Faria Gateway Box Replacement with Garmin MFD

[Miljack]

Thanks for posting all the detailed info and photos, great work! shag are you going to post a separate thread for your setup? Who did you find to build a "gateway?"

[WakeHawk]

I had to install a new sonar transducer. Start by removing the old transducer, this usually involves attempting to cut as much of the sealant between the bottom of the boat and the transducer, getting frustrated, then going topside and removing the retaining nut and using a piece of 2x4 and a big hammer to drive the old transducer out. For the transducer I used for this project I did need to open up the mounting hole to 2", there is plenty of room to do this in the factory location, but don't think I would go any bigger. Installation is just threading the wiring up through the hole, use some 3M 5200 to seal the transducer to the bottom of the boat, tighten up the mounting hardware and run the wiring up to the helm.

[WakeHawk]

Thanks for posting all the detailed info and photos, great work! shag are you going to post a separate thread for your setup? Who did you find to build a "gateway?"

I'm kinda curious about this too. There are plenty of off the shelf products to accomplish this. For boats that have J1939 networks like mine, there are several J1939 to NK2 adapters available. For older analog boats there are off the shelf products to take analog sensor data and output it to N2K, Actisense builds good products, and Veratron has a product they call Engine Box to accomplish this just to name two.

[WakeHawk]

One thing I need to mention about the Chirp sonar transducer I used for my project, is that the instructions say not to let it run for long periods of time out of the water as that can lead to overheating and damage the transducer. With the Garmin I'm using it is easy to turn off the sonar and leave the rest of the system on. Just thought I would mention this as we wakeboarders and surfers probably aren't up on modern sonar technology as other boaters.

[WakeHawk]

Stereo install before and after, not going to go into much detail as only difference in installation is connecting it to the N2K backbone to be able to run it from the helm MFD.

OG Clarion


New Fusion Apollo Series MS-RA770. This thing is really cool, could drone on about it for awhile, just a few high points, uses wireless remotes, can pair with Garmin smart watches for track and volume control, has a cool smart phone app, 4 independent zones, built in wifi for over air updates, a touch screen, and it sounds great.


Had to remove the old hardwired Clarion remote.


Used one of these stainless steel cover plates I found on Amazon, they are called "3" Stainless Steel Sanitary Tri Clamp Clover Solid End Cap" to cover the hole since the Fusion remotes are smaller. This worked great, didn't have to figure out how I was going to cut a perfect circle that didn't look terrible, it has enough thickness to be able to counter sink some small (I think either #10 or #8) cone head machine screws and then just used the strong back from the Clarion remote hold it in place. Here is the link to it from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[WakeHawk]

Last thing is to build a dash plate mock up and fire up the system. Not much advice on this, I just started with cardboard and kept trimming until I thought I got close enough to build a dash plate out of 1/4" balsa wood for fit up and testing. At this point I have built a second dash plate out of balsa wood and am happy with the fit up, only have 1 dimension I might tweak by about 1/16" for a slightly tighter fit. The permanent dash plate will built out of 1/8" aluminum, the support structure that bolts into the helm will be built out of 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" x 1/8" thick aluminum angle, with all stainless steel hardware holding it in place. I'm sure there are other method to do this depending on how creative you want to be working in fiberglass, aluminum or stainless steel.

BOOM! Mock up with fully functional gauges. As can be seen there is a big dead space to the left of the MFD, this is where I want to install a Veratron VMH 35 to finish off this project.


Stereo being run from the MFD. You can control virtually all of the functions from the MFD, not just volume and track selection.

Installation steps are pretty easy, plug in the wiring harness that were built in previous steps into their appropriate boat wiring connectors. Hook all the N2K items into the back bone. Hook all the wiring up to the MFD.

Once I build the permanent dash structure and clean up the wiring below the helm I will post some more pictures of the final product.

[WakeHawk]

This is the gauge I'm waiting for: https://us-shop.veratron.com/index.c...F11538.cfusion

I plan on having a friend ceracote the dash plate matte black, and with the MFD and the VMH 35, I think this will end up looking pretty slick.

[SilentSeven]

Whoa...that pod is functional?

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[WakeHawk]

Yup, all I need to do is build the permanent structure and it is ready to go.

[MN Ryan]

Yeah, this is darn cool. I think it's gonna look great. Very nice work--that's gotta be so satisfying.

The dash work,I could tackle, but the electronics would be too involved for me.

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[shag]

That dash pod mod looks awesome! What if you put the MFD off to the left? Heck there's probably enough room to mount the head unit too! Great job! I have so many plates spinning right now - but I plan to do some sort of wright up yes. I am waiting on my underwater light bar to be made, which will house 5, SCM-10 Color Caster LED lights, controlled through their new commander, which will seamlessly integrate into the Simrad I will be putting in. Goal is to be able to make each U/W light a different color. They will all be able to pulse to music if wanted, or do any number of features. Summer is just around the corner!

[SilentSeven]

OK...can you help the newbie? I was looking to see if you can get gauges that look factory like that connect to this system. Ones that might fit in the dash holes.

For example, I see these.

https://fariabeede.com/2-pages/aftermarket.php
Click on gauge type 'mg3k black fade'

Would the unit you've setup drive a pod of these gauges? Cant tell...btw, the Faira catalog is horrible

[WakeHawk]

Quote removed by Admin for not following the Guidelines for Quoting Previous Posts in a Thread.

Hmmm, looks to me that you could probably just order what system you needed without having to use adapters, I'm not sure what your boat has in it, if it runs a J1939 network or is all analog. There is a kit available that replaces all the gauges to bypass the gateway box here is the link on Natuique Parts website, looks like they are on backorder.
https://www.nautiqueparts.com/produc...y-box-2003-05/

Would have to look into if it would interfere with PerfectPass if you have that, I haven't done any research into this since I have a Zero Off boat that makes life much easier.

[WakeHawk]

That dash pod mod looks awesome! What if you put the MFD off to the left? Heck there's probably enough room to mount the head unit too! Great job! I have so many plates spinning right now - but I plan to do some sort of wright up yes. I am waiting on my underwater light bar to be made, which will house 5, SCM-10 Color Caster LED lights, controlled through their new commander, which will seamlessly integrate into the Simrad I will be putting in. Goal is to be able to make each U/W light a different color. They will all be able to pulse to music if wanted, or do any number of features. Summer is just around the corner!

When I was initially considering this project I was trying to get 2 MFDs to fit in the dash, but there just isn't quite enough room with the 5" Zero Off gauge. I emailed Zero Off and tried to get a hold of them using their web form to see if they had a version that would basically be a below dash module and interface with the N2K network for the controls, but never got a response, with all the supply chain and other issues lately I'm not going to bash them for not responding. I think if I upgraded my Zero Off to the v2 using a 3.5" gauge size I could just barely fit 2 7" MFDs, but after I found the Veratron LinkUp adapters and saw the VMH 35 gauge was coming out I decided to go that route to finish it up.

Once you decide to update and install a N2K network, and MFD there is so much stuff you can do if you want. One thing I'm thinking about for a future project is to add digital switching to run most of the circuits in the boat, lighting, ballast pumps, etc from the MFD. I think I would be able to program a ballast shift type switch using digital switching to run the ballast pumps to move around say 25 lbs of water at a time, but this is pretty involved and is on the back burner, need to finish up this project first.

[BigRedSV211]

This is really cool. If you figured out how to package this all up for all those people out there with broken gauges you could sell plenty, I'm sure.