Awesome boat, lousy gauges

[DWABoat]

Ok, so over the winter, I pulled both engines, new oil pan gaskets, new valve cover gaskets, plugs, rotors, caps, wires, etc, new transom assemblies, new water heater, new driveshaft yoke assemblies, etc. Really nervous about first splash since all this work.

So my initial cruise out of Gulfport, MS, in my 2001 280DA went great. 7 POB, full fuel, full water, full head (tank is full while I treat it) boat also has a generator. The twin V6’s were fully loaded to say the least. Even had to shift people forward to get on plane when going into the 15mph headwind.

All the mechanicals ran perfect. Boat cruises at 30.1 mph, per gps at about 3/4 throttle.

So, very happy with boat BUT my gauges ALL suck!! The tachs are all over the place. I can’t rely on either. The speedometer is useless - don’t even want it. I want to put a generator multi gauge there for oil pressure and coolant temp. The engine multi gauges had moisture vapor and were hard to read. While I think the water temps were close (about 170 on both engines), and the oil was fine (40ish), it doesn’t help if I can barely see them.

Need some assistance. I want to change them ALL. I realize they may not be Sea Ray branded when I am done, but I can live with that.

Faria makes some nice looking gauges. See picture. But I am concerned about making them communicate with the Merc engines.

Anyone done a total gauge change before? Suggestions.

 

[Henry Boyd]

I converted to Smartcraft on our 02 280. But I had an engine that was SC compatible. If you can do this it is well worth looking into as SC opens up a whole world of possibilities up to glass cockpit flat screen engine displays with more data than you can ever use.

Here’s the hitch Sea Ray did not switch over to SC in the early 00s because some of their offered power plants were not CANBuss engines. Merc used to provide a web page that listed The engine serial number ranges that were the beginning of the Smartcraft production ranges. They have since taken it down, but I’m sure if you called them CS could tell you if your engines Could be converted. If not you are stuck with analog old school that’s basically remove the old and insert the new.

 

[dtfeld]

Congrats on getting her back in the water! That's a big project.

Gauges can be plug and play if staying with the OEM (Teleflex possibly?), or worst case you will need to replace all the sender units on the engine as the senders use different resistance ranges depending on the gauge package. The biggest issue is do they make the gauge package that match up to the existing senders...particularly fuel (they can be a bitch to get to) and the trim sender, (oil and temp senders are easy). I would call them and see what they recommend. They make good looking gauges, and I have seen guys on my dock switch, so it is possible.

Here is a list of the different types of senders and their usual resistance from Faria.

https://fariabeede.com/site_manuals/IS0085d.pdf

 

[scoflaw]

I have a dash full of Faria gauges. Cheap crap. The "Faria rap" is a well known term.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Glad to hear the boat is running good - especially after all that work you put into it!

A couple thoughts about the gauges that might save you some money...

-- Speedo... very, very common. It's not the actual speedo, though. The culprit, 99.9% of the time is crud floating in the water that got jammed into the pitot hole and clogged the system. On your stbd drive, a few inches above the gear housing on the forward edge is a very small hole. Essentially, from that hole to the speedo is one, long tube. Water enters the tube and compresses the air inside the tube and the compressed air moves the needle. Take a small drill bit and, by hand, twist and clear the clog. The hole goes in a good inch or so and is all metal inside. You won't do any damage. Continue twisting and clearing till you bottom out. If needed, the next thing you can do is remove the quick disconnect fitting and check that the passage is clear. The fitting is in the cavity above the anti-ventilation plate at the forward edge.

-- Tachs... the "switch" on the back side gets dirty/corroded over time. The switch is used to determine if the gauge is used with a 4cyl, 6cyl or 8cyl engine. "Exercise" the switch by rotating it back and forth a bunch of times. Make sure to leave it on the "6" setting!

-- Fogging... yes, this plagues some of the gauges as they get older. However, in many cases, simply letting the sun beat down on them fixes the issue. Trying to keep moisture out of the boat before putting the cover back on can help... although it's not a 100% cure. Moisture on the inside of the boat can find it's way behind the gauge panel, too. It could be that it was just do to some moisture being around over the long winter and it might become almost a non-issue over the summer.

 

[Henry Boyd]

Congrats on getting her back in the water! That's a big project.

Gauges can be plug and play if staying with the OEM (Teleflex possibly?), or worst case you will need to replace all the sender units on the engine as the senders use different resistance ranges depending on the gauge package. The biggest issue is do they make the gauge package that match up to the existing senders...particularly fuel (they can be a bitch to get to) and the trim sender, (oil and temp senders are easy). I would call them and see what they recommend. They make good looking gauges, and I have seen guys on my dock switch, so it is possible.

Here is a list of the different types of senders and their usual resistance from Faria.

https://fariabeede.com/site_manuals/IS0085d.pdf

Tank sender on the 280 is easy peezy. Lift up middle cushion on mid berth (aka “the cave”), undo screws in plastic cover that is exposed and there she is. It’s the pink wire btw that is the fuel gauge.

Trim senders are mounted on the drives, and they are all the same so there is no need to replace them if they are working. If you do want to replace the trim senders, the boat has to be hauled.

 

[PeteL]

Unfortunately with the 01, I don't think the engines are smartcraft. But look at them and see if the plastic cover says smartcraft on them anywhere. If so, another alternative to replacin all of the gauges is vessel view mobile. This is a device that attaches to the engines and sends data to a tablet or phone via bluetooth. This is what I do. My starboard multigauge died, and the others are pretty much a hot mess. So VVM gives me all of the data I need, and the added benefit is if I get an engine code, it will tell me what it is. Right now, I use two 10 inch android tablets .. one for nav and one for engine data. Working on a suitable mounting system now.

 

[Creekwood]

A well known "fix" with the tachs that sometimes works is to cycle the 4/6/8 cylinder switch on the back a few times and then back to 8. It may be corrosion on the connections in behind too. Have you pulled the dash panel open and cleaned and tightened all the connections, including the grounds? Also at the other end (for any senders).

 

[FiremistSLK]

I have a dash full of Faria gauges. Cheap crap. The "Faria rap" is a well known term.

Why do you believe the Faria gauges are cheap crap?? I hope not! I just rebuilt my instrument panel in my 1998 SR215 with all new gauges. They look great! Hope they last!