2006 Orion

[02HoWaRd26]

So stereo remodel take three.
Had ran the power not intending to do more than the one amplifier so was all ran with just 4g well then added the sub and second amp then decided to add a separate amp just for the 8.8’s so really needed more power wire.
Looks busy in this pic but in person I’m very happy with how it turned out as all the wire is tight and attached to the wall. Will have my led strip light mounts Friday so will get my lights in as well the facia plate installed this weekend.

Before:

All stripped:

Making face plate:

Mounting amps and mocking facia:

Pulling all the wiring out so i could run the big -0 power and ground:

Starting the fun:

All wired up:

Facia mocked until i get the lighting mounted:

 

[Shlbyntro]

So stereo remodel take three.
Had ran the power not intending to do more than the one amplifier so was all ran with just 4g well then added the sub and second amp then decided to add a separate amp just for the 8.8’s so really needed more power wire.
Looks busy in this pic but in person I’m very happy with how it turned out as all the wire is tight and attached to the wall. Will have my led strip light mounts Friday so will get my lights in as well the facia plate installed this weekend.

Before: View attachment 705541 View attachment 705530 All stripped: View attachment 705531 Making face plate: View attachment 705538 Mounting amps and mocking facia: View attachment 705532 Pulling all the wiring out so i could run the big -0 power and ground:
View attachment 705533
Starting the fun: View attachment 705534 All wired up: View attachment 705535 View attachment 705536 Facia mocked until i get the lighting mounted: View attachment 705537

no capacitor?

 

[Kachina26]

no capacitor?

Budget only had room for a Cap or LED lighting strips.

 

[pwerwagn]

Looks gooood!

 

[02HoWaRd26]

no capacitor?

Haha no, no need for capacitor. I personally have never used but really wouldn’t use on all the new nexgen amps. All a capacitor does it store power for big burst of power but running -0 it’s not even a thought of need. Went from a straw to a garden hose as it is for current.

 

[Shlbyntro]

Haha no, no need for capacitor. I personally have never used but really wouldn’t use on all the new nexgen amps. All a capacitor does it store power for big burst of power but running -0 it’s not even a thought of need. Went from a straw to a garden hose as it is for current.

I've always liked using them just out of principal whenever I have multiple amps, especially when I'm running wet cells. I'm willing to bet you're not running wet cells tho

 

[02HoWaRd26]

Being it’s Boat Show weekend may as well post these from 2006.

Haven’t done a lot but did take a handful of billet parts to powdercoat, all new stainless cup holders, and a brand new Innovative power stern light. Can’t wait to get parts back from powder

 

[02HoWaRd26]

The little things that no one will ever notice but it’s fun.... well maybe not fun but looks better. Had to replace a handful of the screws but polished them as well the ss washers to a mirror. 25 in the interior next is to do the 36 on the canopies

 

[02HoWaRd26]

So as they’ve been in my Summit cart for about 9 months and i had to order a few filters for the buggy i finally ordered the Taylor SpiroPro 8.5mm universal wires. First one was a total Bit€# but the rest as i then knew the tricks were cake. May not be any power increase and that’s what i need under the hatch #morepower but they are pretty. (Anyone needing stock wires for 496 let me know)

 

[02HoWaRd26]

So feel this winter has been slow vs last year but it sure has been cheaper....
wanted to add some blue to the interior as the knobs and steering wheel were blue, but didn’t want to over power it!
Front open bow grab bar:

Battery boxes but left the forward plates polished and went with new phillips screws vs allens as all through boat i have phillips sand, and polish to shiny:

Need to worry about this bezel next time i remove the gunnel pods:

Did the pedestals on the seat mounts not the top bottom or cross bar:

Waiting for shipment now that all is approved from GatorStep for my trailer:

 

[02HoWaRd26]

Got the driver side of trailer all back together went and got all new bearings seals caps etc for all four hubs. Maybe pull apart passenger side tomorrow but also as i got my Gator Step in the mail yesterday figured to start getting trailer all pretty. Actually real happy with the turnout all around with my experience with Phillip at Gator Step SoCal

 

[Shlbyntro]

Did you end up going with grease hubs?

 

[02HoWaRd26]

Did you end up going with grease hubs?

Yes i did seemed the best all around for what i do with the trailer.

