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Yellowmobius
04-17-2004, 06:46 PM
Adding some tower speakers this year. I am looking for advice on running the wires.
How are guys getting the wires from the tower into the boat.
i.e. are you drilling a hole in the fiberglass at the base or drilling a hole in the aluminium base? Do you run the wires through the hole or is there a good aftermarket connector like they use for the factory tower light (v-drive)?

MEDIC151
04-18-2004, 10:43 AM
I had my speakers installed and he drilled a small hole in the hull, close to the front cage mount. He then drilled into the cage about six inches up because there is an insert inside the cage at the foot. He used a wire wrap to make it look better and ran the wires from the top of the cage, down and fished them out. I don't know how he managed to do it, but he was the expert. He also drilled a 3/4 inch hole close to the speaker wire hole and I installed a whip antennae. It greatly increased my reception since the antennae wire that is standard runs down the inside of the gunwale and is a 22 gauge wire. Not the best for reception while sitting in a hole. I am going to install satalite on it this season, I hope. I called and asked about voiding the warranty on the hull if there were aftermarket holes drilled and I was told that it would not void it. As soon as I get my digital camera back, I will try to post some pics of the set up.

Medic

ARLINGTONMOBIUS
04-19-2004, 03:55 PM
I just installed tower speakers on my boat earlier this spring. Did it myself, so I hope I can describe the process well enough to help. On the front tower mount where the mount bolts to the tower itself and there is a pivot point, there is a hole of about 1/2" dia. This is the exit point for your wires. I decided exactly where I wanted to put the new speakers, and drilled two holes of the same 1/2" dia in the tower. (Be careful not to obstruct the straps that hold you bimini in place with these holes.) With the tower laying down, I took a 3/8" wide fish tape with a strong piece of twine attached to it, and inserted the fish tape in from the bottom of the tower, and pushed it to the furthest hole at the top of the tower. Using a pair of tweezers, I retreived the twine from the hole, and cut it loose from the fish tape. I repeated the above step for the hole closest to the entrance hole at the bottom of the tower. I then had two pieces of twine tied to two speaker wires, and I pulled the two speaker wires through at the same time. I then installed grommets in the holes in the tower to gaurd against damage to the speaker wires.

The hard part came next, when I drilled the hole in the hull of my boat. I was extremely tense during this part of the project. My 13 year old son who had been very helpful to this point, was sent into the house, as I wanted no distractions that might cause me to let the drill slip. Once that hole was drilled, I put the wires down into the compartment where the radio is, and hooked them up. I purchased a crome clam shell to cover the hole and wires from my local dealer for about $5. I put wire loom over the wires to make them look neater, and I was done. The one thing that my dealer did warn me about when drilling the holes for the screws that hold down the clam shell was, make sure you counter sink these holes. Otherwise, the pressure from the threads on the screws pulling upward will make the gelcoat crack and spider.

Hope this helps,
Mike