Our 302 is in need of a serious Helm makeover.. Looking at chrome throttles and new fiber panels with possibly colored rims / polished bezels. New wheel to match. If anyone has pics of their updates I would love to see them.
I think the glove box lid needs to match the dash panel but don’t know.
Thanks

See what I mean…

I have a 342, not a 302. It has the split gauge panels. Not sure what year your 302 is but later year 302’s did too (2001+ maybe). Anyway, I went the MFD route with just OP and water temp gauges and the fuel gauge on the side. The MFD is connected to MEFI engine gateways for ECU parameters and also the Fusion Apollo stereo through an NMEA2000 network. I made a couple different screen displays to view specific engine data when I want to.

I made the panel out of aluminum and wrapped it with silver carbon fiber then topped it with about eight coats of 2K clear coat.

End result is that it looks way more contemporary, less cluttered, and is tremendously more functional. Maybe something like this would work for you too.

what gateway did you use?

Fox Marine MEFI 3. They’re excellent, plug and play.

We just installed a Garmin but keep tripping starboard ignition fuse. We eliminated the oil temp’s & speedo. Do the removed gauges need to maintain the electric loop connected? I can’t figure out why we’re popping the fuse. Any thoughts appreciated.

Original Dash

Updated Dash with Garmin

God dammit I didn`t know you could do that with Mefi 3 I assume Mefi 4B would be the same.YOu just cost me a bunch of money and work! lol
Very cool.
How does it get the fuel flow data? Did you have to put in a flow meter or it gets it from injectors?
Can you set up alarms?

Very nice install too!

My logic was that at least all the grounds need to remain intact in the electrical loop. I didn’t have any other ideas for all the old gauge terminal wires but to take brass screws, washers, and nuts to keep them all connected like how they would have been on the old gauges. I then taped the hell out of them and taped that to the original harness. That way the hardware can’t jiggle around and fray any other wires and short out. My boat is an ‘02, so it still had gauges with posts. Your’s may be newer with the Deutsch connectors. If so, the connectors themselves maintain the ground circuit.

As for popping the fuse, I ran the power to the MFD from a separately fused switch on the panel, see the one labeled instrument. Did you run yours off the starboard ignition wiring circuit? If so, it may be overloaded.

Haha, thanks! Those Fox Marine gateways are great. You can even put an app on your phone to connect and get even more detailed engine parameters.

Fuel flow is estimated by the ECUs and then the Raymarine fuel manager takes that and subtracts it from what you tell it is in the tank. So, you set up the tank volume (mine’s 185, but I programmed it to 170 to have a buffer). Then every time you gas up, just click either set tank full or add partial fill. Been using it two seasons now, it’s surprisingly accurate given how basic the MEFI3 controller is.

The other interesting thing is the instantaneous MPG it calculates. What I thought for about 7 years was my cruising speed sweet spot on this boat before this setup couldn’t have been more wrong. I’m way better in the 2,800-3,200 RPM range than the 2,500-2,800 I used to cruise at.

No alarms for engine parameters, those remain part of the basic engine alarm harness from Merc.

Ours in an 04’ and has the post terminals on the gauges too. We also ran it to an extra accessory switch and we replaced the cover so it says ‘Garmin’. Going to try the grounding idea now, thanks!