160 Stereo upgrade (and looking for opinions on interior)

[NateRW21]

Hello ladies and gentlemen! I'm obviously new here, but I thought I'd share the stereo upgrade I did on my 89 160 BR last summer, along with some new additions planned this spring and see if I could get some input on upgrading my interior! So here goes... first, pictures of the stereo install (some parts are still a little rough; installed with future changes in mind):

Clarion CMD-5

XM Radio gear

Kicker MX720.5 amp

Back of boat; see wired remote for head unit?

Close up of remote

KM620 Coaxials

KM620 Coaxial and KM10 Sub (built in box)

Optima Blue top (mounted using aluminum bottom mount)

 

[NateRW21]

Okay so, some things to go over...

In the sub box, I used marine grade ply... what you see in the picture is not the finished product; I sealed the box with a top piece then fiber-glassed over it. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time last summer to fiberglass the inside, but that's first on the list this year, along with coating the inside with a light coating of spray on bed-liner then filling the box with poly filler (all of this will improve sound quality). Unfortunately, I had to make the box smaller than what the Kicker sub's sealed volume calls for. For this reason I may replace the Kicker sub with a Wet Sounds 10" sub. You can't tell in the picture, but I had to trim the bottom of the sub grill for it to fit. I MAY just rebuild the seat base and make it an 1" or two taller to get some space between it and the floor, as well as increase the box volume a bit. If I do this, I'll install another sub on the other side where there is currently a built in cooler. This would also allow me extra room to install a second Optima Blue top.

Also note the extra 6 gauge wires running to the battery are now hooked up and they go to an automatic battery maintainer mounted infront of the passenger, under the glove box. Same goes for the temp sensor.

 

[NateRW21]

Placement of the rear speakers on the engine cover was a necessary evil although I'm still very much not happy with the location. It will be very likely that I'll be re-doing the interior of the boat as I absolutely hate the colors (well, the dark green isn't bad but that mint green makes me sick to my stomach). If I do this, I'll repair the holes made for the speakers in the cover before having the vinyl redone. I'll make the opening in the sides for storage a bit smaller so I can fit the speakers just in front of the rear jump seats.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[ghuskin]

Nate,

Looks like a pretty nice job. I do agree with you about the placement of the speakers in the motorbox.

I'm afraid i'm not of much help on suggestions. I'm scrathcing my head on speaker palcement for my boat!

Welcome to CSR, BTW.

 

[NateRW21]

I've made contact with a Wet Sounds rep and a Wet Sounds dealer and have come to the conclusion that I will be adding the WS-420 (which controls in-boat and tower speakers independently, and has a tower speakers only hand-mic)... As well as the Wet Sounds Pro-60 and MB-8 tower speakers (I'm still debating what tower to buy; a lot of them would look retarded on a small boat like mine). I'll run the tower speakers off of the Kicker MX350.4 marine amp, bridged to two channels (so two amps). Or if I opt for the second sub, I'll run one MX350.4 and one MX720.5. Downside to this is building an amp rack and running the 2 gauge wire to be able to push 1420 or 1790 watts. The tower will also be out-fitted with three forward lights and two rear lights, independently controlled.

Given the gauges in the dash aren't in the best shape, I'm going to go ahead and replace them. By using a 4-in-1 gauge, I'll save some room, allowing me to move my head unit up next to the gauges. Hopefully I'll have room to mount the WS-420 above the head unit, if not it will go where the head unit currently resides. The dash will be constructed out of aluminum and powder-coated white; I'll use white face gauges with either black or chrome bezels. My switches will be moved down to where the head unit currently is, and I'll replace the broken compass with a new white one. Both the switch panel and compass mounting panel will be powder-coated aluminum. All of these panels will be trimmed out as they are now (with vinyl). It should be noted that the aluminum panel the head unit is attached to currently mounts on top of the vinyl trim; this will be changed so it mounts behind it, and I'll open up the size of it as large as I can to enable me to fit all of the switches. I'll also be replacing the black plastic glove box door with a powder-coated aluminum door.

