how can I patch over an unwanted dash hole?

[Neutron68]

A previous owner cut an oval hole for a speaker.
The speaker is in rough shape, as it was never protected.
How can I patch this oval hole?

[Plugcheck]

     Well, there is the proper way with fiberglass cloth and resin, then finish with filler, sand, and paint.  You could go creative and find something that would fill the area, say maybe a pocket type glove box from the wrecking yard.   Or maybe make a padded dash panel and incorporate the logo.   Could make a dash panel for the area and incorporate something you may want, say like a trim gauge.   How about a fish finder that is that size?   Just some ideas, could just put a new speaker in?

[dgmeyer]

You are going to laugh but a buddy of mine had four speaker holes cut in his boat.   We went to Walmart and bought four white plastic cutting boards that were 3/8" thick.   We cut them to the proper rectangular dimensions to cover the holes and then put them on the router to give them rounded edges.  We then mounted them with four stainless steel bolts with the recessed washers (one in each corner).   We put courtesy lights in a couple of them.   Put a 12V receptacle in another.   They make a nice white panel that you could use for almost anything...switches, a radio, gauges...and it looks pretty professional.  Price is right too.

[Neutron68]

Thanks for the ideas.  Both are worth considering.

On speakers, seems like most marine speakers are round, so I'd actually have to make the hole bigger to put a new speaker in there.

On the cutting board plugs...got any photos?  That'd would be cool to see the final results.

Eric

[Jerry]

holes aren't a problem other than you have to paint everything.

[Rosscoe]

Now this is just a "patch" but I've done this before when the cover for my hot tub filter was missing.

I made a template, cut it out of plexiglass and painted it on the back side. You could bond it on with some white 3m 4200 or 5200. It would look like a cover however.

[dgmeyer]

I have this 69 JetFlite that had a 1969 Johnson on it which had a big ignition switch that was cut into the dash.  I got rid of it since I'm putting an 88 Evinrude on here and just temporarily covered the hole with my trusty Walmart cutting board.  I cut it to size and ran it through the router.  It looks pretty descent for now until I go with a more permanent fix that looks better.   And I can mount a few switches or gauges there if I decide to.

[WetRaider]

I think that cutting board can look pretty decent - especially for the cost.
Maybe find a Glastron Emblem and mount the emblem to the cutting board and fasten it down … make it look intentional.

[dgmeyer]

You can cut it on a table saw to make it whatever size you want and use a roundover router blade just like its a piece of wood.   I use this material all of the time for lots of projects.  I have a friend that is in the commercial kitchen business.  I'm thinking about getting a 4' x 4' sheet of 1/2" inch and 3/4" material from him.  I've seen people make ski locker doors, access ports, etc. out of this.