Raymarine Axiom 7 install

[suke]

so normally I wouldn't post a thread until I'm all done, but this is going to have a lot of moving parts. Figured I'd document my path. I have a 2020 212x and it just seems off with the tiny screen, a cell phone holder and the rest a blank dash. The maps on this thing, stock, are pretty terrible and hella slow. No point to point mapping is my biggest gripe. So after some searching I decided on the raymarine axiom 7. Great reviews and navionics maps which I'm already used to. My goal is to surface mount my axiom. Don't plan on attempting to router out the edges to make it 100% flush mount. Don't have that kind of skill. I originally started down this path of auxiliary fuse box, with bus bars and the like, but was really making it overly complicated for me. Only electronics I'm going to do is this chartplotter and hydrophase ridesteady. That just seemed overkill for those few things.

So here we go. This is what I have so far. Next week I'll bring the boat home and start cutting into my dash(EEK)!

 

[Babin Farms]

All I can say is measure, mark the area, step back and look at it. Measure again, step back & look and measure again before you start to do any cutting. Don't get in a hurry and all will go good.
My wife was unsure about me cutting & drilling large holes in the boat but after cutting holes in new vehicles and equipment at work it was easy-peasy. I always walk away after getting things marked and ready to just go over the whole process before doing any job like that.

Keep us updated on the progress

 

[sfadchi]

I did this install on my 2019 AR240. It's a great unit. I did run a bus bar. I used it for my fresh water systems, underwater lights, and trim tabs too.

 

[suke]

All I can say is measure, mark the area, step back and look at it. Measure again, step back & look and measure again before you start to do any cutting. Don't get in a hurry and all will go good.
My wife was unsure about me cutting & drilling large holes in the boat but after cutting holes in new vehicles and equipment at work it was easy-peasy. I always walk away after getting things marked and ready to just go over the whole process before doing any job like that.

Keep us updated on the progress

Definitely going to measure a TON, before I make the first cut. Tape the whole dash with painters tape so I can mark it, erase, mark it, erase, until it looks right. Also hold it up to the backside where I think it'll mount to make sure there's no interference. Looks like there's plenty of room, but now I have it in my hands I can verify. I'm hyper cautious and OCD, so my wife is like meh if you think you've got it, I'm not worried. Also it came with a template, so that'll be a nice guide too.

 

[suke]

I did this install on my 2019 AR240. It's a great unit. I did run a bus bar. I used it for my fresh water systems, underwater lights, and trim tabs too.
View attachment 133147

Looks great! Did you try and flush mount it? Looks pretty flush, but kind of hard to tell from that pic. It was really stressing me out trying to figure out the whole bus bar, fuse box stuff. So, for now I'm glad I removed that from the equation. Something that could be easily added later should I want or need to do it.

 

[sfadchi]

Looks great! Did you try and flush mount it? Looks pretty flush, but kind of hard to tell from that pic. It was really stressing me out trying to figure out the whole bus bar, fuse box stuff. So, for now I'm glad I removed that from the equation. Something that could be easily added later should I want or need to do it.

Yep, it's flush mounted. My word of advice is pull the dash to make the cut. It will make your life way easier. On my 240 it was only like 4 bolts.

 

[agannole93]

so normally I wouldn't post a thread until I'm all done, but this is going to have a lot of moving parts. Figured I'd document my path. I have a 2020 212x and it just seems off with the tiny screen, a cell phone holder and the rest a blank dash. The maps on this thing, stock, are pretty terrible and hella slow. No point to point mapping is my biggest gripe. So after some searching I decided on the raymarine axiom 7. Great reviews and navionics maps which I'm already used to. My goal is to surface mount my axiom. Don't plan on attempting to router out the edges to make it 100% flush mount. Don't have that kind of skill. I originally started down this path of auxiliary fuse box, with bus bars and the like, but was really making it overly complicated for me. Only electronics I'm going to do is this chartplotter and hydrophase ridesteady. That just seemed overkill for those few things.

So here we go. This is what I have so far. Next week I'll bring the boat home and start cutting into my dash(EEK)!
View attachment 133128View attachment 133130
View attachment 133131

What's your opinion on quality out of the box? I'm looking at simrad, garmin, etc but these look like a good price and can do most of the same things.

 

[suke]

Yep, it's flush mounted. My word of advice is pull the dash to make the cut. It will make your life way easier. On my 240 it was only like 4 bolts.

I looked at that a little and it looked intense. I'll give it another look. Did you use a router on the edge? Were you concerned about the strength of the remaining bit? That was my concern. Is it would be too thin to handle rough water.

 

[suke]

What's your opinion on quality out of the box? I'm looking at simrad, garmin, etc but these look like a good price and can do most of the same things.

I think it's hard to go wrong with any of those. Since I used my phone for navionics I was already familiar with using that. And I wanted navionics maps. Seems like a nice unit.

 

[suke]

Getting there. I measured probably 30 times. Drew, adjusted, drew, adjusted....rinse repeat. Took the backing plate and taped it up to see. Theres some mounting bolts you have to avoid too, so trying my best to avoid those while also centering it the best I could. I haven't even gotten to the wiring. LOL! Which is somewhat confusing. Power, ground makes sense. The earth one I'm like uhhhhhhh where does this go?

 

[suke]

Power, ground all make perfect sense. Where does this gray wire go? Looks like another symbol for ground, but uhhhhh where? I have a stock bus bar by the battery, there?

 

[sfadchi]

I believe it’s a second ground. I could check this weekend when I get to my boat.

 

[suke]

I believe it’s a second ground. I could check this weekend when I get to my boat.

Roger. I'll run it to my stock bus bar.

 

[suke]

Woot! All done. I'm super cautious and had to run and get some bolts. So it literally took me close to 8 hours start to finish.

 

[sfadchi]

Looking at this thread gives me an idea. I wonder if I could replace my dash with the same solid black acrylic one on your boat.

 

[212s]

Looking at this thread gives me an idea. I wonder if I could replace my dash with the same solid black acrylic one on your boat.

I think the dash is taller on the 24 models?

 

[212s]

Woot! All done. I'm super cautious and had to run and get some bolts. So it literally took me close to 8 hours start to finish.

Good job...now I just need to convince the wife that I can do the same to ours.

What were the bolts you had to get?
And were you able to use the rear support ok? I know there's a "rear mount" kit that uses a couple of stand-off type brackets that take up a lot less room.

 

[suke]

Good job...now I just need to convince the wife that I can do the same to ours.

What were the bolts you had to get?
And were you able to use the rear support ok? I know there's a "rear mount" kit that uses a couple of stand-off type brackets that take up a lot less room.

Totally doable. Take your time, and you'll be fine. I lost one of the mounting bolts to the dash. No idea where it bounced off to. Yeah I was able to use the rear support just fine. There's plenty of room back there, actually a lot of room back there. There's another part of the lower dash you could trim out to get the rear support to sit completely flush. I didn't bother as it actually made it a tighter fit for the chartplotter. If I notice any issues I'll cut it out, but for now it works perfectly and nice and tight in there.

 

[suke]

Looking at this thread gives me an idea. I wonder if I could replace my dash with the same solid black acrylic one on your boat.

If you could just find a big piece of it you could router out your own piece. If you know of where to buy that blank stock like that lemme know. I'd like to completely rework my dash so I could fit the hydrophase ridesteady on that dash panel, too. Definitely can't do that in its current form.

 

[seanmclean]

Excellent work, looks awesome.