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