Couple of winter projects

Rick K

Rick K

Member
Aug 4, 2010
398
Niagara River, Tonawanda, NY
Boat Info
'81 SR245 - '87 Antigua
Engines
260 Merc
Well, season's just about over. One more trip at the end of the month, and out she'll come.

I uploaded a bunch of pics of my 245 to Photobucket. Hope this works:

http://s959.photobucket.com/user/245Searay/slideshow/245 Sea Ray

Anyway, two projects come to mind this winter, the replacement of my engine hatch, and that hideous switch panel below the helm.

Looking for ideas on both. I measured the switch panel, and there ain't no way rocker switches are going in. Thinking of just new toggle switches and fuse holders, with those little plastic labels for the switch ID, like the round ones shown here: http://www.bereng.com/custom.htm

As for the hatch, since getting the teak decraguard is pretty much a dream, I'm thinking just 3/4 plywood, epoxied/painted with AWLGrip with a bit of non-slip added.

Any thoughts on alternative ways to get this done?
 
I LOVE those plates. I would definately go with those. I think I might even do something like that for mine. as well. Let me know what you come up with for the fuses. I've looked all around for fuses and the only ones I can find have the word "FUSE" stamped on the top of them which I think looks awful. If you come across a nice alternative that doesn't look hideous. link it here. As for your hatches, those REALLY look to be the same size as mine in the 1984 245 and mine i believe is fibreglass it is the same material as the rest of the deck so, take some measurements and post them here. I measure mine out so you can know for certain. then you can hit the local scrap yards or I'll look at the one by me when I head down there in a couple of weeks.
 
I purchased replacement fuse holders from Radio Shack for our 270DA.
Even with the wording on the cap they are clean and consistent in my opinion. :huh:
Here is a picture:

dash_1.jpg
 
KC_Sundancer said:
I purchased replacement fuse holders from Radio Shack for our 270DA.
Even with the wording on the cap they are clean and consistent in my opinion. :huh:
Here is a picture:

dash_1.jpg
Click to expand...

Your helm looks / came out great. Funny, we have the same radio in my dad's 87 270DA.
 
bkdude said:
I've looked all around for fuses and the only ones I can find have the word "FUSE" stamped on the top of them which I think looks awful.
Click to expand...

If the wording is on the surface, could you remove it with some thinner/paint remover/nail polish remover? If its embossed/recessed into the finish could you black out the white lettering with some model paint or maybe even fill in the wording with some black epoxy, sealant, or gel coat like material?
 
bkdude said:
I LOVE those plates. I would definately go with those. I think I might even do something like that for mine. as well. Let me know what you come up with for the fuses. I've looked all around for fuses and the only ones I can find have the word "FUSE" stamped on the top of them which I think looks awful. If you come across a nice alternative that doesn't look hideous. link it here. As for your hatches, those REALLY look to be the same size as mine in the 1984 245 and mine i believe is fibreglass it is the same material as the rest of the deck so, take some measurements and post them here. I measure mine out so you can know for certain. then you can hit the local scrap yards or I'll look at the one by me when I head down there in a couple of weeks.
Click to expand...

Found another source for toggle switches, and these have nice ID plates with them:
http://shop.newwiremarine.com/Toggle-Switches-and-Accessories_c39.htm

I emailed their support dept, and asked for dimensions: 1 wide x 1-1/4 tall. If I go with these, I'd have to totally rework that switch panel, and move all the fuses down to a new fuse box, then "re space" the switches into a new panel (which I found here): http://www.oempartsllc.com/plasticsheet.aspx

Don't mind taking on the project, but, it's a huge time consuming effort that I wouldn't be able to do until it warms up next spring. Would love to redo the entire helm, with new paint, etc. The PO must've did a quickie job on it when he changed all the upholstery. I had the original brown and am glad he changed it. The maroon paint he put on is all bumpy and nasty. Hell, even if he masked everything off and spray painted it with Rustoleum, it would have looked batter!

As far as my engine hatch goes, I think it's 54 x 42 or something like that. I have the correct measurements on my phone. I'm sure it's the same size as the newer boats.

I'd LOVE a fiberglass hatch, but, I'm thinking I'd probably never find one in my hull color - I have the tan hull. I checked the hatch out a little closer, it's 5/8" thick, with a 1/8" thick decraguard material glued to it. And it's actually 2 pieces of plywood side by side, with some wooden braces on the bottom. I've seen teak veneer, but it's WAY too expensive for this application.

I suppose I couldn't do any worse than what's on there now, if I used 1 piece of 3/4" AC, sealed in epoxy and painted with Awl grip. The old one is still strong, except for it's falling apart. Hell, anything is better than what's on there now. Plus, it's covered with carpet, so if I can get an "almost match" on the color, I'll be happy.

Next project is a noisy lifter I can't seem to quiet. I rebuilt the engine 2 seasons ago, and 1 lifter is really pissing me off. I listened to someone that said, "ah those are them marine lifters, and they're bullet proof... Just re-use them". Note to self: STOP LISTENING TO PEOPLE!!! :grin::grin:

Very nice helm too, KC... And you're right, all the fuse holders I see have "fuse" stamped on them. My original ones don't. I'll keep searching, they're bound to be out there!
 
