Cockpit Speakers?

[kb79]

Alright, so this might be a dumb question, but...

I'm in the middle of rewiring my boat, and it occurs to me that this would be the best time to put in any electronic accessories that I'm wanting. We've been talking about cockpit speakers, but I'm a little hesitant to route out two 6" holes in the cockpit.

Doesn't seem very "offshore-ish"

The guys at WM say no problem, but I trust you guys more.

Thoughts?

[MC01]

I guess if the kids at WM say its OK then it must be . I share your concern; I wouldn't bore 2 6" holes in what is preferably a water-tight cockpit and expect the speaker cones to hold up to a cockpit full of water.

As one alternative, you can pick up universal rail mounts (either permanent or removable such as shown attached) and mount the speakers to those.

[RunningFish]

I've often wondered about this as well. I've never heard of speaker failure resulting in water intrusion, but it just doesn't seem like good practice to drill two 6" holes for an entertainment system. Either rail mount as suggested, or perhaps surface-mount speakers on the fiberglass, or even a flush-mount speaker with a 6" hole, but a fully enclosed speaker so if the cone fails, it'll just fill the enclosure with water, not the boat?

[Solitude]

I would never do that. For me the less holes in a boat the better. The PO on my boat cut a nice hole in the fw bulkhead and mounted a car stereo!

I also do not trust a retail guy in a store to guide me on what to do.

Wise choice to ask here.

[gonesail]

po cut the holes and put speakers in cockpit. sound is great no hassles hooking them up when I want to use them. but of course now there are 6" holes. oh well.

[Tom Spohn]

Consider a "box" speaker. You will still have to drill holes for fasteners, but they are considerable smaller than 6" speaker holes. Speakers from Poly Planar and Bose sound great.
Poly Planar Box speakers, waterproof boat box speakers

[Steve W]

I mounted the "box" style Polyplanar speakers in the storage cubby holes (no idea what to call them, are they intended for sheet storage?) that are in the cockpit side of the coamings in my boat. Mounted on the forward vertical sides and they never get wet, are out of the way, nobody can kick a hole in them, not exposed to the sun and sound great. The ones I used are about 4" square.

[jkleins]

I actually used two of the holes left on the bulkhead after replacing the instruments with a single Maretron panel. They fit perfectly. You can also find smaller speakers. I used some polyplaner 3" in our pilothouse and they sound much better then I expected. I think I got them at rocktheboataudio.com. 3" holes are certainly easier on the nerves to drill.

Jim

[Bash]

holes in a boat = a bad idea
big holes in a boat = a really bad idea
asking a sales clerk whether holes in a boat are okay = terrible idea
box speakers in a cockpit = good idea

I installed by box speakers under the cove seats. Sound is great and the seats protect the speakers from rain.

[svHyLyte]

The prior owner of our boat installed cockpit speakers which I would never have done. To restore some of the water tight integrity I bought a couple of stainless-steel salad bowels larger than the speakers, drilled them for the speaker cables which were installed with grommets, used cork gasket material to make gaskets for the rims and installed them over the backs of the speakers with 6-No#10 machine screws. If we do take a knock-down, the sea will only have a 3/16” hole, with a grommet in it, to get through.

FWIW…

[TrevC]

There's plenty of wake-board boat style "pod" speakers that are made for outdoor mounting. They fit perfectly under most dodgers, etc. You can select any driver for them that fits.

The boat we just purchased has this set-up, and it seems to work really well.

[kb79]

thanks to all you guys - super helpful.

[TrevC]

Just attach these to the frame inside your dodger, or any other rail...

[Chief Engineer]

They are not very UV resistant.....

Plus I go sailing so I can get away from somebody elses idea of music....unless it is a Pipe Band

[forsailbyowner]

I'm opting for installing sockets to plug in some headphones or earbuds connected to mp3 player belowdeck. Allows one to listen without keeping others awake. Also much easier to hear without competing with diesel while motoring. Another plus is they use much less power than high watt speakers with big magnets.