Advice Needed - Re-instrumenting Formula F25-SC
Charlie
pretty good shape, with the exception of the instrument panel. The
instruments are faded with chipping paint, and the panel through which
they're installed is aluminum. It's thin, soft and very pitted.
As a result, I'm planning to replace the aluminum with oak, and have the
console reupholstered over the winter. I plan to varnish / polyurethane the
oak quite heavily to protect it and keep it from splitting over time.
In addition to looking for comments on the basic plan, here are a few
specific questions:
Are all the gages pretty much standard? (The engine is a Merc 5.7). I
assume Voltage and Trim are straightforward, but are there a million
different senders for oil pressure, water temp, fuel, RPM? I'm thinking of
ordering the entire set of Teleflex from West Marine.\
Are there any other makes of gages I should consider? I wouldn't mind
spending more for something that's got a unique look to it. I did see a
brand called Faria, but can't find pictures on the web.
If you want to see the boat, look under "Charlie" at Eisboch's page:
http://eisboch.webjump.com/
Thanks for any advice!
Charlie
Just Some Guy
Guages work the same way but most need to be compatible with the sender. The
tachs have to be set up for the number of cylinders (inboards & I/O) and the
number of alternator coils (outboards) to indicate correctly. Fuel guages
should be cross compatible with any sender but not guaranteed. Voltage guages
and hour meters - no problem. WHen you buy a guage, you should get the data
that will tell you if you have the compatible sender or what you'll need to
buy.
Regards,
John
GSI Computer Services
Somers Point, NJ
KReed60950
In an exposed environment, varnish often needs recoating every couple of
years. Don't know how much sun and spray your panel will get, but
re-varnishing between gauges may be a challenge.
Teak, or teak-faced plywood might be a better wood. Plywood is dimensionally
stable, easy to work and re- oils easily.
Other options would be: Acrylic (can polish it with Meguiar's Mirror Glaze);
anodized marine aluminum (no maintenance) or a panel covered with marine
naugahyde (just wipe with Armorall) .
Bob (Seattle)
Bl...@nospam.com
Charlie,
Others have jumped in with good advice on the panel itself, the one
additional comment about the aluminum is that it should be anodized AFTER
all the gauge holes are cut, and you can get it anodized in a variety of
colors. Avoid powder coating if in a salt environment. Plastics are
available in a wide variety of materials and colors to.
It sounds like you like the look of natural finished wood, oak is prob not
the best for this application, check in rec.boats.building for additional
materials (mahogany ?) - Make sure whatever you decide on, that you have
enough depth in your gauges to go thru the new instrument panel and the
underlying glass of the console.
Yes, there are gauges made by Faria, and others - Top of the line are
Gaffrig, made by Livorsi www.livorsi.com and sold by places such as Eddie
Marine (www.eddiemarine.com) , Rex Marine (both have catalogs) and Baker
Marine (www.scaryfast.com) and Cabelas (www.cabelas.com) to name a few -
Close in quality to Gaffrig are Autometer, again available at Rex and
automotive sources such as Jegs and Summit Racing. Both have a couple
different model lines
VDO and Stewart Warner (and Faria) are in the middle tier - again they have
different lines and styles available - all available from Rex and others.
Teleflex was considered the bottom tier, but they do have line called the
ProSeries which may match up well with the middle tier lines -
If you are looking to dress up the installation, places like Rex, Eddie and
even Cabelas offer anodized bezels to mount the gauges thru in various
colors
Rex Marine Corp.
600 Ayon Ave.
Azusa, CA 91702
(p) 818-969-5987
(f) 818-969-5169
--
Reply if needed
Activator22
at Worldnet.att.net
Charlie
You guys are making me think this through again... Maybe I won't go with oak
after all.
As far as the existing instruments, I'm not sure what brand they are, but
since Formula is a mainline American boat, I'm *assuming* (that usually
spells trouble) that they're fairly standard.
The purpose in doing this job is to improve the cosmetics - it really isn't
a high-performance boat AT ALL. WOT is about 28 KTS. (I could get it to 40
KTS - by shoving it off a cliff.)
So, I guess I'm back to rethinking both the instruments themselves and the
panel material.
Instruments: I want to make the boat look better - this is ALL about
cosmetics. If there are some brands out there that look "neat" or "cool"
(yes, I realize how goofy that sounds), I'd like to look at them. As far as
the Faria and Gafrig, they seem very similar in appearance to VDO or
Teleflex. I'm not even sure what kind of radical design I'm looking for,
but If anyone has any ideas...
