After extensive work my friend and I have finally completed our binnacle upgrade.
The old binnacle had had various modifications by the previous owner over the years which gave the panel an appearance resembling a sieve. It had holes everywhere, the instruments were all out of alignment and the 12 year old plotter was hanging from an old rusty bracket with 1 screw.
Behind the panel the wiring was a total nightmare with several unlabelled redundant cables.
Trying to work out what did what was very time hungry.
Whilst this was going on we managed to shear the shaft on the engine throttle. With advice from this forum we managed to find a recommended replacement. Unfortunately the new unit required a different size/shape aperture and so we had to undertake some GRP cutting.
With great care and attention to detail wefitted the control and reassembled the linkages.
The photo shows the finished project.
We are very pleased with the end result and are grateful to all on this forum for their advice.
That looks really smart, Fenders. Neat job.
That is impressive - well done. Well worth all the hard effort!
that looks really nice. is it carbon fibre wrap or a new binacle?
regards abby
Very nice job
Thanks for your comments.
The binnacle is original but the old white instrument panel has been replaced as it was in terrible condition. Also the original instruments were very badly positioned and looked as though the installer was blindfolded.
The wiring behind was like spaghetti with weak and broken linkages.
So it was time to sort it out from scratch.
The panel is a Perspex that resembles carbon fibre. Much cheaper than real carbon fibre which would have cost £80-90.
I have also installed an AIS receiver which is connected to my new plotter.
Fenders
Quote from: Fenders on March 24 2017, 21:13
The panel is a Perspex that resembles carbon fibre. Much cheaper than real carbon fibre which would have cost £80-90.
Did you get that in the UK, Fenders, and if so, what sort of price? I've got the black original, in reasonable condition, but the instruments could do with being reorganised more neatly and it would help smarten up an old boat.
Mark
I bought the panel on Ebay.
If you search for Carbon Fibre effect ABS that will lead you to quite a few suppliers.
The panel I bought was 400mm sq which is slightly oversized, just in case of mistakes.
It cost approx £10.
I also bought some carbon fibre effect U shaped capping to go over the edges and give it a nice finish.
Behind the panel I stuck on some thin rubber tubing so as to form a watertight seal against the binnacle.
Hope this helps
Fenders
Looks great and didn't cost much - my favorite combination - well done! :) :tbu