Problems running additional tower speaker wire for 3rd pair of towers

[shenard]

I have decided to go with the Hybrid tower speaker setup from Exile. Have already installed the rest of the system with the surf tower speakers in the dual position instaleld with the G3 adaptor (will start a new thread with new pics/etc. after I solve my current problem). All I have left to install are the XM9s on the loop on my G3 tower and this is where I have run into a hiccup. Adding the third set of tower speakers requires me to run additional speaker wire for them and the problem is once I ran the speaker wire thru the loop and down the top part of the tower I noticed the the factory hole (through the tower base and thru the fiberglass on the boat) is not big enough to run any more speaker wire. I was hoping the other side of the tower base had been drilled through the boat and I could just fish the wire down that side but it is not drilled.

Does anyone have any suggestions short of having the remove the entire tower from the base and then remove the base and drill another hole? How hard would it be to (with tower folded down) be to detach the tower and remove the base on one side and drill new hole and then re-attach and do the same thing on the other side?

Arggggghhhhh! Thought I was almost done and didn't forsee this problem.

[Bawshogg]

Three options. Remove all the wires currently in the tower and switch to a smaller jacketed wire or smaller gauge wire for all 6 speakers. This will allow you to use the existing hole.

From my expierience the holes in the mounting plate and the holes in the boat and the hole in the tower are not properly aligned. You can loosen the three tower nuts under the gunnels (3x 3/4" NUTS) . With the tower down you can manipulate the tower and lower plate in attempt to get your last set of wires through. Its much easier to go from the bottom side up. I also recommend the tower be in down position with something supporting the front when trying this.

Third option is to get a 90 drill with a short bit and drill up from the bottom, but the tower will need to be loose in order to see and pull this one off also.

I have done all three methods and I think switching to 14 gauge jacketed wire is the easiest method I have used. You can use the existing wires as your pullers. You will notice no difference in sound or output with as much power as you have on tap. I ran six sets of 14/2 wire in my own boat.

[shenard]

Three options. Remove all the wires currently in the tower and switch to a smaller jacketed wire or smaller gauge wire for all 6 speakers. This will allow you to use the existing hole.

From my expierience the holes in the mounting plate and the holes in the boat and the hole in the tower are not properly aligned. You can loosen the three tower nuts under the gunnels (3x 3/4" NUTS) . With the tower down you can manipulate the tower and lower plate in attempt to get your last set of wires through. Its much easier to go from the bottom side up. I also recommend the tower be in down position with something supporting the front when trying this.

Third option is to get a 90 drill with a short bit and drill up from the bottom, but the tower will need to be loose in order to see and pull this one off also.

I have done all three methods and I think switching to 14 gauge jacketed wire is the easiest method I have used. You can use the existing wires as your pullers. You will notice no difference in sound or output with as much power as you have on tap. I ran six sets of 14/2 wire in my own boat.

Thanks Bawshogg. I was afraid those were my only options. I was really tempted to try and loosen the tower base and try and drill a new hole from underneath but I will mot likely be doing this myself and way too paranoid about the tower sliding and scratching up a brand new boat. I am also assuming that to get the tower loose I have to disconnect the piston and the large allen bolt holding the tower to the base? If so, I am not going to try that by myself.

Will probably end up re-wiring all of the tower wire with 14 gauge wire (the 12 guage that Brian sent me is pretty thick. My only concern is the that at first glance the hole on the driver side did not appear quite as big as the one on the port side. I guess I should probably try fishing some 14guage through first and see if it fits becuase if not, I will end up having to make the hole bigger anyways and will probably go back to my dealer and pay one of the tech guys to help me out.

Edited June 22, 2015 by shenard

[shenard]

I am thinking of using this wire: http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=102&cp_id=10239&cs_id=1023902&p_id=2820&seq=1&format=2 or this: http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=102&cp_id=10239&cs_id=1023902&p_id=2791&seq=1&format=2 to re-wire the tower speakers. What do you think? I may actually be able to remove the white sheating from the top of the tower base to underneath the gunnel and they may fit the existing holes?

Edited June 22, 2015 by shenard

[mikeo]

The other (drivers) side of the tower is drilled and it has two small wires going up for the anchor light, look closer and you'll find them zip-tied up in the gunnel. It's a PITA to run wire all the way around, but at least you don't have to drill.

I had to drill a new hole in the gunnel under the tower mount this weekend since my wires wouldn't fit either. Here's what I did:

1. Brace the tower up and remove the two philips screws holding the gas shocks/plates.

2. Gently lower the tower so it is resting supported at dash level.

3. Remove the nylock nut and heim joint bolt from both sides.

4. Put lots of towels on the gunnel for protection and move the tower off the bases and set it down 18" forward. There should be enough room in your existing wires to do this, check and have slack first.

5. Remove the 3/4 in nuts under the gunnel so you can use the aluminum brace as a template.

6. Mask the gunnel with painters tape and mark your spot to drill.

7. Drill a small pilot hole.

8. Get the big bit and RUN THE DRILL BACKWARDS UNTIL THE BIT IS ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE GELCOAT!!! This prevents cracking the gelcoat and is what they do at the factory. It may take a while, but you don't want any cracks.

