SEA RAY DASHBOARD MYSTERY

I have a 1987 sea ray weekender.<br />The instruement panel is a flat plate with 6 screws holding the bottom.<br />Over the panel is a roof of fiberglass with foam over it and covered with maroon vinyl.<br />The vinyl on the corner is worn off and looks crummy.<br />I would love to take this assy off the panel and recover it with new vinyl, but after studying it from both the front and from the rear access panel in the head I can not see how this panel is fastened in place.<br />It may be that the instruement panel has to be removed first in order to do this.<br />Has anyone an idea on how to tackle this problem?<br />Bill

Re: SEA RAY DASHBOARD MYSTERY

Handball, I can only offer general advise. My '88 SeaRay's interior while fancy, was held together by hidden screws driven 1/2 way in, small aluminum plates which allowed other screws to be off set, staples and other stupid ideas. My advice is to look very carefully for fasteners of the dumbest kind, that are in the most awkward positions.<br /><br />SeaRay also used "Tee" nuts to attach the side panels. The nuts and backing plates were hidden inside the gunwale. You dashboard roof could have one or two of these holding it on. if so you should see stainless steel nuts on the back of the dash.

Re: SEA RAY DASHBOARD MYSTERY

handball,<br /><br />Welcome to boats. There are NO standards and one model will not be the same as the next, off the line.<br /><br />You're on your own. Start, carefully, removing screws until it comes free.

Re: SEA RAY DASHBOARD MYSTERY

Thanks for the replys fellows,<br />Not that anyone is interested but to give you some back ground I was a design engineer for a famous lab. and thought I saw every thing while on the job. My thinking was how can we repair what we designed. I also have had about 12 power boats and 4 large sail boats with the last a 43 foot c and c. Any way I really like my sea ray but they really have gone out of the way to conceal how things are fastened together. I am guessing that this bridge like cover over the gauges requires that the gauge panel be removed first then you may see something that is holding the assy together. I have seen boats that have the entire dash and helm removable to gain access behind, some even fold down with hinges. If any one finds clues about the sea ray dash it would be greatly appreciated by me. By the way gas at our marinas is now at $3.38 a gallon and will probably go even higher, sort of takes the joy out of boating as I have known it in the past. No more trips from new york to the bahamas as we have done before, I guess we were lucky we did it back in 1996 on our 43 foot sailboat. Back then the whole trip down there cost us about $300 for diesel, this year I spent that much on one fill up.<br />Good luck<br />Bill

Re: SEA RAY DASHBOARD MYSTERY

UK gas price is currently $7,00 a gallon!!<br /><br />Anyone for the European Union?

Re: SEA RAY DASHBOARD MYSTERY

Petrol is now £4 per gallon in the UK. It's likey nearer $8 a gallon.

Re: SEA RAY DASHBOARD MYSTERY

Wow!<br />What is going on with the gas prices? How can any one go boating over there in the UK? If I thought I could sell my twin engine sea ray boat I would really consider going back to a sail boat again.<br />This is really crazy, I use to spend about $25 dollars for diesel in a entire boating season when I had a 32 foot ericson, that was only about three years ago. This inflation of gas prices has got to be hurting the boat builders in a big way.<br />I now run my boat at slower speeds and some times only use one engine in order to save fuel, its not that I can not affort the gas its just that I feel it is such a terrible rip off and I don't like to be taken advantage of.<br />The one thing they can not tax is the wind and that may be the way to go in the future for most of us.<br />Good luck,<br />Bill