Jump to content

Welcome to TheMalibuCrew!

As a guest, you are welcome to poke around and view the majority of the content that we have to offer, but in order to post, search, contact members, and get full use out of the website you will need to Register for an Account. It's free and it's easy, so don't hesitate to join the TheMalibuCrew Family today!

How to wire a Skylon Swoop tower for speakers (with pictures)


Nitrousbird

Recommended Posts

By request, I am posting up a quick "how I did it" for wiring up a Skylon Swoop tower that isn't previously wired.

First, I'll start with entry into the boat. I have two runs into the tower; one is the single pair of wires for my tower lights, the other is a 4-pair bundle for the speakers.

Here is the hull connection for the tower speakers, consisting of the following wire with Neutrik connectors on it (only one connector is used):

http://www.ebay.com/...984.m1497.l2649

Plus the boat side connector:

http://www.amazon.co...=neutrik nl8mpr

And the exposed parts of the wire covered in Techflex:

http://www.ebay.com/...984.m1497.l2649

DSC03923_zpsuwd3yiew.jpg

DSC03922_zpsct3l3vwf.jpg

Both wires enter the tower near the heim joint part of the tower (port side). Of note, don't drill too close to the weld seam, as it is solid even above the seam. Where I put the smaller tower light wire is the lowest you can go, and I really should have been about a 1/2" higher. The tower wire (also covered in Techflex), goes through the top of the hull through one of these:

http://store.earmark...&cat=306&page=1

Both rubber grommets had to be super glued in as they had no intentions of staying in place otherwise.

DSC03925_zps01rt4kqu.jpg

When folding the tower, you just disconnect the Neutrik connector on the hull; the wire for the tower can stay in place. The top of the hull in that area isn't wide enough to pass the speaker wiring through it, which is why i had to choose the location I did for the tower wiring.

From there, you fish the wire up the tower (it's all an open tube). The Exile speakers all run their wires through the mounts, so under each speaker a hole is drilled. Under the port speaker, I drilled a much larger hole (about 1") as you need room to work in order to get the lines fished and for the next holes that will need drilled. That hole is hidden when the speaker is mounted. The holes for the other 3 speakers are much smaller and hidden by those speaker clamps.

One fished to the big hole, you have to drill a hole on top of the tower before the weld seam for the cross bar. You can't fish it straight across as the cross bar is removable with 8 bolts, so there is no way to do it. You have to exit the bar then come back in once you pass where it bolts together. I could have chosen to drill into the back side, but that would have required another two holes in the support bar or going over top of that bar with the wiring, which would have been just as noticable. That, and the room to drill wasn't really there to do it, so I chose the top. I also mounted the tower light in that area and connect the wires for it there.

DSC03927_zpsthuh7bu0.jpg

From there, I drilled a hole in the back side of the crossbar. This is where 3 of the 4 pairs of wires run through (as the other pair has already hit the port side speaker). There is 1 zip tie holding the wire down - the only zip tie on the tower. Luckily, it isn't noticable at all on the other side of the tower that you normally see as I have it flush against the weld seam.

DSC03929_zpsovtivgma.jpg

Now I fished the 3 pairs of wires, stopping a pair at each of the two speakers that mount to the removable cross bar. Finally, I have to exit the last pair back out so I can make it to the other side of the tower. In this instance, I chose to drill extra vs. go over the top bar. My original intent was to fish inside, but found after drilling that Skylon has the whole area blocked off and welded up, so I couldn't fish it internally. That's why the wire passes through the bar and then goes to the other side of the tower.

DSC03928_zpswxbmuszt.jpg

This was all way more of a pain in the butt than I thought it would be. Not an easy tower to fish wires through, but obviously doable.

Edited by Nitrousbird
Link to comment

I have the same tower (pitb to get the wires in there - agreed). I bought some Neutrik inline connectors though, but have yet to install them (my tower rarely comes down). The only difference is I only ran 2 pairs of wire and ran the speakers in parallel. This way I was able to sneak the wire out through the speaker wire hole and up to the front of the mount, then ran the wire straight across the front of the tower between the mounts (and covered with the aluminum angle I made- since the mounts leave a triangular gap in the front and back on round tubing). This way I only had 5 total holes in the tower (4 at the speakers and 1 for the entrance).

20120831_064114.jpg

Your way was my first option but with only 2 pair of wires I was able to sneak them out. On the first pair of speakers, the wire is bulging the channel out a tad in the middle, but it's still not noticeable unless you are really looking.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
  • 3 years later...
6 hours ago, Jakeee said:

none of your pics are showing for some reason, any reason why?

Because you are quoting a topic from 2012, where I used ImgShack to host my pics before they changed their policies and became an irrelevant hosting company.  I just put them on my Photobucket account and redid the images...I think I got them right.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
  • 1 month later...

Can you add a picture of the boat-side connector for the tower wires (lights wires)? Did you use any sealant with this connector to prevent water from following the wires and entering through the fitting? Or maybe the deck fitting has a rubber seal already? 

Great install. Looks super clean.

Link to comment

This is almost exactly what I did on my '02. Here's a tip for fishing the wires through: get a shop vac and some kite string and after you drill the main holes use the shop vac to "pull" the string to the exit hole. Once you have the lightweith kite string run through the tower, you can use it to pull a fish tape or heavier string/wire through that will pull your main wires. The kite string is light enough that the suction from the shop vac on the exit hole will pull the string up from the entry hole.

Edited by mikeo
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...