 

[Shlbyntro]

Yes i did seemed the best all around for what i do with the trailer.

I honestly can't think of a single trailer application I would want oil hubs on. I just can't trust them to not leak. It looks good. I'm getting ready to put my Ultra on stands to re gel the bottom. I'll likely be doing a complete trailer overhaul at the same time including new grease hubs

 

[Kachina26]

God damn, those are some ugly wheels. Tell me that's what came with the boat and you didn't pick them out special.

 

[02HoWaRd26]

Almost didn’t do the logo, but stoked that i did, gotta ship the outer bezel to be powdered blue like the other parts i just got done, will look so much better, and right side up lol.

all powdered and installed

As well should have these bezels Monday for around my Rigid leds, three of them you can see the original marks from the oval lights these will more than cover those up and be shiny too (-:

 

[wet hull]

Looks pimp

 

[n2otoofast4u]

Did you pull your for sale add? I have a buddy looking for something similar.

 

[02HoWaRd26]

Did you pull your for sale add? I have a buddy looking for something similar.

No i haven’t but idk. I’d have to have a total no bs transaction and would be more than my last listed price as I’ve added well over another 7-8k into her since. We’d really like to get into a new Speedster tho.

 

[02HoWaRd26]

Bezels aren’t all that noticeable but are perfect for what i was going for. Bob at MIW scores again for me.

 

[02HoWaRd26]

So the boat wasn’t running quite like it did this time last year! About 3-4mph slower, then all of a sudden i ended up with a neutral position in F and in R then was working ok but still slow.
The neutral deal had me worried speed not so much, so i replaces the shift cable took it out and it worked fine, but the cable i removed seemed A ok, so i was still worried.

Called up Aaron over at Max Machine Worx set an appointment for him to pull it off and inspect.
In the upper (Bravo 1x) it had broke three teeth in the upper gear set, well me running it around also got tons of metal in the clutches then..... even worse that stupid thing called gravity fed that same metal into the lower which then pitted the shit out of those gears.
So now was the fun part. Aaron says “give me a day I’ll put some numbers to paper as well all the parts and some options and email them to you” sweet i love options.......... well the options were
A: rebuild it to stock 1x
B: build to stock XR
C: build upper to MMW Xr build lower stock (or Xr)
D: step up to the plate and play with the big dogs! MMW upper and lower! Also went -2 lower as I’ve been told by a few that this lower hull enjoys the higher X

Well i think i May have the baddest drive ever behind a Mercruiser 496ho

 

[Kaotic]

Very nice drive!

 

[n2otoofast4u]

That should hold up for years to come!

 

[pwerwagn]

Overkill is always awesome!!!! Plus it looks cool.

 

[Husqy510]

That's a beautiful piece! Have you ran it yet?

 

[02HoWaRd26]

Overkill is always awesome!!!! Plus it looks cool.

Yea as i told Wet Hull today, if i lost 5 mph on the water that’s ok as it looks like it’s doing 100 on the trailer.

That's a beautiful piece! Have you ran it yet?

No had to get ready for work shortly after getting home, won’t be home till tomorrow so depending on how i feel ”Zzzzz” will take out tomorrow or Sunday.

 

[Goodtime$]

 

[02HoWaRd26]

So when i did my rear mount trim switch it ended up on more of a curve than i hoped but had to fit where i could based upon the inside of the boat as well. But when i did the billet cover it accentuated the curve even more which bugged the shit out of me.

So i finally came up with a solution, bought a contour gauge, marked the angle then went to cutting on the billet plate. Had to do some adjustments to the plastic as well but those are invisible behind the plate. All in all I’m happy now.

 

[02HoWaRd26]

Had to take rear firewall out to access the power steering, and while removing saw how i could make much nicer and all one piece in comparison of three.
Then got thinking as when i saw what @wet hull did behind his, he did fender pockets, i decided it’d be bad ass to have some shelf space for oil etc as well cleaners. Was absolutely wasted space before. So made it happen....

after getting it all installed, and yea it’s not coming out unless it HAS to, i kinda thought that it’d need something to keep from the oil etc being able to fall over and possibly spill etc.
Went to Joanne’s, with intent to find an elastic band, when i found it kinda figured that screws after a while would start to just tear, so found some stainless eyelets and bought an install kit for them as well. Think it turned out as good as i mentally pictured.

