# Speaker Install in aluminum seating



## maddogsnavy25 (Mar 19, 2015)

Just bought a new Alumacraft 1648 and want to install marine radios in the front and middle seats facing the back of the boat. Has anyone else done this sort of install and how did you cut into the aluminum (what tools etc.).


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## TexasLoneStar56 (Mar 20, 2015)

maddogsnavy25 said:


> Just bought a new Alumacraft 1648 and want to install marine radios in the front and middle seats facing the back of the boat. Has anyone else done this sort of install and how did you cut into the aluminum (what tools etc.).




Good morning!
I'm a bit confused on your question. I think others might be as well.
Your title is speakers. Your text is radios.
What are you trying to do? #-o 

Keith
Tyler, Texas


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## maddogsnavy25 (Mar 20, 2015)

Haha yeah sorry, tired forum posting, I want to put two marine speakers in each seat, the aluminum stock seats, just wondering what people have used to cut the holes i.e jigsaw, grinder etc.


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## BigTerp (Mar 20, 2015)

I installed mine in the "faceplate" of my bow deck facing the stern. I used an angle grinder to cut the holes in my .125" aluminum plate. If I had it to do over again, I'd put them in the rear bench seat facing the bow. When up on the bow fishing the radio is at a good listening level is a bit load for the person fishing from the rear bench.

Not sure what you're installing, but I have this setup on my 1648.

https://www.amazon.com/Pyle-PLMRKT2A-2-Channel-Waterproof-Amplified/dp/B003GSLDUO/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1426864722&sr=1-6&keywords=pyle+marine+amp

With this 2 channel if I crank the volume all the way up, it is SUPER load. I originally wanted a 4 channel, but glad I went with the 2.


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## Riverdog (Mar 20, 2015)

I bought a hole saw from home depot. Could have used a jigsaw, but wanted a perfect circle. This is the only picture i have to show my speakers.


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## JoshKeller (Mar 20, 2015)

i would also coat around the hole with a few feet of duct insulation or carpet to keep the vibration and buzzing to a minimum.


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## maddogsnavy25 (Mar 20, 2015)

Ok all good advice guys, I would like to go with the hole saw too I have just never used them


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## muzikman (Mar 21, 2015)

Hole saw is a good choice;

Mark your center for the speaker placement, then drill away. The centering drill bit will make it simple, just don't force it and bog it down. "Let the tool do the work" (...a lesson from my father - master of ALL trades...)

Shoot us a few pics while you're gettin' 'er dun!


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## TexasLoneStar56 (Mar 21, 2015)

maddogsnavy25 said:


> Ok all good advice guys, I would like to go with the hole saw too I have just never used them



There ya go! I knew you would get some help and answers. Just had to specify what you were trying to do.

Great advice from all and cools pics. =D> 
Post pics of yours when you get it done.

Have a good weekend! 

Keith
Tyler, Texas


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## shane.b.stanley (Mar 22, 2015)

I just installed two sony speakers into my 14' Klamath this past week. The speakers i have required a 5" hole. I used a Milwaukee hole saw and it worked out great!


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## TexasLoneStar56 (Mar 22, 2015)

shane.b.stanley said:


> I just installed two sony speakers into my 14' Klamath this past week. The speakers i have required a 5" hole. I used a Milwaukee hole saw and it worked out great!



How expensive was that Milwaukee? It just fits in a drill, right? Seems to me to be the wise decision. A perfectly round hole, with very little effort. I'm going to pass all this great info onto some river rats down here. It was the topic of discussion just yesterday. Thanks for sharing.


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## TexasLoneStar56 (Mar 22, 2015)

maddogsnavy25 said:


> Haha yeah sorry, tired forum posting, I want to put two marine speakers in each seat, the aluminum stock seats, just wondering what people have used to cut the holes i.e jigsaw, grinder etc.



Thanks for posting your question. Seems the great advice from all will be used by several.  

Be sure to post and share your pics when completed. Seeing competed jobs makes it all worth while!

Glad you joined, and welcome aboard. I hope you find this site as interesting and helpful as I. Everyone on here is eager to help and are always nice and friendly. Please share your knowledge with others as well. We all appreciate it.

Respectfully,
Keith
Tyler, Texas


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## shane.b.stanley (Mar 23, 2015)

TexasLoneStar56 said:


> shane.b.stanley said:
> 
> 
> > I just installed two sony speakers into my 14' Klamath this past week. The speakers i have required a 5" hole. I used a Milwaukee hole saw and it worked out great!
> ...


The actually arbor or whatever the main piece is called was about 15 dollars, and the actual hole saw ran was about 30 dollars. Quite expensive but it turned out great! I am sure you can shop around and find a different brand for a lot cheaper!


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## TexasLoneStar56 (Mar 24, 2015)

shane.b.stanley said:


> TexasLoneStar56 said:
> 
> 
> > shane.b.stanley said:
> ...



