Update dash or leave it old school?
 

I have a 1990 29' Fountain Fever that's in great shape and has all orig interior/exterior.
I recently was offered a smoking deal on a white dash panel/throttles and aux panel.
Old panel has orig BW gauges except for Gaffrig speedo/tachs.
New panel has all Gaffrig gauges including a GPS speedo and trim buttons on throttle.

I'm really torn on this one. Go modern or keep it old school??

Old dash:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]551115[/ATTACH]


New dash:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]551116[/ATTACH]

Go new!!! Brings a whole new look for the boat. Made my 98 look new again!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]551117[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]551118[/ATTACH]

If it is that good of a deal do it. I would

I like the layout better on the original dash as all guages are not obstructed by the steering wheel. I probably would update to new if the price was right.

Good point about being able to read the gauges. If that's not an issue I'd update it. If your old dash is absolutely flawless that would make it a harder decision.

The orig dash is pretty much flawless and I really like the orig layout. It gets noticed everywhere I go (not sure if that's good or bad). All the gauges are still working and still fairly accurate after 26 years. Can't get much more reliable than that.

I've seen some complaints regarding reliability of Gaffrig gauges. Not sure if that has been blown out of proportion or not. I have heard those orange needles fade quick if left exposed to the sun for very long.


On the flip-side, I'll soon be installing Fountain ext steering. Since the steering wheel will loose it's "center position", having the trim switches on the throttle is definitely appealing. Boat has blue and white interior so the blue bling of the gauge trim rings might look pretty good. New dash also comes with a white steering wheel and a blue trim ring. Haven't seen a pic of that yet.

How much of a pain is swapping it out?
Will my existing sensors (water/oil temp/oilpress) work with these gaffrig gauges?

I ll take the old school wheel

Old dash looks old. If the boat is an absolute classic then keep it original. If the boat is just a very nice example of an older Fountain then you're not detracting from the boat with a bit of modernizing. If it's not too expensive, I'd update, but don't get carried away, sometimes one job can lead to another, and so on......

Your pics highlight how little Fountain changed over the years. Fountain philosophy.......? If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

RR

White for sure

You can always repaint the stock dash if you like the gauge layout.

They are just a piece of AL, I put grinding marks in mine and then laid candy red over it so the marks come through. Looks great.