Not so much a custom or mod, but with all the hoo-ha that has been raging about binnacles lately, I thought I would post a few pics of new binnicales that I produced a couple of years back. I own a small bodyshop and there was no massive investment in these. They are made of fibreglass with gelcoat- they will not degrade, crack or fade in any way.
I began with a typically cracked binniacle, repaired it using a flexi filler for plastics, then refinished it using a coating which is exactly as the originals are.
Then a good friend of mine who works with fibreglass helped me to make a mould which I used to produce 7-8 binnicales. The mould is still fine to re-use. These binnicales have the grain pattern moulded directly on the gelcoat. They are then dyed either black or grey. The black strip near the instrument lens is all part of the binnicale (1 piece).
Grain/texture:
I did not make these to sell or make money on but just to prove it could be done. It is probably not a great method for mass production and is a bit labour intensive, but the results are excellent if you want a very strong binnacle that looks totally stock I will try to grab a few pics of the mould tomorrow.
Had I known the new binnicales would not be on sale by now, I may not have sat on this for so long!
Stephen
#10213
