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Hidden Sub and Heater R LXI


Joeprunc

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Sorry I just want to vent a bit...

I purchased this boat last year and the stereo blew.  So I decided to do a few upgrades, (new head unit, new Wetsound 6.5" speakers powered by an amp).  It wasn't enough in the open air with the motor running or under way.  I truely wish I went with the higher end (Wetsound 650 or Polk DB650 vs the Wetsound 65).  So to fix this wowe I'm swapping the amp for a 5 channel and installing a sub.  However I also am going to be installing a heatcraft heater (2 port) and try to keep it all behind the foot well of a Response LXI.  Holy crap is that space tighter than I anticipated, my boat is always on the water and I finally pulled it out early this month to do some work on it.  Unfortunately I bought a 12" Alpine Type R thinking I wasn't going to screw up again...now looking at the space I've got, I sure wish I only had a 10"....who said bigger is always better.

So I've been working on measurements and putting together a cardboard template, and figured out how to fit it all.  I guess I'll be making a custom box this weekend, there are a ton of angles with the box forming to the curvature of the hull, I'm afraid its going to look like s***.  Or do you think I should just throw the sub in a old truck box and put it in the passenger side compartment?  Also I have some cabinet grade, high end birch 7/8" plywood, there is a lot of debate online over plywood vs mdf sub boxes.  But the consensus I'm getting is MDF is easier, and cheaper to get void free wood.  It is also easier to work with and bevel.  However if you use high end plywood without any voids you can get a better quality box.  I think of all the high end house speakers are all made from solid wood.  Also thinking that plywood would handle moisture better than MDF.

If the project goes well maybe I'll take pictures and update what I did.

Anyways just needed to vent a little with my frustration.

 

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Use lots of resin on your sub box in case the heater ever leaks. I just rebuilt my own sub box after the core leaked & the box swelled up & became unusable. Lots of pics of my own build here, other member's builds, one of which is in a Response. . Might give you some ideas about how to consolidate the sub & heater vents.

Good luck!

Edited by Bill_AirJunky
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A ready made box may save you a lot of time.

http://www.amazon.com/Qpower-Single-Sealed-QBOMB-QBOMB12SSINGLE/dp/B00C92P304/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1456513608&sr=8-13&keywords=qbomb

Put some rubber feet on it to hold it off the carpet.  You can pull it out easily if need to work on other stuff in the footwell or under dash.

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7 minutes ago, edwin said:

Here's what I did with my RLXi - 10" sub, 3 outlet heater behind foot rest panel

 

 

 

 

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How is your XM radio reception with it down there - or do you have a separate antenna?

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I've been looking around at a lot of different ideas.

AirJunky, I've read that thread and seen your design, however I really want it to be hidden behind that kick panel.

I did buy a MDF box that I was hoping to be able to modify to fit, but for what its worth, I think I'd be better off building my own....If worst comes to worst I can throw that box in the passengers compartment for a year while i stew on the best solution.

Edwin...that is a foul aviator....makes me gag a little every time I see it.  I apologize in advance if that is a selfie. Do you like how the heater is set up?  I was going to run the extendable trunk and single vent on the left side of the kick board like this.  I noticed yours is below the dash.  

 

Capture.PNG

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41 minutes ago, Joeprunc said:

AirJunky, I've read that thread and seen your design, however I really want it to be hidden behind that kick panel.

 

Yea, thats what Dare did on his Response. And mine is basically the same thing. In my case, I replaced the kick panel with one of my own design (holds the sub like 4" off the floor & has the heater vents in it). But it's in basically the same place with the sub & heater behind it. I believe Dare's is very similar, other than his vents are to the side, rather than underneath. But also very close to the same position as stock.

  • Like 1
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7 hours ago, minnmarker said:

How is your XM radio reception with it down there - or do you have a separate antenna?

The antenna puck is in front of the windshield, clear view of the sky.  Works great

7 hours ago, Joeprunc said:

I've been looking around at a lot of different ideas.

AirJunky, I've read that thread and seen your design, however I really want it to be hidden behind that kick panel.

I did buy a MDF box that I was hoping to be able to modify to fit, but for what its worth, I think I'd be better off building my own....If worst comes to worst I can throw that box in the passengers compartment for a year while i stew on the best solution.

Edwin...that is a foul aviator....makes me gag a little every time I see it.  I apologize in advance if that is a selfie. Do you like how the heater is set up?  I was going to run the extendable trunk and single vent on the left side of the kick board like this.  I noticed yours is below the dash.  