 

[Gunn]

Nice looking setup! And from what pictures we can see of it, nice looking boat; looks well maintained. I wonder what all that sounds like? Probably awesome. And then I wonder how much $$$? :grin:

I hear you on the teal color; when I purchased my '95, it had the same color interior as yours. We replaced it all with Navy blue; one of the three choices offered that year (Teal, Maroon, Navy Blue). Looks tons better!

 

[NateRW21]

Nate,

Looks like a pretty nice job. I do agree with you about the placement of the speakers in the motorbox.

I'm afraid i'm not of much help on suggestions. I'm scrathcing my head on speaker palcement for my boat!

Welcome to CSR, BTW.

Thanks!!!

I've done a reasonable number of stereo installs on cars; this is my first on a boat. I can not tell you how agrivating it was; speaker placement and amp mounting are so limited it's truily very difficult. The guy at Wet Sounds I spoke to said on boats, audio imaging isn't even an issue; due to it being open air, it's hard to get good imaging as it is. He basicly said stick stuff where it will fit!

 

[NateRW21]

Nice looking setup! And from what pictures we can see of it, nice looking boat; looks well maintained. I wonder what all that sounds like? Probably awesome. And then I wonder how much $$$? :grin:

I hear you on the teal color; when I purchased my '95, it had the same color interior as yours. We replaced it all with Navy blue; one of the three choices offered that year (Teal, Maroon, Navy Blue). Looks tons better!

THANKS!!! I was very happy with the condition of the boat; when I went to the dealer, being my first boat and the price limit I set for myself... The guy said "I can get you into a mid-90's boat, but the condition won't be this good".

The stereo does sound great; my only complaint really is my XM reception is horrible. But I'm using a car antenna; once I replace it with a marine antenna I'm hoping to see an improvement.

 

[ghuskin]

Yeah, I hear you on that. Trouble is, there aren't many flat surfaces that have a cavity behind them! I may have to manufacture something for speakers?

Trouble is, boat is in lock-up (storage) until sometime in april. I can't even poke around and reassess the situation.

Ever make it over to Lake St. Clair?

 

[NateRW21]

Okay, now for where I REALLY need some input!!!

As stated, I intend on re-doing the interior (which is a shame because aside from some slightly matted carpet, it really is in perfect condition... if not for that hideous teal!!!)

My questions are....

#1. I'm having a hard time deciding between two captains chairs with flip up bolsters or keeping the seating arrangement the way it is, one captains chair, one lounge chair. Plus side to the lounge chair is of course that it folds out (you can't really seat someone on the back of it with someone in the rear jump seat; they are too close, so seating availability isn't an issue), but the plus side to two captains chairs would be more floor room and a more comfortable seat. What do you guys think??

#2. Color options: I'll be getting the carpet from a friend of mine in the marine industry... My choices are limited to sage, taupe, grey or blue. The boat graphics, Bimini top and mooring cover are all a deep green. This leads me to thinking taupe carpet with vinyl which would be based with white as is now, having green as a primary accent color and taupe as a secondary accent color. Any thoughts on this? The designs on the vinyl would be updated as to look a little less 1980's and I'd be getting the vinyl and seats through Veada. This might lead to those aluminum pieces I talked about earlier taking on one of the accent colors with the vinyl surrounding them in the opposite accent color.

#3. LED rope lighting... I'm VERY seriously considering installing it under the side panels so it lights up along the bottom of the sides, along the top of the side storage openings, along the bow pads, lighting up pretty much the entire bow between the pad and seat cushions, and perhaps along the bottom of the two consoles. The color would be a soft white (very much like soft incandescent lights, but still the low power consumption of LED's). What do you guys think???

#4. Aqualuma Series 1 underwater LED lights. They run about $750 and come as a pair. Anyone have any experience with these? The idea seems pretty slick, a nice glow from the rear of the boat but they only have one LED each which makes me wonder if it will produce enough light to be worth it ($750 for some useless underwater lighting is tough to commit to, let alone if it ends up being hardily noticeable). I'm VERY iffy on this idea and would love some input!!!

