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Bass Boat Mods => General Boat Mods => Topic started by: RedAllison on February 24, 2015, 10:12:18 PM

Title: Console swap out.
Post by: RedAllison on February 24, 2015, 10:12:18 PM
I bought this lil ol Lowe (1996 Lowe 160/50hp Erude) in May 2010 for smaller waters. It's been a great lil boat but it didn't take me lbr 1-2x out in it to realize that the console was MUCH to big & wasted ALOT of space in a 16ft tin basser. Then summer before last my broham Jeffro Brazil (TheCashewKid) struck gold as he & his dad do quite a bit of boat work on the side. A customer of theirs brought in an old Duracraft tin boat that needed a few things & they wanted the entire console removed... Jeffro knew who to call next!  \o/

Pic 1: The original console. (Before anyone asks, yep that's my "fishbat" lying in the floor. I use it to "crack skulls" on trash fish in my farm lake, like bowfins, pickerel, gar etc...) I don't know why anyone at Lowe ever thought a lil ol 160 needed a console THIS big, but we took care of that.

Pic 2: Let the convert begin. Jeffro started the tear down, MAN was the wiring under there a FREAKN MESS! I guess the sam fruit loop that came up with the wheelhouse sized console, likewise thought it was a great idea to do ALL the wiring together & most of it in series! I can't say that I've EVER seen that in a boat, ESPECIALLY a cheap lil ol tin boat!  (fp)

Pic 3: ROOM TO SPARE! Look at the footprint in the carpet of the previous "tractor shed"! Luckily the console was just a screwed together collection of a molded plastic top, a large aluminum "dog box" bottom section & an aluminum crossmember under the steering wheel. The entire thing was screwed together & into the side. & floor of the hull (We cut & modified that crossmember to use as the leg/brace on the "new" console. Pic 4)

Pic 4: PRESTO! The finished product, works just as well as before & as you can see I now have MUCH more floor & usable space. (The ram mount & GPS puck are for my Hbird 997Si.)

Pic 5: We moved the tach down under the corner where it's still visible. The switchpanel for lights & pumps was removed from the old console & fitted into the new console. Jeffro reconfigured the wiring & it was all placed up under the console. We mounted the side of the console atop the gunwale & screwed it down with a few self tapping sheet metal screws.

Title: Re: Console swap out.
Post by: Alan S on February 25, 2015, 08:46:18 AM
Great job!
Title: Re: Console swap out.
Post by: Curt on February 25, 2015, 09:55:05 AM
Wow! Great job guys  (yes)

And that original console was definitely way oversized for a boat that small. What were they thinking?  (hmm)
Title: Re: Console swap out.
Post by: Jimmy RodandReel on February 25, 2015, 10:04:56 AM
 (y) (y)
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