Am I over simplifying this? I want to remove all of my gauges and just run 7"-10" tablets. Can I just remove a wire harness and OBD2 ECM out of a vehicle and get the corresponding sensors/senders, put them in my engine and just monitor them with an Android app like I do with my car? I've used the Torque app for years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lGgroFrvRE

How are you going to program the automotive OBD2 ECM to work in the boat???
I doubt anything is compatible between them.

I would be worried about the tablet heating up and shutting down. And glare would be horrible on most.

A more reliable solution would be a Garmin or Simrad nav unit with NMEA 2000 connections if your ECU allows for that.

Griff,
I'm not looking to program the ECM to work in the boat. (carb engines) I am just looking to pull the ECM, harness and install the OEM sensor/sendors into my engine. Hook it all up and then just use the ECM as a monitoring system. It should still look at the sensors and I would just use a bluetooth OBD2 dongle to look at those outputs through a tablet with an app.

White back ground and glare can be taken care of with film or the screen on given tablets.

If I was to spend that much I would just build my own fuel injection system and monitor through a tablet using the software available through them.

don't see why it wouldn't work.keep us informed.who's ecu are you thinking of using?

I agree.

Also, I Just ran into this https://www.14point7.com/products/idash looking for other things and remembered this thread. Probably other things out there like this too.
Supposedly you can even make different gauges yourself.

iDash webpage: https://www.14point7.com/products/idash
iDash user manual: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/01...99548432171676

I had a feeling people are using ARDUINO for this also. If you have not heard of Arduino, well, it is slowly changing the world. LOL.
Here is one of a bunch (I'm sure) tablet gauge projects someone has done using this: 4D Systems as an automotive Multi-Gauge display - 4D Systems Forum

What kind of tablets are you planning on using? I was just digging into this for my Scarab, and someone tried using I Pads instead of multifunction displays and it didn't work. Tablets are not meant to be in direct sunlight for long periods of time. They would overheat and shut down, not to mention the glare like you were mentioning above. Think of your phone, when it sits in the sun, it will shut down.

I ended up going with a Raymarine Es unit for my boat, but I'm not using it for gauges. Check out the new Axium Line from Raymarine if you don't care about muiltitouch, which I did. You could get a couple of 9" displays for around $2000.00...

What are you going to do in regards to creating a CAN-BUS system. I like the idea of a glass dash, but when I started looking at all the components to make it work, it was way more than just buying old school gauges. If that could be done at a reasonable price, I'd still consider it. I want to say I was coming up with about $3k to do it all right.