Just bought a 2000 Sun Tracker 25ft. Nice pontoon, but the audio is pretty weak. I'd like to get a new headunit and some speakers, maybe even a subwoofer. Any advice/ideas/lessons learned would be greatly appreciated.

I should also say I know nothing about marine electrical systems. This is one of those deals where the wife says "Honey, guess what?". Kind of blindsided me with it, but it was a good deal and I think we'll enjoy it.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

Shop on-line for some marine grade audio (head / amps). You might want to look at speakers similiar to what is used on wake-towers... Those have got to be able to be had as well.

 

Well of course it can depend on what you want to spend....
It's a 12v system just like your truck.
Only they want twice as much for "marine Grade" amps, speakers, subs, etc.

Unless your wanting a head unit that doesnt have somehting that one does like MP3 or something, then I'd leave the head unit. I cant remember what brand BT uses but it's not a bad head unit.
Upgrade the factory speakers though, they are the cheap ones.
You will probably be happier replacing teh 5"-6" factory speakers with 6x9, but means you have to cut on the seat bases. Not a big deal very easy to do. Another thing that will help is to build or buy a housing to put around them in the seat bases. It cuts into storage slightly but not enough to matter and the sound is much better.

You can aslo add an amp and Sub for the lows and put it pretty much anywhere under any of the seats firing out. I'd also build a box for that too.
or you can just throw a sealed box under any of the seats.

The nice thing about pontoons, you just drill a hole in the floor and run your wires to where you want to. Depending on the configuration of teh boat if it has the conveience center infront of the console then you could put one there and not have to drill any holes. Or if avaialble in the couch infront of the console and not have to drill either.

Placement depends on configuration but the hardest ones, on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the hardest and needing teh most experince, the hardest possiable ones would be a 1.

 

PSS,
Thanks for the advice. The head unit that's installed now must be aftermarket, cause it's a POS. I know what you mean about "marine grade" costing more. I've been browsing ebay for "marine" headunits,speakers amps,subs,etc. DANG!!!

So basically, I can drill through the floor and run the speaker wires underneath? Nice. Any special speaker wire needed?
Going up to a 6x9 would sound a lot better. There's only two speakers on the boat now and both are facing aft.

Where would I find the housings you mentioned for the speakers in the seat bases? I'd like to put 2-3 more speakers in. Not really concerned about an amp/sub just yet, but maybe someday.

Does the HU and speakers draw off of the boat battery? If so, does the boat battery get recharged from the motor? I've only got a 50hp engine.

Sorry if I'm asking dumb questions, I just want to do this right.

Thanks again for the help.
Daryl

 

With only a 50hp motor I would be concerned about the electrical power output of the motor. I don't know how your boat is configured as far as batteries go but you engine should be connected to you main cranking battery. This battery will be charged while the engine is running. Be aware that at idle speeds the battery will not be receiving much of a charge. I know that a lot of fishing boats will have a Trollbridge installed to charge all of the batteries. Priority is given to the main battery and once it is fully charged the secondary batteries get charged back up. I would check what your power output is and your current requirements before I added much more current draw.

 

Yea I'm with wookie, I'm use to inboards which are identical to a car so the 140 amp alternators dont take long to bring a battery back to life.
I think yours will likely have a much lower amp generator.
As far as you radio yes it runs off the battery, I would again back wookie and install a second battery, One for the motor and one for the radio. If you dont want to buy the bridge the you can get selector switch to switch back and forth between the two batteries. More trouble while using but cheaper and easier to install.

You can get a cheap prefab 6x9 housingsings, a cheap 6x9 carpeted housing from walmart for $13.96.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=3661256

It's not "marine grade" but will last 3-4 years or more and cheap enough you can repalce them every couple of years. Or you can go buy some marine grade plywood and build one. But marine grade playwood, last I looked was over $100 for a 4x8' 1/4" thick sheet.

What you are actually doing is putting that under the seat in the seat base up against the back of the seat base and using the speaker mounting screws to secure it with the speaker inside. If that makes sense. It just forces more of the sound out through the speaker instead of filling the seat base under the seat with sound. It aslo gives the speaker, especially if you go with a 2way or 3way, then it gives that driver the proper air resistance for better faster response with less rattle and less chance of tearing the surround at high volume (aka blowing it).

BTW yea just normal speaker wire and yea just drill throug hte floor and run it acroos, be sure to secure it against the belly though so you dont accidentally catch it on the trailer while loading it sometime.

 

I wish my wife would surprise me with a Pontoon. My surprises consist of "Honey guess what, you aren't putting anyone money in that truck!"

Good luck with the pontoon buddy, I lookin to get one soon, we just bought a pop up though, even though we live just off of a Lake.

 

As long as you have decent marine deep cycle batteries, you'll be fine to run the system... I've got one new (good) marine battery, and one ok marine battery. I've run the system (about 800 watts) for about 4 hours with the motor off with still plenty of cranking power from both batteries. My battery selector is always in the "both" position. Oh, and my Chrizzler 130 with its tiny alternator/generator/battery charging thing keeps up with it pretty good...

 

I was wondering why I have two batteries on the 'toon. I still need to get under the dash and figure out where the radio is hooked up to.

The 'toon also came with a small generator attached to some plywood back by the engine. I've not cranked it up as of yet, but I think that'll come in handy (for the blender!)!

Anyone have any preferences when it comes to "marine grade" audio? A new HU and speakers are all I want to put in for now, I figure 4 more speakers (6x9) ought to get me to a good start.

Thanks for the advice so far. Anything else would be great. I've never owned a boat before!

 

If you have a generator I would not leave the trailer without a way to hook that bad boy up to my main batttery, just in case.

I can't help you much with marine audio components. To me the best sound on my boat is hearing the drag on my reel getting pulled, the rest is just filler.

 

I've got a JBL headunit (MR17), 2 JBL 6 1/2s, 2 JBL 6x9s, and a cheapo Walmart 10" sub that I threw my 600 watt amp on from my F-150. It sounds pretty damn good.

 

Mine is the hum of the engine and scream of the wind. I don't even have a stero in mine. It dont matter how many people are on board it's complete and total solitude to me. It would take alot of power to beable to hear it over the wind and exhaust, and its just a stock through the prop exhaust too. If I ever get one with through the hull or captains choice. Forget having a radio while running.


It is interesting that it has a generator.....
I'd definatly grab a cheap 110v battery charger form walmart to take onboard with me just incase thats why it has it.
The reason that it's concerning, is because you can get a marine grade 300W 12v to 110v inverter for about $25. That will run most any small appliances.
You can also get cordless or 12v blenders, coffee pots, toasters etc for about $50.
So to have a $300+ generator, that cost and weighs many times more than any of those options, seems odd. Although they may have just had it siting around and decided to slap it on.

 

I can vouch for that!

 

A big, screaming two stoke would be my other favorite sound on a boat. I don't have a stereo either at 60+ there is no way that I would be able to hear it. I have thought about it but the only time that I could hear it would be when I was stopped. Then I have so many other things pulling power from the battery I would be worried about running the battery down. The only time it would be used is on party weekends.

 

Thats the only time that it would really be nice is when we have droped anchor in a cove and are just swimming. Ussually we can find another boat doing the same thing that has a radio and I simply ask to tie up with them. If they dont let me tie up then I drop anchor about 50 yards away and can still hear thier radio. Ussually tehy dont mind becasue it adds stability to thier boat. The more boats you get to tie up togther the more like a floating island you become.