 

[NateRW21]

Yeah, I hear you on that. Trouble is, there aren't many flat surfaces that have a cavity behind them! I may have to manufacture something for speakers?

Trouble is, boat is in lock-up (storage) until sometime in april. I can't even poke around and reassess the situation.

Ever make it over to Lake St. Clair?

I'm over at Selfridge pretty often actually... But I've yet to bring my boat with me. I'm hoping to change that this summer; with the launch on base and everything, it's hard not to want to bring the boat! I've had a Zodiac out there before, does that count?!? I usually go down by Jackson or west of Lansing. Small lakes, but they also seem to be less crowded; but big enough to do tubing and skiing on!

is the interior of your boat mostly fiberglass or vinyl? It would be all too easy to build up a fiberglass enclosure then have it recovered in vinyl. Might not be cheap, it it wouldn't be difficult. It's obviously an entirely different situation if you've got a mostly fiberglass interior!!

 

[First Born]

Looks great, the condition of the interior looks wonderful, but I hear you on the color. Good luck!!!

Wesley

 

[NateRW21]

Thanks First Born!!!

I looked at your install; looks great!!! I would have went JL myself if they had I not gotten a really good deal on the Kicker stuff. I LOVE JL; run it in my truck and when I finally get around to it, I'll be putting JL in my car!

 

[wish2fish]

Wow Nate the inside of your boat looks awesome. I sold my 1989 160 back in May 2006. The vinyl on my seats was in horrible shape and I really tried to take care of it. My interior was just blue, lite blue and white.

 

[NateRW21]

Wish2Fish... That was a good looking 160; atleast the hull is!!

If mine had the blue and white, I imagine I'd stick with it; it's not nearly as bad as the teal-baby poo green I've got!

I just got this boat last spring and I have no idea who owned it before, but the over-all condition of it would make me believe it didn't get a whole lot of use

 

[NateRW21]

So, any thoughts on captain's chair w/ recliner lounge vs dual captains chairs?

What do you all think of the color combination I mentioned?

 

[wish2fish]

I had the dual buckets and the rear seat was a bench all the way across with a large sun pad. I looked at the 1989 archives on the sea ray site but they don't show that in the brochure. The 1990 brochure does show it and it can be http://www.searay.com/Archives_Manuals/Sea_Ray_Archives/1990/25%20feet%20and%20below/160BR_SS.pdf. I would recommend the dual bucket as it would create more room. You can only have 6 on board anyway so losing 1 seat wouldn't make that much of a difference.

 

[NateRW21]

Okay yeah... I've seen that layout; I think the O/B version had the same layout but minus the sunpad. But I've not seen that layout on an 89. Perhaps you got a late production 89?

I am leaning toward two captains chairs; my rear seats move up to create a sun pad and the lounge isn't really that useful... but it is handy to have... Tough decisions!!

 

[wish2fish]

I acutally bought the boat in August 1988 but it was a early 1989. I don't know why the brochures don't show that seating arrangement.

Here are a few of the interior pictures. you can see the cracking vinyl.

 

[NateRW21]

Hmmm... Did they have this seating arrangement for 88? Perhaps it was a carry-over option they only did for early 89's??? I'm obviously just guessing!!

I noticed another difference; yours didn't have the below deck storage. Was there plenty of storage under the rear bench (I'm assuming this is why it didn't have the below deck storage)?

I see the cracked vinyl; what a shame!!! Otherwise it looks to be in good condition! Floor looks to be in good shape, along with the dash, glove box and instruments.

Have you ever seen a 160 with the full enclosure? Mine has the factory bimini top which seems to be the base for a full enclosure, but I've had no luck what so ever finding any information about anything of the sorts being in existence. I'm not sure just how practical it would be on such a small boat but I'm always interested in learning more about the things I own!