Vexus 1980 Console Mount

[mguida0226]

Just traded in the glass Triton for a Vexus 1980 and all I can say is wow....this boat drives like a glass boat and a lot of thought clearly went into the design and layout. I rigged the whole thing myself with Lowrance units, 3-in-1 transducer and a point 1 and was very thankful for the NMEA network already set up under the driver console. It made installation and networking so easy, not to mention the 150 G2 information now displays on my Lowrance units (something I didn't have before). The guys at Vexus were definitely thinking about the average customer when they put the aluminum plate on the console as well, which is the main reason for this post.

After seeing the options for mounting my HDS 12 at the console, and the price that comes with it, I decided to do the work myself and wanted to share this with those guys who hate paying ridiculous amounts of money for something that costs $15 to do yourself with a simple metal drill bit and hole cutter. I'm not here to bash any company for the price they charge on mounting hardware. I am sure they are very high-quality mounts and I have no clue what their cost for supplies and labor are, so the price they charge may very well be justified. If I had the extra money I may have saved myself the time and effort and just bought the mount. This is simply for those who may not have thought about a DIY project as an option and want to save some money, which could be used elsewhere on this amazing rig.

All this takes is 2 heavy duty strong tie angle brackets and some 5/8 inch stainless bolts, washers and lock nuts. You will have to mark and drill holes in the strong ties to match up with the Lowrance mounting bracket (thankful they use metal as well, which makes this install even stronger.) Being that these are very new boats I haven't seen much on installs (or how the rigging tubes are set up), so I just wanted to start some dialogue with anyone looking for tips on making installation clean and easy on the wallet.

Sorry for the sideways pictures..not sure why that happened, but I can send these out if you would like to use them as a reference.

[strids97]

sounds like something I would do...love the look, look great!

[Sinisterj]

Did you use any kind of steering spacer? I cannot tilt my steering wheel because it hits my graph

[mguida0226]

I did not use a spacer. My boat has the tilt steering option and I have it titled all the way down at the moment. I have enough room to operate the steering wheel with the steering wheel tilted all the way down and in the next position up, but the steering wheel will hit the graph and not allow my hands to turn the steering wheel freely if I tilt it any higher than the last 2 positions, but I don't have a need for the steering wheel to be any higher than that anyways.

[TxCruzr]

Good job, nice to see some DIY work finally. I plan on doing the same, the money saved on installing 2 graphs can just about buy you a third.
How hard or how much of a pain was it to fish the wires through for everything? That's the one thing I keep forgetting to check out when I've looked at the boats.
Is their power already run to the console and bow or did you run power from the battery?

[mguida0226]

Agreed. The money saved doing the install was definitely worth it. I will say that the rigging tubes running through the boat from where the throttle is to the back battery compartment were a little tough to navigate with the fish tape I have. I seemed to get caught up somewhere near the battery compartment and couldn't get it to run all the way through. This was probably a good thing, because I didn't have to drill any holes or try to run my transducer cable through the engine cable rigging. I drilled 1 hole through the deck into the battery compartment for my point 1 install so that I could make the NMEA cable installation neat and in an easily accessible area, but I ran the NMEA cable right back up through the hole and out the side of the point-1 (as you see in the pictures). I ran the transducer cable and NMEA cable through a white rigging tube that I installed by using 3m sticky anchors that had holes to run zip ties through. I scuffed up the underside of the gunnel and they anchored firmly in place. It was actually very easy and I don't think it looks bad. You really can't see the rigging tube unless you look for it since it is tucked under. Vexus left a little gap in the panel that the throttle and switches are attached too and I was able to run that rigging tube down into that and through the boat rigging tube into the console (which was very easy).

The rigging tube at the bow is tucked back a little bit, but is easy to access with a fish tape. I was able to run straight to the console with no hang ups, but it runs them to the bottom compartment that you access by unscrewing a panel. There is a turn in the tube right as the fish tape gets there and I had to cut a slit in order to grab it. You can then run them through the main rigging tube going up to where everything connects at the console, which is already cut open for a few other wires running through it. I will admit that the fit is a little tight through this rigging tube, but working your hands from both sides gets your cables through well enough. I didn't mind putting a little effort into it because everything is installed so clean and looks nice. I only needed to run my NMEA and ethernet from my front unit.

The console has a NMEA network already set up and a power block to install anything you want, which is connected to the starting battery (switch is seen in the NMEA pic I attached in the battery compartment.) The bow also has a power block that is set up for anything you need to power. I ran my transducer cable along my TM cable and through an out of sight hole Vexus left under the cup holder (which you access by unscrewing). Makes for a clean install.

The boat is set up very well and is easy to do your own installs on. I am attaching more pics to try to show what I did a little better. There isn't much info out there on how the boat is rigged, but if you take some panels off it's pretty easy to figure out.

[mguida0226]

Here are a few pics

[BoatNoobie]

What are those weird looking transducer cable holders and how are they mounted?

[mguida0226]

They are called cable drops and you can find them at Home Depot. They have a 3M sticky backing, but I sanded a small circle down to the aluminum and put some 5200 on the back as well to make sure they stay on.