Not too high, though. Sometimes, ya just gotta bite the bullet and get the right tool for the job. Thank you for the info. 8) 
Keith
Tyler, Texas


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## TexasLoneStar56 (Mar 24, 2015)

Riverdog said:


> I bought a hole saw from home depot. Could have used a jigsaw, but wanted a perfect circle. This is the only picture i have to show my speakers.



Riverdog,

Did you build a speaker box in the inside, and if so, did you carpet the inside of the box? I passed all this info along to some river rats yesterday. One is a musician, so he is really enthused about how to mount speakers in his flat bottom. He says the sound has to be enclosed with round corners to get the music vibrations to sound right. Otherwise, your speakers will sound "tinny", no pun intended. Make sense to me. I know speaker boxes do not have hard square corners...guess that's why. :idea: 

Thanks for sharing your pics. 8) 
Keith
Tyler, TX


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## Riverdog (Mar 24, 2015)

That was an extension storage area custom built by West boat shop. It's not enclosed or carpeted inside and no rounded corners. It does sound OK though. 
Your river rat friends are right if you want to spend the time and money to do all that. I use to be into all that, so I can understand the appeal. 
I used to use foam camping pads instead of carpet to deaden vibration. Used 3-m adhesive and glued it inside my truck doors. Probably would work on aluminum boats too. You can get it at Wal-Mart. They also make stuff like dynomat that is specifically made for deadening vibration. Good luck ever removing it though.


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## maddogsnavy25 (Mar 24, 2015)

Got the radio in yesterday and the cutout diameter is 5.13" so I think it's gonna have to be a jigsaw for me


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## TexasLoneStar56 (Mar 25, 2015)

maddogsnavy25 said:


> Got the radio in yesterday and the cutout diameter is 5.13" so I think it's gonna have to be a jigsaw for me



=D> =D> =D>


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## TexasLoneStar56 (Mar 25, 2015)

Riverdog,

Thanks! I'll pass the word!
Nice ride! :mrgreen: 
Where is Hutto :?:


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## BigTerp (Mar 25, 2015)

maddogsnavy25 said:


> Got the radio in yesterday and the cutout diameter is 5.13" so I think it's gonna have to be a jigsaw for me



This is why i am surprised so many used a hole saw. I'm sure they make 5" hole saws, but are probably expensive? I used an angle grinder to cut all the aluminum for my build. Worked really well. Everything from cutting my floor out of sheet to cutting the holes for my speaker install. I tried a jigsaw for about 2 minutes, but it was a real pain in my experience.


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## maddogsnavy25 (Mar 25, 2015)

I want to use an angle grinder as I have experience with them but was afraid of catching the foam on fire, any advice?


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## BigTerp (Mar 25, 2015)

I used my angle grinder to cut a square out of my rear bench for a hatch. The bench was filled with foam, didn't seem to effect it any. I tore a hole in my hull last summer. Didn't want to have to tear apart my boat to get the floor out to address it from inside the hull. Had it welded from the outside. I installed foam under my floor during my build. There was some smoke coming from under my floor during welding, but nothing caught on fire. Had a fire extinguisher handy just in case. But I would think the foam would melt instead of catching fire. But I can't say for sure.


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## BigTerp (Mar 25, 2015)

If you do end up using a grinder, I highly recommend using the Diablo Thin Kerf cutting blades. They are thinner than other cutting blades so don't last as long, but cut through aluminum MUCH faster.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Diablo-4-1-2-in-x-0-040-in-x-7-8-in-Thin-Kerf-Metal-Cut-Off-Disc-DBD045040101F/202830995


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## maddogsnavy25 (Mar 25, 2015)

Picked up those Diablo blades today and plan on cutting the wholes this weekend, I have a 8 gang switch panel I plan on wiring my radio, interior led lights, external floodlights, trolling motor, nav lights, 12v socket, and my fish finder off of, I think 14 gauge wire should hold me on everything any advice?


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## BigTerp (Mar 26, 2015)

maddogsnavy25 said:


> Picked up those Diablo blades today and plan on cutting the wholes this weekend, I have a 8 gang switch panel I plan on wiring my radio, interior led lights, external floodlights, trolling motor, nav lights, 12v socket, and my fish finder off of, I think 14 gauge wire should hold me on everything any advice?



I used 14 gauge wire for all my accessories, which included the following along with amp draw:

-Anchor Light .70amps
-Bow Light .20amps
-Interior Lights .35amps
-FF .25amps
-Bilge Pump 3.5amps
-Stereo/Amp < 10amps
-12v socket x2 varies on amps. Figure 8 amps max running a spotlight.

