Ratherb's 74' 21 Ft Starcraft Islander

[Ratherbboatin]

Hi WM
The drive was actually very easy to take off. I was prepared for some swearing, but it never came!! Ha ha
Just a little goop in the bellows which I expected.

 

[Watermann]

Hey, yeah you're exactly right on the goop in the bellows, that means the u joints were greased properly as was the gimbal bearing. What a guy doesn't want to see is water or gear oil in there. :thumb:

 

[Ratherbboatin]

Well there might have been a little of everything mixed together in the bellows. I plan on going over the leg anyways. Hopefully its just some new seals and o-rings. I do need to repair the bottom fin of the leg.Thankfully I know a guy........

 

[Ratherbboatin]

Did I mention I got a new tow vehicle!!! Needed something heavier for my business. About 10 days old now.

 

[Ratherbboatin]

Today was time to tear out the dash components on the glasser
-Off comes the steering wheel

 

[Ratherbboatin]

thought this funky old light with power outlet would look nice on the passenger side of the SC
with some cleaning, painting and upgraded power outlet. The round center part is a light with the switch below.

 

[Ratherbboatin]

Trim switch

 

[Ratherbboatin]

Took out the glove box as well for some storage on the SC

 

[Ratherbboatin]

Removed Trim switch

 

[Ratherbboatin]

Dash is all empty now

 

[Ratherbboatin]

Next will be to remove the shift Merc control

 

[Watermann]

Quite the array of gauges that old Fiberform had. Looks like some pickens to be had on the old carcass, that power point and switch face plate is pretty unique.

 

[Ratherbboatin]

There is a gauge for everything in that dash. The light and power outlet combo is not something I have ever seen before.

Another Glasser came up for free with the same engine in it, the inline 6 Merc. I am pondering grabbing it. No trailer on that boat though, so a bit of a PITA to get. Not that I want another ugly boat sitting around.

 

[Ratherbboatin]

Found some time yesterday to pull all the wire that ran from the dash controls to the engine bay of the glasser. Somewhat time consuming cutting all the ties and pulling it out.

 

[Ratherbboatin]

I also removed the Merc shift control. Took me a few minutes to figure out that the small black button used to push in to rev engine in Neutral needed to be unscrewed. It came off easy after that.

 

[italianstal27]

Are you going to keep the existing dash or build one yourself?

New gauges? Ran me about $180 but with those older engines having a gauge for everything is super nice. Let's you know if something breaks pretty quick

For switches check out OTRATTW... Little spendy but they look gorgeous and you can get them custom engraved for free.

Also! Before you start pulling wood I would take pictures of how things were either riveted or screwed we lost yours on our project trying to remember how things were attached. Seems trivial when you're tearing it apart but as soon as you go to reassemble you get lost. Also having a tape measure in the picture doesn't hurt

Excellent progress so far!

 

[Ratherbboatin]

italianstal27 : Good luck with your splash, I have been following your thread as well.
I have photos of everything. Still have all the [FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]gauges[/FONT] and wiring from the Volvo AQ130 engine that came out. Sold the engine though. I have not started working on the wood for the floor or anything yet. Waiting to get the Merc 165 engine in and running before I start spending anything. All the plywood was removed and is sitting in my shop to use as templates. Not sure if you went though my whole thread yet, but I gutted the SC long ago. I really only make progress on the boat from Oct to Dec. Work and life gets very busy the rest of the year.

Below is what the dash looked like when I got the boat

 

[Ratherbboatin]

I plan on doing some minor modifications to the helm and have something close to the same for the passenger side with a glove / storage box, stereo, lighting set up.
As for the gauges, I think I have 2 of everything now. I will be replacing the switch block with a new one.

 

[Ratherbboatin]

Also picked up two nice seats with bolsters a while ago that will go in.

 

[chevymaher]

Seats looks awsome.