I like the plates better. I also found these fuse holders, they are kind of expensive for fuse holders but they are illuminated and I think the just look cool.

fuseholder-344-bar_knob.jpg


don't know if they will work or not but it's the direction I'll be heading in.
 
Nice fuse holders... I clicked the link, and the website came up but not that particular item. But, they have my current fuse holders at a very nice price. I have to do all new holders and switches now, after going thru the nightmare of fixing my dead ignition. Also, not sure how 12 lit up fuse holders would do on my helm at night. Thinking it might be kind of distracting.
 
I'm looking into replacing my toggle switches as well. Somewhere I saw some backlit switch panels. The switch names were white in the daylight and red backlit at night...I'm replacing the entire gauge/switch panel so I'm looking into that option...if I can figure out who it was that made those!
 
Newwiremarine is that place where they have the toggle switches with the custom panels (under toggle switches & accessories) , I emailed them for dimensions, and they're 1-1/4Hx1W. I think if I just replaced my switches with those, and did nothing else, my panel would look ridiculous. The other place, that has the round identiplates (mentioned earlier in this post) will do them, but they're 1-1/8" in diameter, which is too big. I'm damned either way. I'm sure they could make me something nice, as my panel is only 2x26. But, there's VERY little room for switch and fuse placement, so I fear I'm gonna have to come with something on my own. I might be able to do away with just the fuses that have no switches, as in trim tabs, ignition, cig lighter, and make more room. Just thinkin' out loud here...

bkdude posted a link to some lighted fuse holders on tti.com. I've been looking around that site, and it would appear that they have most anything you could want in switches, fuse holders, and just about anything electrical. Worth a look.
 
Last edited:
Rick K said:
Newwiremarine is that place where they have the toggle switches with the custom panels (under toggle switches & accessories) , I emailed them for dimensions, and they're 1-1/4Hx1W. I think if I just replaced my switches with those, and did nothing else, my panel would look ridiculous. The other place, that has the round identiplates (mentioned earlier in this post) will do them, but they're 1-1/8" in diameter, which is too big. I'm damned either way. I'm sure they could make me something nice, as my panel is only 2x26. But, there's VERY little room for switch and fuse placement, so I fear I'm gonna have to come with something on my own. I might be able to do away with just the fuses that have no switches, as in trim tabs, ignition, cig lighter, and make more room. Just thinkin' out loud here...

bkdude posted a link to some lighted fuse holders on tti.com. I've been looking around that site, and it would appear that they have most anything you could want in switches, fuse holders, and just about anything electrical. Worth a look.
Click to expand...
Yeah that's them, they're better if you're doing a complete panel replacement I think. They do offer resettable breakers instead of fuses which I like...you're right though, just using their rockers would be pretty ugly
 
I fear I don't have much leeway in making anything any different. Looks like I'll probably stick with my original idea, but maybe move the "fuse only" stuff down to a seperate box under the helm (cabin lights/cig lighter/trim tabs/ignition). That would free up some room and enable me to at least make it look less cluttered. I've been under that helm for a week poking around. If you've seen my thread on my dead ignition switch you know I went thru every wire up there. While I wanted to strangle every person who had a hand in putting that thing together, it is pretty straight forward on how they did it: hold the wiring harness 7.481 feet off the ground, and build the boat around it!!
 
Rick K said:
I fear I don't have much leeway in making anything any different. Looks like I'll probably stick with my original idea, but maybe move the "fuse only" stuff down to a seperate box under the helm (cabin lights/cig lighter/trim tabs/ignition). That would free up some room and enable me to at least make it look less cluttered. I've been under that helm for a week poking around. If you've seen my thread on my dead ignition switch you know I went thru every wire up there. While I wanted to strangle every person who had a hand in putting that thing together, it is pretty straight forward on how they did it: hold the wiring harness 7.481 feet off the ground, and build the boat around it!!
Click to expand...
A friend of mine and I re-wired my Amberjack last winter, it was a birds nest of splices and wires that went to nowhere. We pulled out a 40 gallon trash can full of junky and dead end wires. It's interesting to see what 30 years of boat life can do to a boat...
 
270win said:
A friend of mine and I re-wired my Amberjack last winter, it was a birds nest of splices and wires that went to nowhere. We pulled out a 40 gallon trash can full of junky and dead end wires. It's interesting to see what 30 years of boat life can do to a boat...
Click to expand...

Oddly enough, everything's pretty much "factory" under there, with the exception of a few fuse holders that were replaced. I did note a few wires were replaced, but there is really nothing all that bad, except where one of the p.o's wired up the vhf radio - there's like 5 extra feet of wire coiled up and tucked out of the way. Got rid of that and neatened everything up.

And talk about a rat's nest: I had a Starcraft Islander once that was a COMPLETE mess. I honestly can't even describe it. I didn't even touch it, it was so bad. I have a pic somewhere of it and I'll post it here when I find it. You all are gonna LOVE this one...
 
Sometimes it's easier to just pull it all out and start over....not that that's an easy proposition.
 
Found the pic, but I gotta get up on photobucket. After really getting in to how my boat is wired I think I'd just do a new wiring harness and be done with it. Then cut the junk out and toss it.
 
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