Dash Redo 320

Glenny

Dash redo 320

Sharing with the group an addition to my 320 from last summer which I will be completing before launch this spring and have a few questions that I’m hoping someone can help me with.

I made an aluminum dash housing with an axiom 12 Rv with transducers and fitted it to the existing dash. Set up a nmea 2000 network with fox marine engine gateways on each engine ( 5.0L Volvo penta engines)  and raymarine GPS antenna as the one in the unit would not always get a fix. (Likely the housing interfering) To the left of the helm I made a new panel and installed a wireless cell phone charging pocket.

I will be adding either nmea fuel senders in the tanks to connect to the network on the axiom or piggy back off the original float level sensors. Suggestions?

i have removed all the panels now and will be painting them all which leads me to some questions before I complete the dash. 

1) I have searched everywhere, can I convert my dps drives 3 wire tilt signal to NMEA 2000 to read on the Axiom with some sort of converter so I can eliminate those gauges?

2) my plan is to delete all the quad gauges to the right and left of the axiom the question is as I am cleaning up all the wiring ( what a mess! )  has anyone removed the gauge harnesses completely? Can someone identify for me a 3 inch round unit the shape of the gauges with two harnesses coming out. Numbers are worn off but it says gas module on it.  Picture attached.

3) Anyone who has used a gateway and MFD to read everything have you completely removed all gauges?

Thanks.



What is the function of this below??

LaRea

The dash housing looks fantastic!  That's sheet aluminum painted gloss black?

On my 370 with Merc 496s, I took out all of the analog gauges.  I connected the fuel tank senders and trim position sensors to the engine harness.  The MFDs see anything the engine computers see, including the fuel tanks and trim position.  Maybe somebody here can advise on doing that with VP.

Glenny

Thank you yes it is aluminum and painted black.

My boat being 2005 the inputs are all analog so I need a type of converter.

Worst case I will keep the two analog gauges for the trim and hook up fuel tanks to the MFD with the converters or new NMEA sending units.

aero3113

I believe that 3 inch round unit is for the tachometer’s . I could be wrong but I think that’s what I remember. 

Glenny

Found it the round unit is for the engine sync gauge, both tach signals go in the box and then it goes out to the sync gauge.

Aqua_Aura

I had a gateway from yacht devices on my Volvo that put all engine data on the screen from nmea2k. There was a way to program the SD in the gateway to read the engine tilt and it wasn't difficult however I never did so it. Might want to check them out. 

davidbrooks

For fuel senders i would recommend Oceanic Systems NMEA 2000 Fuel Tank Volume / Level Sender - 1000mm - 5-Bolt SAE from defender.com. Link here.  They were pretty solid in my experience.  I tried connecting a Garmin GFL 10 and it was ok.  It just taps right into your existing fuel sender. I also used the Garmin GET 10 for tilt.  It just tapped into the wiring at the dash.  All of these sensors require configuration. So just keep that in mind.  You can search N2K here and there are a lot of conversations with a lot of advice.  The biggest thing i learned was that for me it was better to start replacing the actual sensor itself vs using the existing sensors. 

aero3113

Glenny said:

Found it the round unit is for the engine sync gauge, both tach signals go in the box and then it goes out to the sync gauge.

Yes, now I remember!! I was close…

Glenny

David that makes sense I’m removing all the wiring anyways so will start with new tank sending units. 

Glenny

Aqua the yacht devices unit works with 10 wire DLC mine are 5 wires. With the fox marine unit it came with its own oil pressure sender that’s wired into the unit and it sends in to NMEA. Works great. 

Yacht devices make a rudder device that I can hook up to my dps drives in order to show up on the axiom i emailed them yesterday and they messaged me back with good information. 

Aqua_Aura

Yep that's good. I actually did see that rudder device and thought maybe that would work as the signals are probably the same. Just measuring resistance. 

Glenny

Update to my dash project…

thanks for the tips in my earlier posts to everyone who commented. GrahamU as always your advice is appreciated! Get back home so we can have dinner! 

Eliminated all gauges filled the holes and painted. Cleaned up the wiring in the helm and changed breakers to proper amps according to the new equipment. 

Brown in steering wheel I used wrap to cover. Little more durable then paint with your hands on it all the time.

Fuel Gauges on axiom reads off of oceanic NMEA  sensors

Out drives I used  yacht devices rudder sensors and thanks to Andrew at tech support there. 

NMEA I divided up the power so at anchor the axiom and GPS stay powered up. Once the key is on engines (Volvo), fuel and drives power up and feed info.

Phone charger where old Navi was.

New shifters plus cables and that was a good call as I always felt like I was fighting the boat. After launch to my slip there was a big difference shifting with ease. (Sloppy shifters combined with stiff cables not fun)

Epoxied old holes from Speedo tube and brackets mounted to back of transom. Resealed platform to boat, supports to transom and trim tabs.

Lots Of threads and topics about gauges not working and people wanting to redo I hope this helps anyone with their project.

Formulaben

Dayam, holy transformation Batman!!   

davidbrooks

That looks amazing. You just took years off the boats age from a perception perspective. Just for safety I recommend crimping and capping off your speedo tube. Mine was lose and would draw water up and spray it on the back side of my components and electrical connections. I thought I had a major problem. Huge sigh of relief when I stopped and figured it out.

Glenny

Thanks Davidbrooks. I completely removed the speedo tube and filled the hole in the transom.