www.iFourWinns.com

Hmm. Gives me an idea for the vista. But is it a pretty tight sounding bass? There doesn't appear to be any enclosure or baffling on the backside? Is there a lot of volume in that cavity? I suppose that cavity effectively functions as it's own "box"

Tim, that looks pretty nice. Curious, how did you treat the edges of the fiberglass that you sawed with a jig saw to prevent spidering of the fiberglass? Did the blue painters' tape alone do that?

mkivbren, if you don't think there is enough volume for a natural "box" you could also go with a "solid" mount, where you don't actually cut a hole and instead mount the sub's face right up against a flat surface so that all the sound goes out the back/bottom of the sub. It is done pretty often in places where the "box" is big enough but you don't want to cut a hole. Would probably be pretty tricky in that location, though.

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Paul
2007 Four Winns Horizon 220
Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI w/ Bravo III Drive
2004 Ford Explorer Limited (V8-AWD)
Pomme de Terre Lake (Southwest Missouri)

I used the blue tape and a fine tooth blade on the jig saw. It took two blades but it was a nice clean cut.

The sound is great and better than I expected. It’s not the loudest, but it gives it the nice full sound that I was looking for and has some deep base too. The only down side is that the shifter/throttle control rattles a little when I turn it up loud. Otherwise is works great. I was out yesterday enjoying the tones while cursing across the bay. My bother was with me and he was just as impressed.

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2004 230H 5.7 Gi DP - SOLD!

Nice job installing the equipment. Very professional looking.

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-Rob.


Current boat: 2011 Yamaha AR210
Previous boat: 1998 Horizon RX 4.3GL SX

Mike, do you have the rattling problems Tim has when you start pushing some volume? I'm planning on sticking the same type of deal in my 220H when I get it, but I'm trying to decide whether I want to cut a hole or not. Curious as to whether moving the sub that small amount takes the rattling of the throttle controls away.

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Paul
2007 Four Winns Horizon 220
Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI w/ Bravo III Drive
2004 Ford Explorer Limited (V8-AWD)
Pomme de Terre Lake (Southwest Missouri)

Well, not that I've ever noticed. I should say that we don't ever run it at real high volume though. I would think that vibration could be addressed with some padding, cable ties, or etc.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

I'm betting that yours is moved just far enough away to keep those controls from rattling around to the extent that you can hear. Them. Thanks for responding, and thanks to all for the info on this issue. I just didn't feel like paying $800+ for an upgrade that I could do myself for $500 or less.

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Paul
2007 Four Winns Horizon 220
Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI w/ Bravo III Drive
2004 Ford Explorer Limited (V8-AWD)
Pomme de Terre Lake (Southwest Missouri)

One more question, Tim-hope you don't mind. How easy/hard was it to get the cables run back to the battery? Was there enough opportunity to hide the postive and negative cables running back there? I'm assuming the RCA plugs and remote turn-on were easy since they were less than 6 feet apart.

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Paul
2007 Four Winns Horizon 220
Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI w/ Bravo III Drive
2004 Ford Explorer Limited (V8-AWD)
Pomme de Terre Lake (Southwest Missouri)

Here's a thread that might deserve a read before tearing into this project. In this case, the owner already had a sub but wasn't happy with the way FW wired it. (You'll also note that I'm perfectly happy with mine, and it's wired the same way.) He wound up adding a 2nd amp just to power the sub. There's some GREAT discussion about the electrical requirements for an added amp. If you don't know what you're doing with this stuff, you can burn down your boat in no time flat. Pay particular attention to Al's posts, he's a marine upgrade/electrician extraordinaire:

http://www.boatingabc.com/forums/ubbthr ... /0/fpart/1

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

When I first read your post, I thought, "That doesn't apply to me-I very much know what I'm doing." Glad I linked to it. I would have never thought to re-fuse that guy's setup after the distribution blocks, and would have assumed that the one on the 4AWG coming from the battery was enough.

Live and learn, and luckily not by way of a fire.

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Paul
2007 Four Winns Horizon 220
Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI w/ Bravo III Drive
2004 Ford Explorer Limited (V8-AWD)
Pomme de Terre Lake (Southwest Missouri)

Us Pomme FW boaters got to stick together, ya know?

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

That's right! Now, when you see a boat afire on Pomme, you do not have to suspect me first!

_________________
Paul
2007 Four Winns Horizon 220
Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI w/ Bravo III Drive
2004 Ford Explorer Limited (V8-AWD)
Pomme de Terre Lake (Southwest Missouri)

The shifter rattle is really just the lever that you need to pull up on before you can push the control into gear. I’m sure I can stop it somehow, but haven’t gotten enough seat time to think about it. I’m pretty sure it would have been the same if the sub was mound a few inches in any direction.

As for the wiring, that was relatively straight forward. I ran a 12’ RCA cable with the remote turn wire from inside the storage compartment. I was able to pick it up by reaching under the floor while lying inside the storage locker in the floor. Then I just pushed it the rest of the way to the radio. Your radio might be at the helm which would make it a lot easer. On my 230/240 there was plenty of room, especially once I cut the hole for the sub. The power and ground (10 gauge strand wire from the Home Depot) I ran by zip tying to the steering cable. The ground I ran straight to the battery. The power wire I ran to the battery switch and attached to the same terminal as the cable to the starter for the engine. I also put a 30 amp fuse just off the battery switch to protect the circuit (got the fuse and holder at West Marine). I kind of like doing projects like this so I took my time and planned it out. Depending on how I feel next spring I might add another amp and upgrade the rest of the speakers, but it really doesn’t need it. Its just one of these things you can get carried away with.

Also, it was cheaper then I expected. I get the amp and sub for about $175. Below is the website I purchased from. I was a little skeptical at first but turned out to be excellent service. The package was delivered within three days from TX to NY with no special charges.

Tim

http://audiovideodimension.com/

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2004 230H 5.7 Gi DP - SOLD!

Anybody know if the 200H has the subwoofer mounted in the same place? I just may follow suit with this project.

*edit - I see now that one of the four speakers is mounted in that location on the 200. Question still stands, anybody know where FW mounts the subwoofer?

**another edit - Dealer told me that with the Sunsport seating, the subwoofer is installed under the starboard bench seat. If I understood correctly, an enclosure for the subwoofer is added, which takes up almost the whole storage area.

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2007 Horizon 200
4.3L GXi/ SX 225 HP

BTW Pet, you gotta give us a name. NO WAY am I going to yell, "Hi Pet" across Pomme de Terre. I'll get shot at.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic