1989 Saltare - My god Spock, what have I done???

sybrmike
I like your new mantra: Patience & Perseverance SCREW THAT!! I GOTTA START BUSTIN A$$ & FINALLY GET ER DONE!! Sounds good to me. I'm shootin for April.

After trial fitting the top cap & trimming the bottom edge, I winched it back into the rafters again. Enlarged the new opening for the batteries behind the observer's seat & made a pattern for a divider wall that I will glass in to separate the port bow ballast bag from the batteries.

I wanted the area under the playpen more open for easier placement of ballast and storage, so I removed the original divider/support panels and will glass in new supports that fit tight up underneath.

It's not just an "ice melter", it's also a floor rot promoter. The ice chest has no insulation on the bottom & it sits directly on the carpeted floor in the walk thru. This area of floor was really rotten. The exposed bottom is probably constantly wet from condensation & direct contact with the carpet keeps the trapped area wet. Probably gonna cut the bottom off the ice chest, section it, and reglass & gel so I have room to add insulation to the bottom and leave an air gap so things can dry. I'll lose a few inches of ice chest depth, but gain some peace of mind.

Laid out the new dash panels. Decided to change things up a bit - guages on the one side and switches/breakers on the other with room for the new depth guage and trim actuator switch. Also a new panel for two ballast switches that I'll mount to the right of the dash above the throttle. Think I'm gonna wish I had a CNC machine...

sybr,

You're just going to have that cut out in the back wall of the observer seat and slide the batteries under from there? Why not cut out the floor of that storage area above it too and just open it all up?

On the cooler, is it possible to just leave the floor open to the bilge under the cooler so there is no need to worry about it touching there and causing problems? You could have the floor solid right up to the edge of the front wall of where the cooler goes, then open it up until the front edge of the playpen floor area.

What are you going to make the new dash panels out of?

Yeah, I remember how you really opened yours up - but I wanted to keep that area for dry storage (wife & 2 girls always have a bunch of "stuff") and not worry about exposed batteries, wiring, & ballast bag (my 400# sac fits perfectly under the existing storage floor).

Good call on cutting the floor (already thinking that). I added 2x4 cross braces spanning the bilge just ahead and behind of the ice chest during the stringer/floor rebuild, so should be o.k. structurally. A lot cleaner than sectioning the ice chest.

New dash panels are out of a $5 piece of scrap 1/4" textured black plastic sheet. Supposed to be UV stabilized, but I'll keep it slathered in 303 protectant just in case.

Battery boxes can solve that problem very well. You might test your idea to see how easy it will be to get to the batteries and see what would work better. I felt the batteries being in that more open space was easier to deal with. Not trying to knock your idea, just throwing out some options.

I think cutting the floor open right there gives you a little more flexibility. I'd definitely say the 2x's going across right there is plenty of support.

I'm interested to see how the dash comes out!

Sounds like the dash is going to be awesome. Looking forward to seeing how that turns out.

Got the supports glassed in under the bow to make room for the sacs. Decided to keep the port storage intact with batteries underneath (sorry Okie), so glassed in a divider panel to separate the batteries from the bow sac. Hope they're not too hard to access, but hopefully my Surepower isolator will cut down on the need. Last of the big fiberglass jobs was to locate and glass in the tower mount supports - hope 3/4" pt ply and 17 oz bidirectional with epoxy resin is enough... Glassing upside down really sucks!

Going to cut the floor under the ice chest (thanks Okie) to make room for the new insulation. I added two pieces of 3/4 rigid foam house insulation to the bottom then built 4 sides of the same and poured 2 part foam to fill the gap. Once I fab a decent lid, the beverages should stay cold now.

It was a PITA (drill, cut, file, sand, fit, trim, fit, trim, fit, trim, repeat), but the new dash panels are done. Had to clearance the dash insert in numerous places, but it all finally fits. I'll have to trim the helm a bit to match and cut out the hole for the ballast panel, but I'm happy with how it's coming together. Wiring's gonna be fuuuun.

Mike..we need a new pic of the dash. A close up with more light please. : ))

Looking good! I like the dash and would love to see more pics, also. What did you use for material to mount the gauges to? Is that plastic or metal?