New dash panels for an old DA

J Levine

New Member
Oct 5, 2006
753
New Jersey
Boat Info
1995 Sea Ray 370 Sundancer
Engines
Mercruiser 7.4L Blue Water inboard V Drives
I have finally completed the installation of the new dash panels I got from CSR sponsor Scott Cambra at Vector Imaging:

http://www.vectorled.com/index.htm

The before and after pictures are attached. My appologies on the quality of the pictures as I am my abilites with digital pictures and computers are lousy.

I have wanted to do this for years and had researched a number of sources for the new panels. Once I spoke to Scott I knew I was dealing with a real pro and when I got the panels from him I was very impressed with the final product.

Between installing all new EL strips for the back lighting and swaping out the guages and switches I probably have about 10 hours of my labor invested in the project but the results are awesome. I used stick on fabric wire numbers to carefully mark each wire before moving the guages and switches and when I put it all back together everything worked perfectly. Scott has a very cool mod for the systems monitor panel that bascially leaves the LED indicators BEHIND the dash and shining through dedicated "windows" in the new panel. It makes for a very clean and water resistant design.

All in all I can not give Scott a higher recomendation for his product. The helm of my boat went from looking very neglected to brand spanking new.

Jon
 

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Scott's doing mine right now - can't wait to get it done and will post photos as well.
 
Three years with a "Scott Cambra dash" and looks new.
Best update I have made. Glad others have found him :)
 
Those dash panels look GREAT! Scott, if you are reading this - I need mine !!!!!! Once finished, I will also post pics - the small panel where it says Sundancer, Scott is replacing with the name of my boat SummErdeis Again....

Can't wait

Enjoy the snowy weekend here at the Jersey Shore!
 
Jon, your "before" pics look just like my current dash panels... awful :smt101. This is definitely on my "to-do" list.

Where did you get the new EL strips from? I've searched around and found places, but pricing is all over the place and I really don't know what I should be looking for in terms of quality or specifications.
 
Thanks, Jon. I've bookmarked that site. Just out of curiosity, is the strip in that link the exact ones you used? I only asked because the description says it has a green color. I'm just wondering if that green is not so much green, and maybe it's more of a yellow color?

Oh, it says "120v"... does it also work for 12v?
 
It's used to backlight the various switch descriptions... "horn", "bilge pump", etc. At least that's why I'll need it.

EDIT: A little better explanation... if you look at Jon's second picture, although it's hard to tell from the pics, the "descriptions" are actually made by relieving the "burl" part. That way light, from the backside, can shine through.
 
Last edited:
F.Y.I

"relieving the "burl" part."

Is correct but, Scott laser cuts in the words from the back of the panel.
This leaves the panel smooth on the front. Strip or led type lights will work fine to illuminate at night.

Mark.
 
I have Scott Cambra / Vector Imaging panels with the LEDs that he offers- they are mounted behind the switch labels and are very bright (but can be dimmed).
 

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I am very happy with my set up. I turned the LED brightness all the way up for the photo- it can be adjusted to any level you like.

Brian
 
Brian,
I think I'm going to have Scott use the LED's on my panel after seeing yours. Are the lights already installed when you received the panel and just needed wired to the switch?
 
Yes, they really are installed and they only need to be wired to the dimmer. In my case, I never want to dim the guages so I chose to remove the guage dimmer function and only have the dimmer switch control the LEDs.
 

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