Replace gauges and switches/panels?

[Mikes402Jetboat]

Re: Replace gauges and switches/panels?

I may be a little late to this party, but I am also creating a new dashboard for my boat made from a material called King Starboard. It is a 1/4 inch thick piece of ABS style material, and it is textured on both sides. It comes in several colors, I chose black for my project and used two separate holes saws and a drill press to cut the gauge holes out and I also drilled the mounting screw holes and few extra accessory holes with forstner bits. I was very pleased to find how easy it was to cut and drill, and had no issues with fracturing or cracking during or after the construction. My instrument panel is for my jet boat, I also replaced all my gauges with new gauges instead of trying to deal with the old ones. http://www.kingstarboard.com/Products/Starboard.aspx

 

[dccordell]

Re: Replace gauges and switches/panels?

I've seen others on iboats using that Starboard material... it looks really nice. I'm going to do some digging around to see where I can find it locally, if at all. Their site doesn't come up with any distributors around my area.

Still have so many other projects going on that I haven't gotten to the dash gauges and panels yet. I'll make sure to post how it turns out when I get it done.

Thanks

 

[jhebert]

Re: Replace gauges and switches/panels?

I replaced the original helm dash panel in my Boston Whaler boat with a new panel which I fabricated myself. I described the process in detail and showed illustrations of the removal, fabrication, installation, and wiring of the panel in

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/conventionalGaugeRigging.html

One of the most time consuming aspects of the project was to design the layout of the new panel and its many gauges. The dimensions of the holes are all rather odd fractions, and calculating the layout and spacing was a tedious exercise in fractional arithmetic.

Read my article for more details.

 

[NYBo]

Re: Replace gauges and switches/panels?

I used 1/4" oak plywood, stained and coated with three coats of Helmsman Spar polyurethane. I very happy with how it came out. I'd post a picture, but the boat is "undercover" at the moment.

 

[dccordell]

Re: Replace gauges and switches/panels?

Now that's an idea too... so many choices! Hmm..

 

[dccordell]

Re: Replace gauges and switches/panels?

Well I finally am getting around to working on this console... replaced rotten wood inside, removed all of the hardware, sanded, pressure washed the inside. Will be painting the inside with Rustoleum today and hopefully later this week I'll be on to the outside paint.

I ended up using plexiglass for the gauge panel. I used 1/8" because 1/4" looked too thick and the glass shop didn't have 3/16".. it is just about as flimsy (or stiff) as the original panel so I hope it will hold up over time. I used a glass scoring blade to score and snap the panel into the size I needed, then used regular wood drill bits and a jigsaw with a fine metal blade on it to cut the holes and the curved edges, then sanded the edges so they were nice and smooth. I went ahead and drilled the screw mounting holes in the corners and along the edge of the panel. Then scuffed up the back side with #0000 pads and sprayed with flat black paint, let dry for 24hrs before I touched it.

I'm satisfied with that.. I was thinking I might go to the auto store and find some thin white pin striping to go along the outside edge to give a more professional look. I still may add warning lights beside the temp and oil gauges... oh those are the new (to me) gauges I got from ebay months back.. tested and they seem to work and kinda look cool I guess.. they fit the budget, so yeah...

I plan to do the same thing for the switch panels.. and plan to reuse the old switches because after testing all of them, they all still work fine. They just look old... the paddles are faded to grey, so I was thinking I could get some of that Plasti Dip stuff from walmart that comes in a can and you can dip stuff in it to give it a nice shiny coat of black (or yellow) rubber, so I would just dip the paddles in it, almost all the way until the threaded collar of the switch body. I think it's around $5, rather than around $40 for all new switches! Anyone ever use that?

Anyways.. just thought I'd finally share an update! More to come with the switch panels and the finish product...