Advice on a Boat Radio

[KrazyKarl02]

Many of you have seen the Crouch Family Boat, but for those that have not, it is a 17' bay boat (Scout 172 Dorado). I use the boat for fishing, skiing, and drinking. There has always been one problem with the boat, no radio!

I would like to fix this by adding a radio. I do not want some frat daddy 12" sub woofer system, just something to listen to music while fishing and cruising.

I am cheap, so I found on ebay, systems like this "Pyle". I have no experience with Pyle, so would like any advice people can offer with respect to marine radios.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-MARINE-BOAT-...QQcmdZViewItem

I was thinking of putting it in an enclosure under the dash like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/PYLE-PLMRCW3-Mar...QQcmdZViewItem

What about speakers??? What is a decent brand of marine speakers? This boat is kept outside on a trailer. So not in the water, but I want something that canhold up to rain.

[BroncoJo]

The inclosure work pretty good if you have a head unit all ready. Also I don't think marine speakers are needed, I've always had good luck with regular speakers in some sort of water resistant box.

[Graystroke]

on the speakers I think if you get something that has a polymer cone (does anybody even make paper any more?) you will be ok. I would add some kind of hat to the top(kinda like what you can use on door mounted speakers) to keep moisture from running behind the mount and onto the magnet/frame/connections and seal the front up w/ silicone.

[eight]

Pyle's cheap crap.

Go with the enclosure as an extra measure of water resistance.

Clarion is what most boats come from the factory with.

Brother runt uses a Sony. I also have a Sony with wired remote in an ammo can somewhere, One day I will install in jeep.

I once had a Jensen Marine stereo in the jeep and it died quicker than the regular radios I had in it.

Get one that plays MP3s for hours of uninterrupted drinking. You don't really want to mess with CDs on a boat anyway.

I say, get this one.

As for speakers, Sony Xplod 6x9s, the red ones. That's what the cheap kids like to use on the wakeboard towers (in 6.5"). Supposed to be better than most marine speakers. I'd still mount them somewhere semi-protected. Something like this.

[Seth]

That clarion is s good radio and a good deal. The few boat systems I have put in we used Alpine 6.5" marine speakers. they kick ass.

[mark]

I have a Sony marine radio with detachable face plate in my Jeep. It will do MP3's, XM etc. I paired it with the only speakers I could find that would fit the CJ's dash. They were from Walmart. I even added a set of component tweeters from the same Walmart collection. I roll pimptastic.

[BroncoJo]

The radio thats in my dually is from my bronco which never had a top on and got wet all the time. I've only killed one non-marine radio in the bronco and that was because a small tornado ran over it. I think marine stuff is a waste of money with the exception being that clarion.

[rockfrawg]

most if not all of Polk speakers are marine certified, and make good noise. i put these in the kickpanels in the Tacoma and they are amazing.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Polk-...oductDetail.do

[JeepPhisherman]

most if not all of Polk speakers are marine certified, and make good noise. i put these in the kickpanels in the Tacoma and they are amazing.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Polk-db6501-6-5-2-Way-Component-System-with-External-Crossover-DB6501/sem/rpsm/oid/172446/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

[rockfrawg]

sorry, fixed

[BMFScout]

I'm rolling with a $100 Kenwood fry's head unit that will play mp3's and has an aux in. If it "frys" I'll go get another one. The boat came with some 6" Jensen's in the dash and computer speaker enclosures by the back seat. That is what it is keeping until the tower goes in next summer. I have yet to mount the Rockford Amp and the 10" JL under the nose for me and my frat daddy friends, but the rest of it sounds good enough for now. My plan is to store the boat in a cool dry place, and not get any of it wet. Well, I don't care if the computer speakers get wet...

[Doug Krebs]

Marc was looking for a new head unit on our boat too. He found one at walmart that was some off brand, but it had a cool feature. You could take a usb drive with mp3's on it and plug it straight into the front. I guess it's not that big of a deal for people with Ipods though.

[KrazyKarl02]

I am quite impressed, there is actually some useful tech here!

[jerryg79]

Marc was looking for a new head unit on our boat too. He found one at walmart that was some off brand, but it had a cool feature. You could take a usb drive with mp3's on it and plug it straight into the front. I guess it's not that big of a deal for people with Ipods though.

would be nice since a usb drive cost $10 and an ipod $200.

[KrazyKarl02]

Based off this discussion, I bought a Clarion head unit, 4 pyle 100 watt 5" speakers and an enclosure for the head unit. All in all it was ~$210 shipped. I think that is fair for an entire system. I will have to add the cost of speaker wire, etc....

The head unit plays MP3's on CD and takes a stereo aux, so that should work. I just have to get ready to put a 5" hole saw into the fiberglass.....

The ole Scout 172 will bump, kind of...