Panel Material: I have a friend who is an engineer, working with a lot of
sophisticated metals. He's advising me to go with a 300 series stainless
panel, with an electropolished finish. I should add that when it comes to
this kind of thing, he's the smartest person I know - in other words, it
seems like a great suggestion. Is there any disadvantage to this suggestion
we overlooked?
Thanks again!
Charlie
PS - Stand by for before & after pictures!
Cbdonospam
VDO. I do note in the Floscan line the TwinScan instruments, with their
notation that VDO senders are mandatory, from which I deduce that if you're
replacing Teleflex with Teleflex you won't need new senders.
I've replaced a panel on a 1986 Sea Ray with a new panel, same design and
pattern, from Sea Ray; the panel itself was plastic. While no one appreciates
the look and feel of wood more than I do, I wouldn't pick it for this
purpose--the refinishing won't be a picnic, and WILL have to be done
periodically; the only question is how often.
Craig
CJ
>
> I'm looking for a bit of advice. I have a 1982 Formula F25-SC that's in
> pretty good shape, with the exception of the instrument panel. The
> instruments are faded with chipping paint, and the panel through which
> they're installed is aluminum. It's thin, soft and very pitted.
>
> As a result, I'm planning to replace the aluminum with oak, and have the
> console reupholstered over the winter. I plan to varnish / polyurethane the
> oak quite heavily to protect it and keep it from splitting over time.
>
> In addition to looking for comments on the basic plan, here are a few
> specific questions:
>
> Are all the gages pretty much standard? (The engine is a Merc 5.7). I
> assume Voltage and Trim are straightforward, but are there a million
> different senders for oil pressure, water temp, fuel, RPM? I'm thinking of
> ordering the entire set of Teleflex from West Marine.\
>
> Are there any other makes of gages I should consider? I wouldn't mind
> spending more for something that's got a unique look to it. I did see a
> brand called Faria, but can't find pictures on the web.
>
> If you want to see the boat, look under "Charlie" at Eisboch's page:
> http://eisboch.webjump.com/
>
> Thanks for any advice!
>
> Charlie
I just redid the console of my boat with Starboard. I bought a small
sheet from a local plastics dealer and used the old instrument panels
as templates. Using some fairly standard tools it turned out fairly
well.
My main problems were trying to salvage the old guages. Most of them
had severly rusted or had otherwise unusable rear mounting brackets and
some of the wiring was sooooo screwed up I couln't salvage much.
I finally decided to spring for some new guages and completely
rewire. The rewiring is where the outfitters earn their money. This
took many long hours on my back getting it to look professional. I used
tie-down points every six inches and ran the wires neatly. It turned
out good.
If you choose to rewire, the main thing to do is have a plan. I made
notes of everything and then sketched out the wire routing and color
codes to use. For simplicity, I ran a pair of number 8 wires for
common power and then fed most of the positive connections and
ground from there. I crimped, soldered and shrink wrapped all
the terminal connections and ran at least number 12 to all the
guages.
If you have a bunch of electronics, you want to run those wires over
spec to reduce current drop and keep them physically distant from
the other wires to reduce interfence.
Never put a crimp connection in the bilge or someplace that you
cannot get to it easily. Make sure that you support all wires
that are drooping or go around sharp bends, put conduit in
if you need to.
When I had to snake wire through conduit or below the deck, I left
a few spare wires for future use.
Your formula is a good boat, but you would be suprised how many
top of the line boats I have seen where the wiring was absolute
crap. I bought a brand spanking new Mako many years ago where
the dealer used cheap butt-end crimp connecters to the bilge
pumps and live well. The pumps worked great for about 3 months
and the dealer gave me a bunch of crap when the wiring failed
because I allowed salt water to get into the bilge.
After I was all done, I paid a trip to one of the local marine
salvage place and saw boxes and boxes of pre-made instrument
panels that with just a little bit of cosmetic trimming would
have worked just as well, or better with considerable less
work.
Good luck,
Clint
Eisboch
>
> Panel Material: I have a friend who is an engineer, working with a lot of
> sophisticated metals. He's advising me to go with a 300 series stainless
> panel, with an electropolished finish. I should add that when it comes to
> this kind of thing, he's the smartest person I know - in other words, it
> seems like a great suggestion. Is there any disadvantage to this suggestion
> we overlooked?
>
> Thanks again!
>
> Charlie
>
> PS - Stand by for before & after pictures!
Charlie:
I would forget about the electropolished stainless. The first time
the sun reflects off the panel, you would be blinded. Consider
aluminum finished in a black, hard anodized finish. You can get this
in Rockwell hardnesses that are very high, it will be attractive,
durable and easy to cutout for your instruments.
Eisboch