Most of my accessories called for 16 gauge, but my bilge pump and stereo required 14 gauge. So I used 14 gauge for everything to keep things simple. It's OK to go bigger but you definitely do not want to go smaller. Also make sure everything is fused. Mine is fused at the control panel but I had to swap out fuses to make sure everything was fused appropriately. From the control panel it goes to a bus bar and then, IIRC, 10 gauge wire to my battery that is also fused for the TOTAL amp load of everything on my control panel. Also you shouldn't have to hook up your sonar to your control panel. It should have an internal "switch" since it has an on/off button. Also, depending on what stereo your installing you may not need to hook that up to your switch panel either. Mine is a marine amplifier with 6" speakers. No on/off switch, so it is tied into my control panel. Basically a big iPod player. Just has the headphone jack that I plug my phone into to play music. Anything not wired to your control panel will need an appropriate size fuse on the positive wire as close to the battery as possible. My control panel uses AGC type glass fuses. So I used in-line AGC fuse holders for things not on my switch panel. Again, to keep things simple and not have to carry several different types of fuses on my boat. I also used tinned marine wire and tinned, heat shrink connectors for everything. Also soldered and heat shrinked connections when necessary. A little more expensive but will last longer in a marine environment. I did not use tinned wire for my speakers and the wire kept getting corroded and crapping out. Finally replaced them with tinned marine wire and all has been good since.

Here is a good chart to reference what size wire you will need.
https://www.westmarine.com/WestAdvisor/Marine-Wire-Size-And-Ampacity

I was a complete novice when I went to wire my boat. But help on here and internet research got me the information I needed. Not hard to do at all once you get a good understanding of it all.


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## maddogsnavy25 (Mar 27, 2015)

Ok that's awesome info, and yeah I was planning on the tinned wire and heat shrink connectors, if everything is on a switch I should be able to put it all on a common ground correct?


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## BigTerp (Mar 27, 2015)

maddogsnavy25 said:


> Ok that's awesome info, and yeah I was planning on the tinned wire and heat shrink connectors, if everything is on a switch I should be able to put it all on a common ground correct?



Yes. Pick up a negative bus bar. Will make everything much cleaner/neater. I got mine from Amazon. 

Here is where I got my wire from. Just ordered some more yesterday to wire up a second bilge pump.

https://tinnedmarinewire.com/wire/


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## Y_J (Mar 27, 2015)

maddogsnavy25 said:


> Ok that's awesome info, and yeah I was planning on the tinned wire and heat shrink connectors, if everything is on a switch I should be able to put it all on a common ground correct?


That's what I did. In fact just today.. I made a bus bar out of 1/8" thick steel bar. LOL actually I cut one side out of a square steel tube. 4" long, drilled some holes in each end then 5 smaller holes 3/8" from the edge for each of the accessory negative wires. Put the Battery - wire on one of the end screws, the accessory wires on each of the edge screws and everything worked out great. Now I just need to pick up some switches to have it all wired in.


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## maddogsnavy25 (Mar 30, 2015)

Before picture of my build


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## maddogsnavy25 (Mar 30, 2015)

Created an electrical box by cutting open and putting on a hinge a piece of the aluminum in back, provides for easy access to all wires and a nice flush look


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## TexasLoneStar56 (Apr 2, 2015)

=D> =D> =D>


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## BigTerp (Apr 2, 2015)

I like!!


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## mbweimar (Apr 2, 2015)

Did I read that you're planning on wiring the trolling motor to the switch panel? If so, I'd consider going straight to the battery with it. Use 8 gauge wire and a 40-50 amp circuit breaker.


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## BigTerp (Apr 3, 2015)

mbweimar said:


> Did I read that you're planning on wiring the trolling motor to the switch panel? If so, I'd consider going straight to the battery with it. Use 8 gauge wire and a 40-50 amp circuit breaker.



Good catch. mbweimar is correct. If it's a newer trolling motor your manual should tell you what gauge wire and circuit breaker to use. If no manual the above should work fine. I'd also suggest using one of the trolling motor plugs. The plug is hardwired into the battery and you just plug your TM into it when in use. Different models use different plugs. Below is a few from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1/183-3569453-7144812?url=search-alias%3Dsporting&field-keywords=trolling+motor+plug


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## maddogsnavy25 (Apr 3, 2015)

Hey guys, finished project up on wednesday, will take pictures on Sunday when I take her out, I did wire the trolling motor to the switch panel because it is only a 24 lb. Motor, I used a minn kota plug and receptacle I picked up at west marine for easy take on and off


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## mbweimar (Apr 5, 2015)

Hmm...what size wire are you using to feed the switch panel?

Also, I would be worried about how many amps the switch is rated for. Perfect example: I have a US Fish and Wildlife officer who insists having his siren on a toggle switch on his 24' Shearwater. Needless to say I've replaced that toggle switch 3 times in the last 2 months to prove to him that the siren (which only draws about 10 amps) pulls way too much current across the switch.


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## qcbowhunter (Apr 19, 2016)

mbweimar said:


> Hmm...what size wire are you using to feed the switch panel?
> 
> Also, I would be worried about how many amps the switch is rated for. Perfect example: I have a US Fish and Wildlife officer who insists having his siren on a toggle switch on his 24' Shearwater. Needless to say I've replaced that toggle switch 3 times in the last 2 months to prove to him that the siren (which only draws about 10 amps) pulls way too much current across the switch.



Never thought of adding a relay? That's what they're for! :shock:


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