My AR240 upgrades and stereo build.

[farrelltravis]

View attachment 24207 @farrelltravis

@redthumper9 That steering wheel looks awesome. How long have you had that one? More than a year? I would buy another one, especially that one, if it held up better than the last one I bought.

Again, the steering wheel is sweet!

 

[redthumper9]

@farrelltravis .....just put this one on this year. I had a similar one on my old boat and the color held up well. I fully expect it to last longer than the one I put on last season.

 

[farrelltravis]

Hmmm ok. I am going to search for one then. I presume the price is higher. I might think about it. Haven't decided. I appreciate your intel!

 

[redthumper9]

@farrelltravis

http://pages.ebay.com/motors/link/?nav=item.view&id=171660565582&alt=web

 

[farrelltravis]

Awesome! Thanks for the link.

Another thing I didn't like about the old one was that it was smaller. Is this new one roughly the same size as the stock Yamaha steering wheel?

 

[redthumper9]

No its smaller as well .....I think the factory ones are around 350mm. Most of these Chinese wheels are around 320mm

 

[farrelltravis]

Darn. Ok, thanks again man.

 

[David Analog]

@redthumper9 does your sub match the intensity of your tower speakers? I have a Kicker 10 inch sub mounted by the door on my helm storage area, but it doesn't have enough low end to match the Wet Sounds Rev 8 tower speakers. I need to find a way to have more audio on the low end.

PaulyB,
Does the Kicker sub have an enclosure or is it running infinite baffle?
Is the sub mounted in the pass-thru wall of the helm console?

 

[PaulyB]

PaulyB,
Does the Kicker sub have an enclosure or is it running infinite baffle?
Is the sub mounted in the pass-thru wall of the helm console?

Its running infinite baffle and is mounted on the wall in right next to the helm storage door. The major issue I have i believe is the amount of vibration and rattling I have that just makes it not sound good when the sub hits hard. I am debating on trying to make an enclosure and mount it and seal it on the back of where it is mounted or just disconnect the sub completely and wire another one up behind the captains chair. Maybe I can just reinforce the area and it will sound better?

 

[David Analog]

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@PaulyB ......if you sound directly in the middle of the cabin area, the sub seems to keep up well (like shake your teeth with some music). If you are on the shore behind it, you still hear the low end and it sounds fairly balanced. You hear almost no bass if you are in the bow. I admit......I am a bass head so I wish I could get that skull crushing sound that I used to have in my Honda CRX many years ago, I just have come to the conclusion that it's not happening in a boat. If, (and that's a big if) I change anything next year, it may to a higher end woofer and an increase in power to the sub.

You're already well aware of the differences but it's an interesting comparison between the Honda CRX and an open boat.
To put it in perspective...
The CRX provided a 12 dB per octave increase in bass as the frequency decreased. This bass boost started at a point where the wavelength exceeded the longest dimension of the cabin.
In contrast, the open boat has none of the cabin effect benefits, bass requires four times the power plus four times the excursion to equal the same output at one octave lower, a concealed sub looses something versus a direct radiating sub, bass energy significantly dissipates every time you double the distance, and the list of open field acoustic challenges continues.
There's just no amount of leverage that can offset the differences in environment short of ten times the power, ten times the woofer surface area, ten times the battery reserves, and sitting atop the sub.
However, there are few open field SPL techniques to cheat a bit by trading bandwidth for output. Maybe get closer to that CRX while saying adios to storage.
On balance I think I would be pretty happy with that 12-inch bass-reflex.

 

[redthumper9]

As I admitted before.....I am a bass head and my boat has been deemed the "party boat" in our area. It sounds terrific at moderate volume and get LOUD when I want it to. I am MUCH happier with the ported 12" as opposed to the two sealed 10's from last year. I may go for a higher end woofer (like a XXX or equivalent) and more power, but that opens up so many other issues......like battery consumption. I may just leave the stereo like it is and add a Perfect Pass as we are doing a lot more towing this year.

 

[David Analog]

Its running infinite baffle and is mounted on the wall in right next to the helm storage door. The major issue I have i believe is the amount of vibration and rattling I have that just makes it not sound good when the sub hits hard. I am debating on trying to make an enclosure and mount it and seal it on the back of where it is mounted or just disconnect the sub completely and wire another one up behind the captains chair. Maybe I can just reinforce the area and it will sound better?

Not to infringe on this thread you can always start another.
Several issues.
The Kicker is not a true infinite baffle subwoofer. It's kind of a middle of the road 'Q' woofer. Jack of all trades, master of none. Sounds much better in a sealed box, not so much in a ported box, and definitely not infinite baffle. It will sound decent and get low used in IB at lower power levels. But at higher power levels it essentially becomes undamped with less control, hence the vibration that is transmitted through the boat structure.
The fiberglass wall needs to be in the realm of 0.5" thick to be an adequately rigid baffle.
The woofer is mounted outside the boundaries of the cockpit bathtub so the bass energy is really flash evaporating with only a small portion benefiting the cockpit occupants....so big losses....although I'm sure it is nice sitting in the bow.

 

[Flower]

My first mod from late last yearView attachment 3466View attachment 3467 View attachment 3468 View attachment 3469

How did you get the glue off?

 

[redthumper9]

How did you get the glue off?

Find a spray on adhesive remover that smells like citrus cleaner. I had some left over from another job and it worked better than anything I tried. Finally went to NAPA and found some (I think it was made by Permatex) that had that citrus smell and presto......worked like the old stuff! Spray on, leave a few mins scrape with a razor blade. I think the citrus stuff is more oily and helps when scraping with a razor. All the others I tried (including 3m, acetone, etc) were no where near as good.

 

[Julian]

@redthumper9 An amazing thread full of really awesome detailed work! Congrats!!!! Someday I'll get down there to see it in person! I can't imagine how much weight you've added to the boat though! Has it affected you top speed with just you on the boat?

 

[redthumper9]

@redthumper9 An amazing thread full of really awesome detailed work! Congrats!!!! Someday I'll get down there to see it in person! I can't imagine how much weight you've added to the boat though! Has it affected you top speed with just you on the boat?

The read out on the speedometer will save the max speed. At some point it the boat ran 54 mph before I owned it. The most I've ever seen was 51 and now it's more like 49/50. I was at the beach next to a 2012 SX240 last weekend and my boat was easily 2-3 inches deeper in the water. I'd love to get together with a few of the members on the coast here. We have now increased our Yamaha count on the sandbar to about 5 most weekends.

 

[JAUGA82]

Thanks for the info! You're not going to believe this, but after I saw the pic of your original red steering wheel a few days ago, I went to ebay and bought the EXACT SAME one you just installed and posted pictures of...it was around $25. You've got great taste, ha. Thanks again.

 

[farrelltravis]

Thanks for the info! You're not going to believe this, but after I saw the pic of your original red steering wheel a few days ago, I went to ebay and bought the EXACT SAME one you just installed and posted pictures of...it was around $25. You've got great taste, ha. Thanks again.

Do you have a link for it?

 

[JAUGA82]

Here you go Travis...$27 actually.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261325889839?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

 

[farrelltravis]

Here you go Travis...$27 actually.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261325889839?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Awesome! Thanks!