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Installation help


petefranc

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I'm new to boat audio and am looking for advice on how to mount the amp behind the rear observer seat (seems to be the place everyone puts amps). I haven't looked to closely yet but it seems like behind the carpet on the wall is just the hull of the boat, I'm a bit concerned about drilling into the hull to mount the amp.

Also, We have the titan tower and are looking for some type of mount for the wire to run through to place over the hole we drill in the hull for the wire so it has a nice finish. Any advice on the tower speaker install or running wire on this tower would be awesome. Does anyone happen to have a titan tower that had factory tower speakers? It would be nice to see how Malibu ran the wire and what they used to cover the hole in the hull. Thanks!

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Edited by petefranc
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Pete- razor blade cut away small carpet sections along the hull on that interior compartment, then sand and acetone the fiberglass to glue small 2x4" or so wooden blocks to the hull with high grade adhesive. then you can screw mount a plywood amp board to those blocks. I know 3M makes a high grade adhesive specifically for this purpose and its crazy strong. Make a brace or make a contraption to really press those in when you use the glue. I dont recall the specific name of the stuff.

In many cases when done right... the fiberglass will tear away before the adhesive fails.

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not sure on the '02, but later models have carpeted 3/4" thick board on the inside wall and far wall in the passenger compartment that you can mount amps. battery chargers, perko switches to. If you are only doing 1 - 2 amps and they aren't huge, this may save you the time and effort of mounting a carpeted amp rack against the hull wall.

I went the amp rack route and have large amps, took a lot of install time, looks good and all, but I could of saved so much headache just getting smaller amps (jl audio d class) and mounting to the inside walls.

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We use the 3M fiberglass panel adhesive but it's costly and requires an expensive application gun that may not be worth the cost for a one-time project.

You can also use a body filler containing long fiberglass strands (looks like something the cat coughed up) and mix it with a polyester fiberglass resin. This combo will hold extremely well.

Acetone may be a bit aggressive for prepping the raw fiberglass hull interior after sanding. But mineral spirits or thinner will do fine. Easy does it.

All this would be readily available in any Home Depot paint department.

Also, if the amp panel doesn't need to be too large, then you can mount an amplifier panel as a vericle bridge between the back of the bow mold and the sole. Nothing but a couple of L-brackets and S.S. screws will be needed.

David

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On mine, I took a piece of 1/8" aluminum and attached it with the existing studs/ nuts that were penetrating the interior wall. Mounted the amps to the Aluminum, then the aluminum bolted to the 'studs'. Then put a piece of plexiglass over the amps (spaced with an aluminum channel I formed up) to keep the "stuff" thrown down there off of them. Still need to finish up the wiring and supporting of them but thats a good winter project.

The cutting of the carpet and exposing fiberglass to mount a pc of wood too is a good way too. I didn't think of that.

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I put an amp rack in my old vride (same hull):

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I just pulled the carpet back from the top and it peeled down exposing the hull. Then I cut several small lengths of trex 2x2 decking material (I think it's actually for a deck handrail) and glued it to the side of the hull with liquid nails. I let it cure for several weeks (twas winter). Then just laid the carpet back up over the trex and screwed the amp rack to the trex blocks through the carpet. I am an absolute DIY non carpenter type dude, and I think it came out pretty well. On the rack I cut out the space under the amps to run the wires, and I put each amp on spacers off of the floor of the rack to give a little room to get the wires under there.

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Thanks again guys. The install went great, I'll snap some pictures in the next day or two. We cut four square holes in the carpet for a small board with 4 legs that we made. We sealed the board with resin to make it water proof, maybe a bit overkill but oh well. It's attached to the hull with a heavy duty marine epoxy, the amp screwed into the board great and it looks awesome. Next on the to do list is to drill a hole in the bottom of the glove box for the mic cord to run through and then figure out where to mount the mic. The bimini top should be coming this coming week so I'll get some pictures of the boat up once it's on there.

Edited this post to show two install pics.

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The mic thats integrated into the amp and tower speakers is a lot of fun, I still need to mount it.

Edited by petefranc
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