9. I had to disassemble the lower mount to get the wire through.

10. Put everything back together but leave the 3/4 nuts loose so the bases can shift. Make sure the gas springs are reconnected.

11. Undo and redo the latches (if it's a G3.2 tower) multiple times to get the alignment set. This is critical as the clamps don't work unless aligned properly.

12. Tighten 3/4 gunnel nuts.

13. Post pictures of the completed project.

This is what I used to support the tower:

http://m.harborfreight.com/2-in-1-support-cargo-bar-66172.html

I zip tied the base plate in place so the support was always under the tower.

I also used a penumatic ratchet and deep well sockets to undo the nuts on the tower base. They're threaded studs and one of the nuts stuck so it came off from the bottom. To fix this I threaded on a new 1/2-13 nut "under" the nylock, threaded the stud back in the tower base, torqued the new nut against the base, removed the nylock, and then removed the "new" (non-nylock) nut and the stud stayed in place.

Malibu should really drill all 4 (2 per side) thru-gunnel wiring holes by default.

[shenard]

The other (drivers) side of the tower is drilled and it has two small wires going up for the anchor light, look closer and you'll find them zip-tied up in the gunnel. It's a PITA to run wire all the way around, but at least you don't have to drill.

I had to drill a new hole in the gunnel under the tower mount this weekend since my wires wouldn't fit either. Here's what I did:

1. Brace the tower up and remove the two philips screws holding the gas shocks/plates.

2. Gently lower the tower so it is resting supported at dash level.

3. Remove the nylock nut and heim joint bolt from both sides.

4. Put lots of towels on the gunnel for protection and move the tower off the bases and set it down 18" forward. There should be enough room in your existing wires to do this, check and have slack first.

5. Remove the 3/4 in nuts under the gunnel so you can use the aluminum brace as a template.

6. Mask the gunnel with painters tape and mark your spot to drill.

7. Drill a small pilot hole.

8. Get the big bit and RUN THE DRILL BACKWARDS UNTIL THE BIT IS ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE GELCOAT!!! This prevents cracking the gelcoat and is what they do at the factory. It may take a while, but you don't want any cracks.

9. I had to disassemble the lower mount to get the wire through.

10. Put everything back together but leave the 3/4 nuts loose so the bases can shift. Make sure the gas springs are reconnected.

11. Undo and redo the latches (if it's a G3.2 tower) multiple times to get the alignment set. This is critical as the clamps don't work unless aligned properly.

12. Tighten 3/4 gunnel nuts.

13. Post pictures of the completed project.

This is what I used to support the tower:

http://m.harborfreight.com/2-in-1-support-cargo-bar-66172.html

I zip tied the base plate in place so the support was always under the tower.

I also used a penumatic ratchet and deep well sockets to undo the nuts on the tower base. They're threaded studs and one of the nuts stuck so it came off from the bottom. To fix this I threaded on a new 1/2-13 nut "under" the nylock, threaded the stud back in the tower base, torqued the new nut against the base, removed the nylock, and then removed the "new" (non-nylock) nut and the stud stayed in place.

Malibu should really drill all 4 (2 per side) thru-gunnel wiring holes by default.

Thanks Mikeo. This should be really helpful if I end up having to go this route. Did you end up taking all the side panels and black tray (one that has all the cup holders and speakers attached to it) out to gain access under the gunnel or did you just take out the 8" speaker and use that area for access?

[mikeo]

I ended up using the pneumatic ratchet to reach all 3 of the 3/4" nuts without removing the black panel or a speaker. The ratchet I used had enough torque and my knuckles kept the handle from hitting the inside of the fiberglass and causing damage. I fed the wire top-down starting at the hole in the tower where the speakers are; I used the Malibu wire as a pull string to guide my wire down to the gunnel and then it was easy to push it through the gunnel and have lots of space available for looming in to the storage compartment where the amps are mounted.

[shenard]

Well it looks like I caught a huge break! I took out both 8" Rockford speakers and gained more access and was able to just barely squeeze in the 12 gauge wire with the existing wires and then I created slack in the wires already run from the tower to gunnel and fed the new 12 guage up from the bottom and pulled on the existing wires at same time and was able to get the wires run all the way up tower base and thru to the loop on the tower! Will hopefully be able to finish up tomorrow and if we can ever stop getting rain and lakes will drain we may get out on the lake again! First pic you can see the third tower speaker wire dangling out the loop that I got fished around. Second picture is the our boat ramp and what our lakes in Dallas still look like! Water is still about 8-10 feet high before we can get a boat back in from the ramp! If you look in about the middle of the picture on the left side you can sort of make out the concrete underwater and that is the top of the boat ramp right before it goes down about another 20 feet!

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc394/ScottyMalibu/Boat%20Stereo%20Installation/IMG_0272.jpg

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc394/ScottyMalibu/Boat%20Stereo%20Installation/IMG_0231.jpg

Edited June 25, 2015 by shenard