 

Capture.PNG

I'm proud of my roundness...no shame in the selfie avatar!

Feel free to mount em wherever you like.  I wanted the extendable hot tube accessible with someone just reaching under the helm, vs having to get down on the ground.  It's been installed that way for 11 seasons now, works great.

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ahopkins22LSV

Edwin, did you ever run your sub without the fake speakers below the observer seat? That is how ours is setup now and I want to move it under the helm because we always have so much crap in that storage compartment that the sub gets drowned out. But thinking those might be a quicker solution. Probably not because we will still have a ton of crap in there but just wondering.

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I installed the stereo upgrade and it was apparent that there needed to be a way for the sound to get out.  It's definitely much better with the fake speakers, but I still open up the observers seat back if we're just hanging or swimming.  The under helm option seems better to me for the wake boats since they're deeper and the drivers' seat sits higher off the floor.  My drivers seat is just a few inches off the floor, so the drivers legs stick forward more than down.  

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ahopkins22LSV
5 minutes ago, edwin said:

I installed the stereo upgrade and it was apparent that there needed to be a way for the sound to get out.  It's definitely much better with the fake speakers, but I still open up the observers seat back if we're just hanging or swimming.  The under helm option seems better to me for the wake boats since they're deeper and the drivers' seat sits higher off the floor.  My drivers seat is just a few inches off the floor, so the drivers legs stick forward more than down.  

Exactly the debate I am having with myself...

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Thx to Airjunkys, " another sub story " got me finaly inspired to get my long

awaiting project into action. Moving my sub from the ski locker to under the helm.

Here's a pic of the new Kick panel, made of a poly. Heater vent is cut out, today cutting out the sub hole 

and mounting the sub box to the backside, tomorrow hope to glue on the carpet and get the wiring 

in place. 

20160221_150757_20160227_074748.jpg

Edited by Dare2goBare
  • Like 1
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2 hours ago, Dare2goBare said:

Thx to Airjunkys, " another sub story " got me finaly inspired to get my long

awaiting project into action. Moving my sub from the ski locker to under the helm.

Here's a pic of the new Kick panel, made of a poly. Heater vent is cut out, today cutting out the sub hole 

and mounting the sub box to the backside, tomorrow hope to glue on the carpet and get the wiring 

in place. 

20160221_150757_20160227_074748.jpg

That looks slick.  Will the sub box rest on the floor or are you supporting it somehow?

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Minnmarker

I will screw a 1 " square polly base bracket to the floor behind the kick panel for support

and the sub box will rest on that, fastened to the kick panel fron the front. Here's a link for Airjunkys post

you can see my cardboard template. I'll up date my progress there  as I don't want to hijack this thread.

http://www.themalibucrew.com/index.php?/forums/topic/58216-another-sub-story/&do=findComment&comment=902358

  • Like 1
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Well I started working on mine a bit more this weekend.  The Box came out better than I anticipated...I'm now trying to figure out where to route the heater and heater tubing.  My whole goal was again to maintain the same stock look, with the same stock kick board.

Here is my Joe Blow wood working skills.  Compound Miters are so freaking difficult!  Either way there is enough wood glue and caulking it hold it together. Don't worry about the ugly carpet job on the extreme angle side, no one will ever see that.

Now I'm trying to figure out how to fit the heater in...I had no ideal how tight that back area is. 

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Edited by Joeprunc
  • Like 2
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Looks good, yup not alot of room under the Response helm, hence why I didn't use the existing kickpanel,  etc. Heater was the big issue,

so I put in a new vertical  kickpanel. Now, carpet and LEDs

20160228_134752_20160228_145504.jpg

Edited by Dare2goBare
  • Like 2
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Alright spent some more time on this everything is done...except for wiring the heater.  This sub and heater install took way more time that I would have ever imagined, but I'm very happy with the finished product.  It turned out EXACTLY how I imagined, aside from the countless 4 letter words while working on it ;).

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So with the wiring of the heater, I did see the really good writeup by 09vRide

http://www.themalibucrew.com/index.php?/forums/topic/36974-heater-craft-hot-air-heater-install/

I noticed that he re wired the switch to the breaker bar.  All of my dash switches are already pre wired, I'm assuming to the breaker panel and to the grounding bar.  If so I'm assuming all I need to do is wire the high, medium, and ground (from the motor) to the switch...right?  I also bought a OEM heater switch cover, but didn't realize until now that the supplied switch doesn't have any lights ;(.  I guess I hold of on finishing the install until I get a new illuminated double pole switch in.

