Dashboard refurbishment

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captaindan

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www.discountfascia.com
Ok. I am thinking of refurbishing my dashboard on my sunseeker san remo 35 this winter. I am thinking of upgrading all my dash board dials as they are very temperamental trip computer etc as they are un reliant I have volvo penta set up so was wondering if anyone had any experiences that they would be kind enough to share with us. I do understand that there may be issues along the wiring that may be giving us false readings etc so would like some guidance and recommendations on what is probably the best way to approach the project. I also want to renew the wood as this is looking very tired Boat is currently in Spain between Alicante and Murcia if anybody knows of someone in that area who is experienced in this type of thing would be great to hear from you.

I have tried to upload some photos also but seems the file is to big




thanking you for your replies in advance.
 
Hi Captaindan, I faced a similar dilemma 18 months ago and went from this...
IMG_20180923_155949.jpg

to this

DSC01282.JPG

It depends on how much time you have, how committed you are to your boat regards the future, and of course how deep your pockets are. We began with a simple plan to upgrade the dashboard with a CZone system and ended up with a total rewire plus installing shore power. A long job done in spare time, but ulitimately worth it given I now have an as new electrical system good for many years and right up to date with controls and monitoring. The old Sea Ranger and TMQ autopilot have since been replaced with a Furuno 711 autopilot.
Good luck!
P.S. Pity you don't live a lot closer, I have enough material left over for about 8 more dashboards. It is SignbonD, very thin aluminium both sides with some sort of core.
 
I tried smart round led digital gauges.

The volvos are isolated return and I got it to work after a fashion but not very well. Oil pressure was all over the place and they are “twitchy”. Put the standard ones back in and to be honest....It looked better.

I did replace the naff toggle switches for little round rockers which modernised things a lot. I’d probably go for illuminated touch ones if I was doing it again.

9BE5A292-6D37-46D0-924F-8491E0122CC6.jpeg
 
If you upload pictures from an iPad, select the picture you want and a little line appears saying choose image size.....they will then upload if you select largeD0FE2F76-9F88-4EF6-814B-C82E425A1CB5.jpg
 
Although it looks like a big task refurbishing the dash is straightforward. Just needs patience. Probably 3- 4 careful days. I refurbed a fairline dash - the instrument/switch panels are usually just aluminium. Once you have figured out how to get to the back of it, everything just unscrews/unclips. Carefully label all the connections and take pics as you go. Getting the old wood veneer off shouldnt be too difficult, after quite a few years the glue holding it on won't put up much resistance. Once you have peeled/pulled and scraped the bulk off, sand the aluminium panel to get it really smooth, then prime it with etch primer. (don't use normal primer it will fall off pretty quick on aluminium) If there are any deep scratches, spray a few coats of primer filler (after the etch primer) and then sand lightly back.

You could get the panel re-veneered in the UK. However 3M do a huge range of self adhesive vinyls (think Car Wrap material,not cheap sticky back plastic) that are really easy to fit, they bend, stretch (with a bit of heat) are UV resistance etc. Easy to get the vinyl to conform to complex surfaces and go into the holes around your instruments. Google 3M Di Noc vinyl. You can get pretty much any finish you could imagine.

Re: dicky instruments - if you pull all your connections off to re-do the panels you are half way there. Before you re-assemble everything, examine and clean every connection with a glass fibre pen and spray all the connections with proper contact cleaner. If you find anything dodgy replace/repair with new connectors. Most of the connectors will be the 1/4" crimp connectors - so easy to get and replace. When you re connect, take the connector on and off a few times to ensure a good contact. The connector should be a good push fit, not loose or sloppy.

If you decide on new instruments have a look at the Faria gauges on ASAP supplies. What engines do you have?

Once its all back together again looking fab, do the same cleaning/checking on the engine sensor connections. Good chance most/all will work much better after.

If you are still a bit daunted, talk to Dennis at Costa Blanca Yacht Services in Torrevieja.
 
I refurbed the dash on our S34 last year because the old one was past its sell by date and had things where we didn’t want them e.g. VHF right next to the compass. The curve in ours was a problem as finding someone who can deal with curves is difficult. In the end I found an outfit called Carbon Weezel in Southampton who moulded a new curved dash using the original as a template and replaced the old coating on the upper dash with carbon fibre. We don’t live near them so just couriered the old dash panels to them. We got carried away and ended up with not only a new dash but also a new suite of electronics! ;)

Another outfit to consider for new panels is Brian Wards

Before and after.....

A280C6EF-473F-4197-9A92-745222A402FF.jpeg
8B0CA576-DDA5-4012-AFC6-CD051C6F1C01.jpeg
 
Last edited:
kashurst said:
Although it looks like a big task refurbishing the dash is straightforward. Just needs patience. Probably 3- 4 careful days. I refurbed a fairline dash - the instrument/switch panels are usually just aluminium. Once you have figured out how to get to the back of it, everything just unscrews/unclips. Carefully label all the connections and take pics as you go. Getting the old wood veneer off shouldnt be too difficult, after quite a few years the glue holding it on won't put up much resistance. Once you have peeled/pulled and scraped the bulk off, sand the aluminium panel to get it really smooth, then prime it with etch primer. (don't use normal primer it will fall off pretty quick on aluminium) If there are any deep scratches, spray a few coats of primer filler (after the etch primer) and then sand lightly back.

You could get the panel re-veneered in the UK. However 3M do a huge range of self adhesive vinyls (think Car Wrap material,not cheap sticky back plastic) that are really easy to fit, they bend, stretch (with a bit of heat) are UV resistance etc. Easy to get the vinyl to conform to complex surfaces and go into the holes around your instruments. Google 3M Di Noc vinyl. You can get pretty much any finish you could imagine.

Re: dicky instruments - if you pull all your connections off to re-do the panels you are half way there. Before you re-assemble everything, examine and clean every connection with a glass fibre pen and spray all the connections with proper contact cleaner. If you find anything dodgy replace/repair with new connectors. Most of the connectors will be the 1/4" crimp connectors - so easy to get and replace. When you re connect, take the connector on and off a few times to ensure a good contact. The connector should be a good push fit, not loose or sloppy.

If you decide on new instruments have a look at the Faria gauges on ASAP supplies. What engines do you have?

Once its all back together again looking fab, do the same cleaning/checking on the engine sensor connections. Good chance most/all will work much better after.

If you are still a bit daunted, talk to Dennis at Costa Blanca Yacht Services in Torrevieja.
Click to expand...
 
Thats great I am running volvo kad42 engines boat is actually in Torreviega at the moment so Dennis might be an option .
As much as i like toying around with things it might be out of my scope . I was thinking of renewing the gauges but it probably makes more sense that it is just bad connections however if everything is renewed i will have piece of mind.

I have seen some of the vynl finishes that give a carbon look finish that look quite nice. But the mrs reckons we should keep it wood (pah what does she know anyway)
 
Running a Sealine steering wheel on a Sunseeker? That's the height of pretentiousness and Roy is going to have some words to say about that :p
 
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