DIY Hydro dipping dash panels, anyone with experience


T

TurboJoe

Member
I have been working with... or rather trying to work with a company that does dashboards that I found on the forum. After a very detailed email writing instructions for each panel and asking for best options/pricing, I got back a generic here's all the parts we have for your boat reply, with pricing for all new panels. I only needed one panel custom made, and the rest re-coated just to match the new one and I had asked if that was possible, but it was ignored.

Anyway, I figure OK they want to do all new panels, so whatever I'll bite. I look at the template and 3 out of 4 panels are the correct size, with the one I needed to completely re-make being the wrong dimensions. When I asked if they had the drawing of the correct one they said they must not have it and will have to make from a template I provide. I asked about the re-coating the others again with no response. Oh, also they only send PDF's with a few dimensions, and not the cadd files anyway.

Now I have loads of experience with cadd, and access to friends that have a waterjet cutter. I took the time and 3d scanned/traced my current dash, and have it being cut for me. I think I may just try my own hand in hydro dipping myself, I ordered a 100 dollar kit online which should be more than enough to do all of my dash panels with practice parts to spare.

Anyone else ever dip parts? I figure if I'm doing the cadd work, cutting the metal, why not just do the rest.
 
Me & my buddies tried it on some airplane parts and it was a PIA, we went through a few of those kits before he sent them off to a company in Texas that did it for him. They turned out prefect. Fast forward a year or 2 and when I did my dash I found a local shop that did it. They also turned out perfect. They make it look easy in the youtube videos but to get professional results it needs to be done by someone who is set for it and has some experience. Look around and see if you have a local guy that does it. It wasn't expensive at all, I think i paid around $150 to have all my panels and a few other parts done.
 
I had my entire airplane dash done by a local guy. He sanded, primed, painted, hydrodipped, and then clear coated the parts. They came out great and seem to be durable. That was 5 years ago! I would recommend a shop to get the results you seek!

Dave
 

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That looks really good, my kit just came in. I am going to do blue as the base coat so it should be blue/black. I'll see how it comes out. I have my test panel back from my buddy to test fit on the boat, I think I may just do the full process on that as a proof of concept.
 
TurboJoe said:
That looks really good, my kit just came in. I am going to do blue as the base coat so it should be blue/black. I'll see how it comes out. I have my test panel back from my buddy to test fit on the boat, I think I may just do the full process on that as a proof of concept.
Click to expand...
Good luck, make sure to post some pictures when your done...
 
I went down to the boat last weekend with my initial dash cutout to see how it all fits. In case anyone is curious, on the 04-07 34PC you can indeed fit a simrad NSS12 evo 3.

20200208_122607.jpgdash.PNG
 
Look just in front of the throttles... Also got rid of the tab indicators and got the nmea setup so that's on my Garmin
 
I tried, and the sample cam out really dark. Didn't have any pop, so then I went to a pro shop.

The pattern isn't 100% perfect, but they look great!

20200503_182426.jpg
 
axapowell said:
I had my entire airplane dash done by a local guy. He sanded, primed, painted, hydrodipped, and then clear coated the parts. They came out great and seem to be durable. That was 5 years ago! I would recommend a shop to get the results you seek!

Dave
Click to expand...

Arrow? Looks good.
 
Yes, about to add a few more toys to the panel and get a new custom overlay. May go real carbon fiber this time!

Dave
 
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