Wasn’t all that fun but wasn’t horrible once i thought to grab my 90* adapter for the drill to get in through the pocket hole to screw it in. All and all I’m way happy with the whole deal from idea to completion.

 

[DavAlf04]

Well the only thing that was still red was the rocker switches so i got all new k-four blue rockers then decided i didn’t like that none of the names on my panel were correct anyway as well with pretty shiny polished gauges well may as well call up Bob at Dana/MWI and have him make me a new panel with all the names how and where i wanted them, pretty stoked can’t lie.

View attachment 606114 View attachment 606115

Love the boat and all the work you have done!! I need to replace my rocker switch panel. Do you have the contact info for bob at dana/mwi. I tried looking it up but didnt have any luck.

 

[Singleton]

Love the boat and all the work you have done!! I need to replace my rocker switch panel. Do you have the contact info for bob at dana/mwi. I tried looking it up but didnt have any luck.

https://www.marineiw.com/

 

[02HoWaRd26]

Love the boat and all the work you have done!! I need to replace my rocker switch panel. Do you have the contact info for bob at dana/mwi. I tried looking it up but didnt have any luck.

MWI- (951) 279-5005
And you can decide not only the names but the location of each name on the panel, so check that part out.
MWI only sells with the red k4 rockers but get on the k4 website you can get red, blue, green, orange and white/clear to match the boat. People always go red as it’s less on the eyes at night but they are so dim anyway that does it really matter in comparison to matching the boat?

 

[02HoWaRd26]

 

[Headless hula]

View attachment 798502 View attachment 798499 View attachment 798500 View attachment 798501

What size are the JL speakers up in the bow? (The rearward facing)

 

[02HoWaRd26]

What size are the JL speakers up in the bow? (The rearward facing)

JL M880’s on mine and JL M770’s in the WetHull

 

[02HoWaRd26]

The billet JL Audio bezels were close to same size for the Mercury Racing ignition so i got another from MWI and had to use a drum sander to open it up a little. Looks good tho to me.

 

[02HoWaRd26]

Decided to two tone the billet hinges and well had to pull the hatch then started tearing parts off the engine to send for blue as well. Just wish the powdercoat made horse power......

 

[02HoWaRd26]

Get some red loctite and then slap these dirty bitches on. Super stoked with the color lay out.

 

[02HoWaRd26]

Plethora of honey doo’s today but did sneak out and do one side.

Also the rear wire loom and engine lift bracket visible.

 

[02HoWaRd26]

 

[02HoWaRd26]

Been pondering a second glove box for a few years, one for paperwork and other seldom needed but necessary to have in boat items. While putting the cover for the wiring back on, as it’s never been back on as i wanted easy access in case fuse popped etc after rewiring the boat it hit me! That flat wood cover was perfect and the depth etc would be just enough. So searched to find my original glove box lid and went after it.

Had to open the corners slightly as they were rounded and box is squared

Cutting the door into the cover

Gluing the box together 1/4” birch

Box glued then glassed to the cover.

Waiting for the glass to dry then I’ll carpet it inside and out.

 

[Headless hula]

Ya know Peter, its getting awfully close to boating season.

 

[02HoWaRd26]

Ya know Peter, its getting awfully close to boating season. View attachment 841211

Shallow up here i checked the report this morning lol.

 

[02HoWaRd26]

Carpeted

 

[02HoWaRd26]

 

[BHC Vic]

I like it. I have one there in my boat but it’s a mirror too. You know for the ladies

 

[02HoWaRd26]

I like it. I have one there in my boat but it’s a mirror too. You know for the ladies

Inside the glove box lid is a mirror or also? I may have to look into that on other side

 

[BHC Vic]

The door is a mirror, but now I can’t remember if it’s the inside, outside, or both

 

[Headless hula]

The door is a mirror, but now I can’t remember if it’s the inside, outside, or both

Sure sounds like it's been too long since you've been in your boat.

 

[02HoWaRd26]

Been wanting to do runway lights for a while finally got started today.
Broke a few bits as well my Dewalt 90* attachment tool gotta figure a better way, or go launch boat, but i don’t have the battery power to do more than one hole per battery

Only one installed but wow these bitches are bright, think I’m only doing center and 5 of them.