Digital guages

I had to replace the gauges on my 2001 196. I went with a single Faria speedo and tach. Replacing the gauges in the dash pod itself is easy but I didn't have the courage to cut the 2" hole in the bottom of my hull to put the pickup wheel in. I paid the dealer to cut the hole and mount the wheel and I did the rest. I think they charged me an hour labour. Well worth it to my peace of mind. I used a hand held GPS to dial in the speedo when we were done.
I keep a maintenace and repair log book in my boat and I just wrote how many hours were on the old gauge at the time I swapped them out. This would let people know the hours on the new gauge are not original when and if I decide to sell.

I've been told by lots of people you can't get that reading from the Ford computer. You can get the hours on the Chevy. BKH

Well, they didn't know they were crappy when they installed them. They were supposed to be "new and improved" . After about 3 years they dropped them.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you how to do the install. I paid the dealer handsomely, as I didn't have time back then. I know several have done the install themselves. I think perhaps Scottb on this forum. There have been many who have installed them on planetnautique.com. There should be a few writeups as to how to do the install on that forum.

There is no dash mod require, but it's not just a plug and play. There is some work in connecting into the pickups, or so I've read.

If you have the black rings, you probably have the original gauges and hour meter. That's good. I would keep them just in case the next owner wants the originals, and to prove the hours. I wish I had done so.

BKH

Mine have black rims. Are the farias or others easy to install?

Check out ride in the 2001 sport nautique on Sunday. Gt-40 motor ran sweet, nice idle, strong all the way up the rpm band. All the critical readings looked good. Phew, I was sweatin it buying this thing sight unseen. Now for a minor problem - the digital tach and speedo have very dim and partial digits. This sucks when trying to maintain some consistent speed.

Anbody ever see this problem?