Boat stereo update:
 

Amp rack before the final cover is in place. Without the cover water from the wakeboard rope, or from large waves would get the front of the amp wet, which wasn't good.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...reo/amp_01.jpg

Amp rack with plexi cover installed. Painted flat black for now, going to change to gloss black later. Would have painted white, but it would scuff and show marks too easily.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...reo/amp_02.jpg

Screen mesh I installed beside the amp to allow air flow behind and around the cooling fins. There is an exhaust port at the back of the boat, so airflow naturally wants to go through that opening at out the side/rear of boat.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1.../amp_grill.jpg

Other side of boat (identical to amp side). This is what the opneing used to look like without the rack.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...back_speak.jpg

Source that drives it all. Nothing special.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...tereo/deck.jpg

Front drivers speaker (one of 4 speakers total in boat)
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...eo/r_speak.jpg

Custom sub built into boat. No loss of leg room. The 5/8" mdf box is sitting in an unused cavity that was being used for nothing before the box was added. I was contemplating a location, and with the sub downfiring, the bass is extended well throughout the boat, and the passangers are also comfortable because they can still extend their legs in the area below.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...reo/sub_02.jpg

Second view of sub.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...stereo/sub.jpg

Total cost on this project: $200 I think. All materials I used were scrap. Leftover plexi and MDF. The amp was $65 used. Its a 5 channel pioneer amp in rough shape. I sanded it smooth and painted silver. The sub was $15 on ebay. Speakers were from my car before I upgraded. All wiring was leftover (4 awg welding cable and dist. block etc). Deck was $100 or so.

nice work! looks good and I bet you're having fun with it out on the water

nice looks great!!!

what kind of boat? and how powerful an amp??

boat is old lol.

Its a 1988 Doral Spirit 17.5ft bowrider with 115HP Yamaha. Pretty old, but its in good shape for its age, and Im not complaining. Wish I had a nice wakeboard boat but there too bloody expensive. So my Joystock pylon and some weight in the back has to do.

Amp isn't that powerful. I think its 50 X 4 RMS for the speakers and 100X1 for the sub. Thing is with outboard motor is they have a very small aux charger. It is only meant to run things like lights for night time and instrument panel accessories etc. But so far I have great luck, no drained batteries or anything of the sort. I think its like a 20-25amp charger.

hey man whatever gets the job done... wakeboarding behind an old boat is better than no wakeboarding at all...

i was on a brand new moomba lsv this weekend and damn... i think i've been spoiled lol... 3 built in ballasts 1 front, L & R and dang... :yummy: what a beautiful wake...

but i don't have a boat, so heck i'd take a boat from the 70's if it was atleast fast enough for a good start and strong enough to pull me lol...

Nice job!

Boat stereo
 

I know I am bringing this back from the dead but how did you go about wiring the amp in the boat? Do you just run the ground back to the battery? I have a bowrider that I am looking to upgrade the stereo in. Any help is appreciated


BTW: It feels good to be back. I haven't been on the forum in about 6 years. It's good to see that you guys are still alive and kicking lol.

hey 96ek nice to see you back :D

Yes all grounds are run back to the NEG on the battery. All factory grounds run to a small ground block under the dash for lights etc, but its only a 12 or 14 awg wire so you need to run it right back to the battery.

Do you have an outboard or I/O on the bow rider? If its an outboard like mine they have very weak charging systems so be careful how much power you plan on running (I used a very small wattage amp to power everything). I/) usually have regular alternators so they have more amperage output (closer to a car output).

Thanks
 

Thanks for the reply,

I have a 4.3 merc i/o although I haven't really taken a good look at the charging system yet. I would think it's pretty stout as it's a v6 and im pretty sure is very similar to the 4.3 gm motors found in your average astro van?

yeh you should be good to go. Most marine blocks are the same as car/truck engines with different cams (different power band needed for boats) and different starter and electrics. The engine in my boat is a GM 350 5.7L. It even has GM stamped on the block.