bad connections behind switch panel! How do I remove the panel on 250 dancer???

[Sea~Lah]

I have a loose or bad connection behind switch panel. Can't seem to find where the problem is. I have no cockpit lights, cabin lights, water system etc...
When I put my hand under the panel with all the wiring hanging there my stereo goes on and off. I need to remove the switch panel to get at the problem but can't seem to find a way to remove the panel without removing the entire dash!
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[boykster]

Hi Sea~Lah - nice boat! What year is it? I have an '89 250DA.

Edit: Ah, I see it's a '90 250DA - nice!

As to your question, yep - it sounds like you have some loose wiring behind the lower panel. The panel is held on by 2 nuts behind the panel that attach screw studs coming out of the back of the upholstered trim. To remove it, you need to get your hand underneath the dash and remove the nuts. I was able to do it by hand only - not needing a wrench, but you might have to improvise. I don't recall the size of the nut though. I would strongly advise turning off the power before working under there as you don't want to cause a short.

 

[Sea~Lah]

I'm going to the boat today, so I'll check out those screws. thank you

 

[boykster]

Good luck - that panel is a pain to get off due to access to the nuts - I found a pic that sortof shows what I'm talking about



on the right side you can see the post coming out of the back of the upholstered trim piece. There's another one on the left side of the panel. The posts go through the plastic panel and hold it in place