Dash to the Finish

I mentioned in my last post that the river is looking better and that is a blessing  as
so many of us get a lot of pleasure from boating and other activties that are 
on  or along the river. Each passing day shows there has been less and less debris
coming by the house and that is the real best news of the day. Now that the junk in 
water is subsiding the race is heating up to get the Fuelishnes back in the water.
The past  week has been very busy with the stereo guys doing there thing.
Overall I'm very pleased with the out come and the sound is great. Sitting in the
rear sun lounge area is like wearing really sweet headphones. I learned quick
from my friend Brian that JL Audio is the answer. Any one who has ever been on I-Dock
at Alton Marina during a party will tell you that Brian and Rich really have it going on
and their choice is JL Audio. 
 I could not be happier with my choice of equiptment or the company who did it. 
Custom Sounds of Alton did a top shelf  job of installing everything. I talked to AJ the 
manager who is a very personable guy who has never met a stranger in his life, so he'll 
be happy to see you when you get there.
    
Which brings me around to the dash and the fact that it's time to put a lid on the box of
snakes , which is my dash. Although it may sound like I'm dreading this I'm not
because this will be a joint project that Bruce and I are doing together.

This is the start and this may be the most forgiving shot I have of this area. I have
finished the dash panels and installed the gauges in them . Now its time to get the 
wiring squared way and  dash panels back where they belong.

These are a couple of shots of the panels in the booth just after clearcoating
over the info lettering. To do this lettering process the first coat of clear had
to be a high gloss clear , WOW  I wish I could have left those panels all high
gloss like that, but when I took them outside the reflections were brutal. 
Now I know why the originals were flat cleared. Some things are better off 
the way they were. But I have beautiful panels to work with and the gauges
look great in them. 

This is a shot as Bruce started the top row of gauges. Bruce is meticulas and has
very high work standards, so changing every ring terminal and spade connector then
soldering and shrink tubing all those joints is time consuming, but its also the  right
way and it will out last the boat. The above photo shows the starting point .
The harness that we are building will in fact zig-zag down the next 2 levels and then
end as it enters the main harness behind the steering wheel.

This shows the area that we are working in and its tight and takes a steady hand.

This is the done deal for the top level . Nice and neet and about 3 hours work time.
This was the easy level anyway as the next level has 11 gauges , I altered the
placement of some and eliminated others , so it's going to be intense.

This is a sight for tired eyes, it actually gives the impression that I'm close to being
done and that would be great except for the list that is haunting me. but it does make
me smile when I look at it, and that is good thing.

The passenger side was quick and easy , Glove box door , new SS cup holder
and a fresh filtered vent  for underneath and "viola" she is complete !!
Well this side anyway.

During the rebuild I have ran into some wierd stuff and the following is no exception.
The following photo contains a dash part, see if you can identify what it is.
I gotta tell ya it took me a bit to figure out what it was when I found it because it
never worked in all the years I owned the boat.

Shoot me line if  you know what it is!! or where it goes !!


Up next :  Tough Decisions  
      

Little Things and a Final List

It appears that the river is beginning to calm down and allow us to go boating.
That alone is worth cheering about. I have made my final list and begun to check
off the operations as though it were the count down for an Apollo space mission.
I now have no doubt that I will finish this project. This week I had a visit from 
Dennis Berry from Berry Performance Marine to start the gimbal housing rebuild.
Dennis brought along his nephew Matt and in short order got the steering forks
out and what was left of the seals. The gimbals are in rough but usable shape. It's 
going to take some serious cleaning , sealing and painting to get these in the kind of 
condition that will make them worth using. 

This is shot of  Dennis and Matt  getting started

    

 The setup for this was to open up an access point at the top of the gimbal housing

so they could get a wrench on the upper steering fork nut. This required the cutting

of roughly an inch and a half by 3 inch section at the top of the gimbal.

This is Matt working on the starboard housing

    That access panel is pretty close to the same size as the Mercury sticker.

When we are done an aluminum cover and gasket are installed to cover the opening

and prevent water from getting in. Now it's my job to get all this cleaned and painted.

It will not be easy as there is alot of marine growth and general funk. 

