Custom front gauges

apdcop

Hello Rinker owners!

I am upgrading my GPS units to (two) Garmin UHD2 6XSV on my boat.  (second attached picture) I am curious if someone have ever removed the engine gauges and instruments and installed another GPS unit in this place?  I know that the Garmin UHD2 9XSV will fit but of course need to see/ make sure that Garmin UHD2 9XSV can support the engine tachs and the rest of the instruments.  

Has anyone out there has done this before, I would love to hear your experiences.

Also, if someone has done this, can you buy a blank panel to install in the area where I would remove the old instruments?

Thank you in advance

Patrick Magrum
Canton, GA

LaRea

If you can't find a blank panel, newwiremarine.com makes custom panels.  They are making three panels for my boat, and it's really easy.    

davidbrooks

I have. On a 2003 342. There are a few discussions on here that can give you some ideas. Please feel free to reach out via dm if you have some questions. I ended up pulling my whole dash and redesigning it.

davidbrooks

Here is a little bit of a more detailed answer.  First what year is your 342.  The engines have to be DTS capable.  So that means that 2003 or newer at a minimum.  There were a few 350's in 2002 but you will definitely need to verify.  In order to just use the Garmin's for your engine readings and guages you have some more shopping to do.  The only way to connect the engines to the Garmin's is going to be via a Merc NMEA gateway.

The Gateway to the dash is via a NMEA 2k cable.  So you will need to read up on creating a NMEA network in the boat.  Fuel and trim will need new sendors or an adaptor in order to connect to the NMEA network.  I used the Garmin GFL 10 for fuel and GBT 10 for trim tabs.  I also changed out my depth sensor for a NMEA 2k depth sensor.  When you get ready make sure either you or your mechanic programs your engines via the PCM so that one reads port and one reads starboard.  A lot of times this isn't done and you will only ever get one to read via the gateway.  

Now for the dash panel.  The main issue with the 342 is that the molded plastic guage panel has a curved outside edge.  You won't find a blank that is curved.  So you will either need to fabricate one or learn to be ok looking at an unfinished edge.  I tried using a wrap and it got brittle within a year and started to look pretty bad.  That is why i ended up re designing the dash so i could just put in a flat panel.  I found plastic panels on Amazon with a wood grain that was similar to the steering wheel and other panels and it looked like a perfect match.  A few attempts with a jigsaw and router and i had a handmade dash panel.  There are a few things to consider when going this route.  Also please don't me discourage you as i am doing the exact same thing right now with my new boat.  You need to always start the engines up in the same order otherwise the NMEA system will get confused over port and starboard. 2. All of your guages have to be calibrated to work which is easy on the trim senders and a pain on the fuel. 3. Going from Analog to digital can be flaky at times.  I had frustrating gremlins that would pop up every now and then.  I would have to remove the sensor from the system and just re do it....finally.  Garmin gives you a few templates to use but in the end you will be creating your own so that the read out works for you.  

Pat310

Did mine last winter. Made new panel out of acrylic and vinyl wrapped all the panels

mbnarney

Dang that looks good. Think I will tackle this soon. I am ok with my analog guages . But the look is spectacular.

Pat310

Thanks @mbnarney. Hardest part was figuring out the shaping jig. The curve at the top of panel is different from the bottom curve. Only thing i would do different it would make the jig opposite. You can see heating the front side blushed the acrylic so that I could not leave the black acrylic unwrapped if i wanted to

mbnarney

I am probably just going to wrap what I have. I have 1 flat price I may try to fabricate. 8th grade shop didn't prep me for more advanced creativity. I am amazes at the skills some on here have. 

captkevin

Looks amazing. Congrats