  • Like 1
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5 hours ago, Joeprunc said:

  It turned out EXACTLY how I imagined, aside from the countless 4 letter words while working on it ;).

Looks great,  like the way you incorporated the stock kick panel hiding the sub behind! Great idea.

And just what $%&# letter words might those be...lol....:rant:  THINK I May Have had the odd one too!

So how does it sound??

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It sounds amazing compared to before, its nice being able apply the HPF to the (4) 6.5" speakers, and let the sub push the rest.  But it is also in the garage, and without a motor running.  I know once I get outside and on the water everything will sound differently.  I have quite a bit of room to push the sub even more.  Amp should have the capability to push 600 rms @ 2 ohms to the sub.

Next; hook up the heater, and detail the boat, then put her back on the water and go skiing ;) 

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ahopkins22LSV

That looks great!! Nice work. Exactly what I want to accomplish with mine. I have a 10" sub so that gives me even more hope I can do it. Is that a 3 outlet heater? I am assuming I will have to move mine to the side like you did. How did you mount it to the side? I am nervous about going through the fiber glass into the walk way!

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9 hours ago, Joeprunc said:

It sounds amazing compared to before, its nice being able apply the HPF to the (4) 6.5" speakers, and let the sub push the rest.  But it is also in the garage, and without a motor running.  I know once I get outside and on the water everything will sound differently.  I have quite a bit of room to push the sub even more.  Amp should have the capability to push 600 rms @ 2 ohms to the sub.

Next; hook up the heater, and detail the boat, then put her back on the water and go skiing ;) 

Glad to hear it sound good, alot of work... today Carpet, run over the wiring from the Amp, then a sound test, a least those are my pans...lol...

Got the LEDS mounted  into the grill the other night, I'll post somemore pics a little later.

3 hours ago, ahopkinsTXi said:

That looks great!! Nice work. Exactly what I want to accomplish with mine. I have a 10" sub so that gives me even more hope I can do it. Is that a 3 outlet heater? I am assuming I will have to move mine to the side like you did. How did you mount it to the side? I am nervous about going through the fiber glass into the walk way!

ahopkins

Your going to find in our TXi's that the walkway speeker enclusure will limit you to where you can

mount the heater box, See my pic left side just above the hot tube. Hence for some color full words I had just as joeprunc. ..lol...

I don't think the LXi has this enclosure.

20151115_145832_20160306_073627.jpg

Edited by Dare2goBare
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4 hours ago, ahopkinsTXi said:

That looks great!! Nice work. Exactly what I want to accomplish with mine. I have a 10" sub so that gives me even more hope I can do it. Is that a 3 outlet heater? I am assuming I will have to move mine to the side like you did. How did you mount it to the side? I am nervous about going through the fiber glass into the walk way!

I was thinking as I was building the box, that a 10" would have been much easier....but I got such a good deal on it that I didn't want to return it.

Building the box was the biggest time sync.  The pictures really don't do justice on how complex the angles were...well at least for me.  I did build a cardboard box first, but there was a bit of tricky geometry to convert from cardboard to wood.  

Its only a 2 port heater, I think having a 3 port would make it a lot more difficult to make it fit with the stock kick panel and stock kick panel angle.  Doing something like what Dare or AirJunky did will probably be easier to fit it all.  When you remove all the panels to open up that area, I could see how thick the side wall was, and made sure the screws didn't exceed that length.  I had to modify the bracket mounting to make it easier to remove if the radiator leaks.  I also got some 90 degree brass fittings to make sure the hose bend radius wasn't to extreme.   I didn't take any pictures of the install, but if you want more let me know and I can take a few while the boat is still in my garage.

  

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2 hours ago, ahopkinsTXi said:

@Dare2goBare I remembered that after I posted. Interesting to see where your heater is mounted. Since we both have 13's I would assume . . . that mine will look the same when I remove the kick plate.

Depends is the factory or the dealer.  Our 1999 heater and shower was done at the factory and our 2000 was done at the dealer, completely different. Our 2005 was done by the factory because of the duel  2 vent heater and the neighbors 3 vent was done by Skiers Pier, pull out and defrost.

Most options at Skier's Pier like heaters, showers and stereo's, they did so any warranty problem would be handled by them at the factory. 

I went the easy way using a BassLink behind the kick panel.

2.jpg.0252eb8289e0c1e17861aed380eba0b0.j1.jpg.0e8bf57edaaa3466be5ced7e98f9a437.j

image_url-82-1366834927.jpg

Edited by onamission
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