Sunday, July 15, 2007

Dash Modification

Prior to the dash work...we successfully SEA trialed the 233 over July 4th Holiday. We took her out 20+ miles with no problems...no fish either but that was ok. Top speed with 3 x 200+ lbs dudes, full tank of gas and all of the fishing gear was 36 knots in the ICW.

This weekend I made the modifcations to the Instrument Panel that were required for us to re-mount the windshield in the original position (the instrument panel we made sat too high with the electronics mounted, for the angle of the windshield). We had thought about raising the dash (where the windshield will sit) but opted to bite the bullet and cut the instrument panel down, since we were not really using the upper portion for anything other than mounting the GPS and VHF to.

So, I cut the dash about 1/4 inch below the cupholder and ripped out the original piece. Then dug the grinder out of storage and started prepping the area for some cabosil bedding. Next, I reassembled the driver's side windshield to ensure that I did not make the same mistake again and the angles worked. So I cut out a piece of luon to fit, mixed up some epoxy + cab, cut some fabric and put it in...The next day and grinded on that setup, and then attached some 1/4 round to the end to smooth it out and then did the cab, fabric & glass thing again. I actually think this will turn out better, although it sucks to grind off top coat...but that was easy enough to put on. Here is the single pic I took w/ my phone.