Some months back, I was pondering what to do about a GPS mount. The suction cup my Tomtom One XL came with was constantly losing its grip, and the kuda was pricey and not very attractive, IMHO. When I read this post (https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ighlight=proof), something clicked and I knew what I wanted.


Saran wrap over the dash to protect it

Modeling clay, a scrap piece of 3/4" plywood, and some plaster cloth

I made a big wad of the clay and covered the lip of the dash above the speedo, where I put the saran wrap, with it and then jammed the plywood on top of the clay, making sure the clay and the plywood were securely joined. This is what I had when i pulled it off.

I then began layering plaster cloth onto the clay impression

Eventually creating a plaster copy of the edge of the dash

The next step was to trim the plaster mold to shape. For this, I cut out a piece of heavy paper and trimmed it until I liked the shape.

After trimming the plaster mold to the shape of the paper and coating it with wax, I began laying fiberglass cloth in epoxy resin.

After about 4 layers, I decided the plastic part would come off the plaster mold without breaking.

I then trimmed the plastic part to shape, and glued a wood block to it to receive the Kuda/Tomtom part.

Here I am checking the fit after starting to shape the wood block.

I covered the wood with more fiberglass & epoxy resin, sanded, filled, sanded, etc. until it looked good, and painted it with Rustoleum Textured Black ( an almost exact match to the Kuda part). Here is the result.


The attachment is by a piece of 3/16" black shock cord, and two hooks I made from sheet brass to fit the louvers in the dash. The hooks were dipped in "Blacken-It" and the part that grabs the louver coated with Plasti-Dip. Here is what it looks like with the Tomtom on it.

It is very secure, installs and removes in 15 seconds, leaves no evidence on the dash, and is sturdy enough to store in the door pocket without any protection.


I love it!

 

If it was a Garmin you could have saved a lot of time and bought one of these... Doesn't TomTom have one of these?

 

Wow that is a wonderful piece of work there. I'm amazed at people who can visualize something & then make it. Bravo!

I bought a Kuda mount & you are correct it is pretty darned unattractive. I've taken it off & am using the Nuvi suction cup on the speedo. Not ideal, but workable.

Anybody want a R53 Nuvi Kuda mount cheap?