New to me - 2005 225 Tournament

[CBH IV]

We closed the deal on a 225 Tournament yesterday! Scoped the exhaust on the F225 and everything looked surprisingly great, the yamaha tech said it is one of the best he has seen of this vintage, whew!!

Now the fun begins and my to do list is already piling up. Beside the 100 hours engine service, VST filter, and other misc engine service I am going to need to replace or repair the tach. Has anyone used gaugesaver.com to repair one? Their reviews seem good and the LCD is just faded to where you can't see the tach at all. I am also probably going to be looking for a replacement switch panel. All of the switches are faded and unrecognizable the boots over the breakers are mostly dry rotted. Any good suggestions for this other than ebay to find a like for like panel?

First of many question posts I'm sure. I have been lurking on the forum for a while, doing my research etc. Now that we are officially Grady owners, I can be a bit more vocal. Is it summer yet?!

 

[Parthery]

Gaugesaver.com is the real deal. Did one for me and I need to send the other one in. Best $75 you can spend.

 

[CBH IV]

Parthery,

Thanks for the feedback! I'm going to send them the tach and hope for the best.

 

[McCann5225]

Great choice!
congratulations!
I bought some switches w/boots off Amazon.
they were pretty inexpensive but looked like a near match.
I’m not much into budget electrics but I also installed a new breaker panel so all is protected.

 

[fastexas]

Nice choice CBH...got my '05 225 Tourney in 2018 (after losing my SeaRay in hurricane Harvey in '17). It's been a gem, best boat I've ever owned. By all means hit me up if you have any questions.

 

[CBH IV]

Thanks! We are really excited and can't wait for spring to come. At least it gives me some time to get the boat back close to 100%.
I am headed back down Saturday to replace a lot of what we found needed fixing a couple weeks ago. New freshwater pump, new livewell pump, start patching some gelcoat chips with the spectrum paste, replace misc lights that weren't working, replace freshwater panel switch as the light was no longer working, replace all the panel switch covers and a few push button breakers (newwiremarine.com) as they were no longer legible. I am also hoping my tach come back from gaugesaver.com in time. Looking forward to see how well they can do with that.
Lots to do to keep me busy but hopefully it will make winter go by that much faster. I am sure I will be back with a bunch of questions as I dig into the boat more and more.

Fast - do you have the F225 or F250? I have the F225 and although it checked out great, I hope I am not left wishing for the extra power of the F250.

I am also trying to figure out how to add two more rod holders to be able to troll a 6 line spread if I want. I am thinking I may be able to get away with putting the cup/rod holder combos where the existing cup holders are on the stern, but I am concerned they are going to be too close to the existing rod holders. Has anyone tried this or have any other suggestions short of adding an arch or hardtop?

 

[CBH IV]

Parthery - thank you for the GaugeSaver.com recommendation. They worked out great, seems brand spanking new!!

 

[CBH IV]

I also am working on refurbing the switch panel. Used newwiremarine.com to get the replacement switch actuators and I thought they turned out well. I did have to replace the freshwater switch and ordered it with a red back light (oops). I guess I will fix that later and get a switch with the matching green hue......
Anyways, what product do you recommend to try and polish up the actual panel? It is looking a little rough and I would like to try and bring the original carbon fiber look back out as best as possible.