Where do you place your Amps? Show me pls

[etang789]

I have recently bought a whole set of new sound equipment to upgrade the broken stuff in my 2004 LSV. I am just wondering where is the best place to place my amp and how to mount them? Im afraid of drilling in the wrong place or any experience advice would be great.

New equipments I have are:

CLARION APX480M Amp
POLK AUDIO DB675 - 3 pairs
Audio Formz Tower speakers - 1 pair

[CT Skier]

I just bought my Outback and it came with the 400w amp. It is mounted behind the observers seat on the bulkhead that backs up the bow seat.

I hope this helps.

[JesseC]

Looks like you have picked up almost the same components that I have. Take a look at the links in my signature. I might help you out. Let me know if you have any questions.

Moomba Tower Project (http://lisaandjesse.5u.com/MoombaTowerProject/index.htm)
Moomba House Load (http://lisaandjesse.5u.com/MoombaLoad/index.htm)
Moomba Speaker Project (http://lisaandjesse.5u.com/MoombaSpeakerProject/index.htm)

[etang789]

Looks like you have picked up almost the same components that I have. Take a look at the links in my signature. I might help you out. Let me know if you have any questions.

Moomba Tower Project (http://lisaandjesse.5u.com/MoombaTowerProject/index.htm)
Moomba House Load (http://lisaandjesse.5u.com/MoombaLoad/index.htm)
Moomba Speaker Project (http://lisaandjesse.5u.com/MoombaSpeakerProject/index.htm)

How did you secure the amp rack/MDF board behind the amps?

[JesseC]

I took two 90 degree support angles that had four holes in them and I put them on the concrete floor and hit them with a really big hammer. The result was two straight "support" brackets with four holes in them. I crawled into the space behind the radio and removed the nuts from the back of two of the bolts sticking through the hull that were used to hold the cushion in place from the back rest of the bow cushions. I put the nuts back on and bent the supports to be flush with the MDF board. I then removed everything and bolted the supports to the board and then reinstalled everything back into the mounting position. If you need pics, I can crawl in and get some detailed pictures. I am planning on crawling around to get other pictures for another thread. Let me know if there is anything else you need.

Another thing I did to make sure the MDF board would live was that I painted it with about 4 coats of paint and I lined the bottom of it with that rubber handle stuff so that it could not wick up water.

[etang789]

I took two 90 degree support angles that had four holes in them and I put them on the concrete floor and hit them with a really big hammer. The result was two straight "support" brackets with four holes in them. I crawled into the space behind the radio and removed the nuts from the back of two of the bolts sticking through the hull that were used to hold the cushion in place from the back rest of the bow cushions. I put the nuts back on and bent the supports to be flush with the MDF board. I then removed everything and bolted the supports to the board and then reinstalled everything back into the mounting position. If you need pics, I can crawl in and get some detailed pictures. I am planning on crawling around to get other pictures for another thread. Let me know if there is anything else you need.

Another thing I did to make sure the MDF board would live was that I painted it with about 4 coats of paint and I lined the bottom of it with that rubber handle stuff so that it could not wick up water.

Thanks for the advice, If you can get pictures that would be great. Since I do not have my boat with me, it is very hard to plan ahead of the install. Few things I might do differently, is that I might try to find a plastic board instead of MDF. And I dont necessary need the wireless look, but it is a good way to prevent water leak or short circuit. Since I did not special order the tower speakers to come without the terminals. I would like to know if rain/water splash would cause short circuit of the speakers.

And since I have left the boat on the dock for a few months i might need to go hunt down some mice when Im back :twisted: . Since they like to bite my speaker wires.

[JesseC]

I really doubt that you would have "electrical" issues with rain and water. I just did not care for the look of a wire coming out of the tower and then back into the speaker cans. I just did it to try and get a smoother look. i went to the boat show and saw all the wires hanging on the tower speakers and I figured I would be different! As far as the MDF amp rack, yea you are right, MDF was not the best choice, but it was all I had at that point and time and figured if it lasts a couple of years, then I got my 30 minutes worth of work out of it! I plan on changing it to a better material this winter.

[JesseC]

Here are the pics you asked for.

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q21/StarkRaven/amp1.jpg

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q21/StarkRaven/amp2.jpg

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q21/StarkRaven/amp3.jpg

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q21/StarkRaven/amp4.jpg

[etang789]

Here are the pics you asked for.

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q21/StarkRaven/amp1.jpg

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q21/StarkRaven/amp2.jpg

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q21/StarkRaven/amp3.jpg

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q21/StarkRaven/amp4.jpg

Wow thats impressive! Do you use anything at the bottom to scure the amp rack?

[JesseC]

No I did not. With the amount of flex that our boats go through, I figured that it would not be a good idea to bolt the top of the boat to the bottom of the boat using my amp rack. I bet one good hit would probably damage the amp rack or even worse the boat. In rough water the amp rack just moves about an 1/8 inch side to side at the bottom which does not hurt anything. If i had bolted it to the floor, it may be way to rigid.

[Buttafewcoe]

:?

[JesseC]

What keeps it from banging while going through chop?
.
B

Banging, how big a chop are you playing in!!! :shock: The weight of the amps on the rack keep it firm on the floor. The rack is also leaning at about a 87 degree angle and the "brackets" seem to hold it in place really well. I have crossed some farely large wakes and have not had any issues. I have never heard it banging around and when I have opened the compartment and watched it in the high chop, it hardly moves at all. The only movement I noticed was lateral. Since the top of the boat and the bottom tend to flex in opposite directions.