This is the jumping off point ,  WOW  thats funky, But its very surprising how well

Toilet Bowl Cleaner works on this stuff, I'll post photos as I go. This week is going 

to be crush week and I intend to get some loose ends finished up and in short order. 

Yes I can most certainly say that the light at end of the tunnel is getting bigger and that 

one single thing is a great motivator. 

I'll also be looking for my pirate friend who has the other drive as I need to reel in 

all the parts and complete my final list. 

These final days have really been the best as they have went by quickly and the results

are on a bigger scale. Hopefully this will be the way it is to the very end, or at least

we hope it is.

Next up :  Dash to the Finish

New Tunes and a Dash

Another week has passed and some headway has been  made , In any project

like this one there will be dead spots. This week started out like that but then 

quickly changed. In the very beginning of the project as we were preping the 

boat to strip the interior the mirror frame delaminated. Sorry too big of

a word,The glue joint let go and the frame came off. So the entire time that

I have worked on the project I knew that eventually I would have to fix this

issue.

                     Note the absence of the frame around the mirror

My friend Tom who helped me prep the boat in the beginning has graciously 
accepted my invitation to help me put the mirror frame back on. At first glance 
it doesnt seem to be a huge issue, except that the project designer " Suzanne"
doesnt want us to use any exposed fastners that will spoil the clean face of the 
frame and make it different than all the rest. This will add a wrinkle to the
repair and give it an element of challenge. But true to form Tom and I are up 
to the challenge. Tom did some thinking and made some arms to hook in to the 
bottle sockets on the bottom and to clamped on top. Then wood wedges to
apply pressure at  just the right points.

Quite a rig ? But no screw holes

                                                 These are the bottom wedges.

                   This is the top clamp jig, every point tightens off the 3 clamps.

 And happy-happy, joy- joy no screw holes and not a mark on the frame. Job well done. 

                                           Thanks Tom

These little jobs are great work and take more thought than time. Getting down 
to the last of things we are headed back out the cockpit and more work on the 
dash to get ready for the stereo guys, who just called as I was typing this and are 
really wanting to move my job back another week as they are having a sale in 
the Fairview store and they really want two guys on this install. I guess thats ok
because Bruce and I have really been taking our time with the dash wiring. 
We have added some much needed power supply points and fixed some of the 
older less thoughtfull work done by others. It still looks like a box  of snakes, 
but the pile of cuts and trimmings is growing and that means we are going in

the right direction. 

    

    

    

This is the port side console before

                                        This is the dash as a before with a little during

                                        mixed in,as we have a few hours in it at this point.

I got the finished gauge panels back and they are very nice but it was long road

to get there. Jason at Midwest Hydro Designs dipped and applied the carbon fiber

design to my panels, once they dryed out he lightly clear coated them and gave 

me the ones that needed information lettering applied. Mike Turk who striped the 

Fuelishness a few months back had an interesting fix for the lettering as the 

original panels were screen printed, carbon fiber, lettering and all. 

Mike owns an Alps printer this is the kind of printer that makes water transfer

decals like the ones we used to get with plastic car models when we were kids.

If you are familar with the process from the past , its the same now, float the decals

in water until the paper comes off and then grab them with twezzers and set them

in the place where they go and pat them dry with a soft cloth and SHAZAM.

We are taking the process to whole new level as we are clear coating the final

product to bury the decals and give the finished product some real protection.

This is the ignition panel.

Mike and I are very pleased

This is a great example of the finished product with lettering and clearcoat.

The old panels were coarse feeling and were hard to clean these have a slight 

shine and wipe right off. 

So now as I close my  week and check up on the remaining projects I find that the 

flood has finally got me, It seems that one of my drives is at Little Johns for welding

and He lives at Woodland Marina. So we know that work is suspended for now.

The other drive is at Berry Performance Marine and those that

know Dennis, also know that the day after Memorial Day, Dennis had back surgery

this was a long over due thing, as the offshore racing has been less than kind to 

my friend. Offshore racing is hard on all your joints but the stress on your back is 

really bad. I wish my friend a speedy recovery and some much needed R&R. 

I know that he wishes he could have done the R&R on the Berrycuda, but the 

high water has made that impossible for now.  

Next up : Little Things and the Final List