www.iFourWinns.com

Is it easy to upgrade the original radio that was fitted,will I need new wiring harness or new adaptors.
My boat is a 1997 Sundowner 205

Cheers

The stock radio in my boat is a Sony CDX2250

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1997 Fourwinns 205 Sundowner
Volvo Penta 5.7 GLI

Easiest way would be to cut the old harness & solder/ heat shrink in the new one.
Get your local car audio store to do this for you, if you don't have the tools. It should be cheap.

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2011 Four Winns H180 SS.
Aussie built Mustang 2800.
SOLD - 1997 Four Winns Horizon RS

It also depends on what you will be replacing it with....
If you replace it with a newer Sony, you may find that the existing connector works just fine.

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2002 Funship 214
VP 5.7 GX Si
2003 Tahoe

Most/all boats have an adapter harness that connects to the boat wiring with the correct color wires. That adapter harness splices into the the radio harness. Just follow the wiring diagram and it's simple. I use the butt connectors with glue/heatshrink built in. They will last the life of the boat and not come apart from vibration/wave action like solder connections. Just crimp em on and hit em with a lighter. A simple radio swap like that takes about 15 minutes.

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1981 Columbia 8.7
2015 Yamaha FZR - 87mph - sold
2006 Yamaha GP1300R - sold
2003 Chaparral 215 SSI - sold
2009 Stingray 195CS - sold
2000 Four Winns H180 - sold
1976 O'day Daysailer II - sold
Rick's Four Winns H180 Mods/Upgrade Thread

So true. You can go to Sony's site and look up the old & new decks to see if they match. But I am sure the will.

What I also found in installing my Fusion deck from my Sony is that the color code was the same. Not sure of other makers. What I did was, if I sold the boat (and I did) I wanted to take the Fusion with me & put back the Sony. I cut the wire to the Sony's harness and soldered both harness to the boats wiring system. When I sold the boat, it took about 5 min to put the Sony back in since the harness was already there. Just a thought?

Stereo wiring colors are an industry standard. Its the plug in the back of the head unit that sometimes varies but not always.

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1981 Columbia 8.7
2015 Yamaha FZR - 87mph - sold
2006 Yamaha GP1300R - sold
2003 Chaparral 215 SSI - sold
2009 Stingray 195CS - sold
2000 Four Winns H180 - sold
1976 O'day Daysailer II - sold
Rick's Four Winns H180 Mods/Upgrade Thread