say it is a big improvement over what I had when I brought this boat home. Everything is soldered instead of crimped and everywhere I could use heat shrink I did. The two leads that appear to be terminated are for the fish finder and were later connected when the dash went into the boat. The coil of black and red wire was eventually taped up and run back to the main battery. Before connecting to the battery they passed through a 15 amp blade style fuse. No more worries about this thing going up in flames for me! The other thick black wire that is rubber banded together is for the power tilt/trim and was later shortened and neatened up before being spliced into the tilt/trim wiring.
I'll keep this thread up to date as I do more restoration work over the next few months. I plan on getting rid of the carpet and doing some kind of rubberized floor coating, rewiring the trailer, replaced the trolling motor, and possibly even painting the entire boat. We will see!
I bought this boat last year and it is the first boat I have had in over 20 years. The boat itself was in very good shape and it ran perfectly but the dash and all the associated wiring was a complete disaster. There were 8 different connections on the positive post of the battery and none of them were fused. So after getting the boat out this Spring I decided that before I hit the water this year I would fix the rotted dash, replace the wonky fish finder, and rewire this floating aluminum fire hazard.
Up first I figured I would share a picture of the boat itself. Not the prettiest thing ever but I caught a lot of fish while on it last year and had a ton of fun.
Here is a picture of the dash in the boat as I bought it. The Eagle fish finder worked sporadically, sometimes displaying good data, and sometimes just beeping and showing a whole bunch of crazy things, like 900 feet of water in a lake that had a max depth of 25 feet. The three pull switches were totally dead, the speed-o didn't work, and the tilt gauge wasn't even hooked up. The lower right corner of the dash shows rot. I did replace the entire steering cable and rack last fall as it took so much effort to steer that I felt it was unsafe. So while there is not a picture of the very ugly steering wheel that had been on the boat, you should get the idea. The tilt/trim switch worked but it was ugly and worn out.
Here is my replacement dash. It is a piece of 3/4" plywood that I cut out in a carbon copy of the original and then somehow managed to get it reversed left to right. Since it doesn't hurt the function at all and actually looks pretty nice I left it the way I cut it.
I coated the entire thing in Plasti-Dip spray on coating. Four heavy coats and I think it looks good and should be fairly waterproof. A new four switch fused panel, tilt/trim switch, and two 12V cigarette lighter outlets for a GPS and whatever else I may want to power round things out. You can also see the new Garmin Echo fish finder, what a nice piece of equipment for not a lot of money! Also note from the marks on the carpet that the entire console has been moved forward about 9 inches. The way I bought the boat had the steering wheel practically in my lap, it was VERY uncomfortable to drive this way so I think this one change may have been the biggest improvement to the boat so far.
And here is the backside of the dash showing how I wired it all together. I'm obviously not an expert but I have to say it is a big improvement over what I had when I brought this boat home. Everything is soldered instead of crimped and everywhere I could use heat shrink I did. The two leads that appear to be terminated are for the fish finder and were later connected when the dash went into the boat. The coil of black and red wire was eventually taped up and run back to the main battery. Before connecting to the battery they passed through a 15 amp blade style fuse. No more worries about this thing going up in flames for me! The other thick black wire that is rubber banded together is for the power tilt/trim and was later shortened and neatened up before being spliced into the tilt/trim wiring.
I'll keep this thread up to date as I do more restoration work over the next few months. I plan on getting rid of the carpet and doing some kind of rubberized floor coating, rewiring the trailer, replaced the trolling motor, and possibly even painting the entire boat. We will see!