Attaching the Dash

I had major problems finishing the dash.  It seemed the last coat of varnish, which was a nice smooth coat, did not harden.  I really don't know why.   It was tacky after several days.  My only recourse was to strip it down and start over.  That was also a disaster.  The stripping took off the varnish and some of the epoxy.  I thought I'd put on some more epoxy, sand it smooth and be ready to go.  However, because some areas were stripped more than others, the color of the mahogany was not uniform and looked terrible.  The only recourse was to strip and sand it down to bare wood and restart with the staining.  This time I did not use epoxy and only put on varnish.

After this dried and I was happy with the result I could finally mount it in the boat.  The weather was not too cooperative as it was 33 degrees on Saturday.   Not to worry.  Using heaters and a tarp, I was able to warm up the wood and create a 70 degree environment under the tarp using this setup.  In this picture you can see the steering cable being run through a hole in the frame.

Everything set up nicely.  I then was able to mount the gauges, steering mechanism and switches in the dash.  

Here's the finished look of the dash.  The gauges aren't permanent as I can do some preliminary wiring on the back of the panel in the warmth of my basement.  The steering wheel is just on for the picture.   In my discussion on the laser etching I never showed the inlays for the two switches to the right of the wheel.  Here's a close up.

Next in line is the wiring.  I bought a battery at Sam's and have most of the pieces I need to get started.   It is much more exciting putting pieces on the boat than endless sanding and varnishing.