What I did to my 4-tec boat today...

[go_panthers]

Oh yeah, and I also pulled the anchor and rope out of the anchor compartment and gave it a good cleaning. A good spray down with Purple Power, then high-pressure rinse with the hose and it looks great in there, now. I hung the rope out and let it dry out while cleaning the compartment. Now I'm trying to think of an inexpensive way to allow water to flow under the rope (i.e get the rope up off the bottom of the compartment) so that it can dry out a little better, as there's really no way to keep water out of that compartment.

 

[rcguy]

Oh yeah, and I also pulled the anchor and rope out of the anchor compartment and gave it a good cleaning. A good spray down with Purple Power, then high-pressure rinse with the hose and it looks great in there, now. I hung the rope out and let it dry out while cleaning the compartment. Now I'm trying to think of an inexpensive way to allow water to flow under the rope (i.e get the rope up off the bottom of the compartment) so that it can dry out a little better, as there's really no way to keep water out of that compartment.

View attachment 35072

I bought a rubber grated mate at Lowe's that I cut to size to fit each compartment on my SeaDoo. It is a little over 1/2 thick and keeps the stuff I store off the floor dry. As far as the anchor and rode I store in a Rubbermaid container that I drilled out to drain. That also sits on the rubber mate. Doesn't keep everything dry but is a whole lot better then before.

 

[go_panthers]

I've used dri-dek in a few of my storage compartments. I like it, but it's not reasonably priced, in my opinion. Sounds like I need to go to Lowes and do some looking.

 

[Carboncow]

I've used dri-dek in a few of my storage compartments. I like it, but it's not reasonably priced, in my opinion. Sounds like I need to go to Lowes and do some looking.

We buy DryDeck for work by the miles and I can tell you for heavy traffic areas it's amazing and lasts for 20+ years but there are many knock offs at 1/2 the price...and the stuff you get at the big box stores is great.

An option worth considering for those more adventurous. I've purchases tongue & groove teak on eBay (very cheap) on many an occasion and when we had left overs we strip off the tongue/groove on a table saw and use the wood for crossed/gapped projects such as shower floors on larger boats. We've also made some hatch compartment raised floors as your need is...this give is more height then a dry deck and looks pretty cool too!

Fake dry deck is easier!

 

[Carboncow]

C180 Stereo upgrade.

My new project listing for today is an updated Clarion head, cut out speakers in the front for 6.5 as well as a sub in the common area on the wall of the port side. I went Polk Audio Db series all around with 6.5"X4 and a 10"x1. I'm running the four speakers off the head unit and using a cheap 2 channel for the sub until I can find the right marine grade amp I want that won't cost $300.00

Amp was mounted in rear hatch against wall that the air box used to be attached to for ease of access to the manual controls and additional air space to keep it cool when parked.

The OEM remote wire wouldn't work (my ride is a 2007) and the hole was to small for the remotes I bought...so rather then (painfully) fish the wire to the drivers console and cut a larger hole I went with the transom mount of the LCD remote. I then got the 2nd wireless remote which will mount in a blank space on the console as all you need when driving is volume.

I added a 2nd battery for the stereo to suck power off of the deep cycle. I'm using a Battery Doctor isolator/charger which is great as you don't need to add a 1/2/Both switch...and you can keep the OEM. Simply hit the manual button if you need to combine batteries for an emergency start. I've put Battery Doctors in 3 previous boats...swear by them especially for the price.

I've got an online supplier of the clarion remotes, wires and y-adapter that is half the price off all other retailers. PM if you need a link.

PS. The 2" hole left behind by the old OEM remote was replaced with a 2" digital voltage meter.







NOTE: Yes I know my double battery wiring is a mess...it's in template mode. Will clean up and add some battery terminal covers for safety.

 

[Carboncow]

Added the Thurst Vector system to C180. Pretty impressed with even the ability to slowly steer the boat with the engine off and coasting into a dock!

 

[go_panthers]

C180 Stereo upgrade.

My new project listing for today is an updated Clarion head, cut out speakers in the front for 6.5 as well as a sub in the common area on the wall of the port side. I went Polk Audio Db series all around with 6.5"X4 and a 10"x1. I'm running the four speakers off the head unit and using a cheap 2 channel for the sub until I can find the right marine grade amp I want that won't cost $300.00

Amp was mounted in rear hatch against wall that the air box used to be attached to for ease of access to the manual controls and additional air space to keep it cool when parked.

The OEM remote wire wouldn't work (my ride is a 2007) and the hole was to small for the remotes I bought...so rather then (painfully) fish the wire to the drivers console and cut a larger hole I went with the transom mount of the LCD remote. I then got the 2nd wireless remote which will mount in a blank space on the console as all you need when driving is volume.

I added a 2nd battery for the stereo to suck power off of the deep cycle. I'm using a Battery Doctor isolator/charger which is great as you don't need to add a 1/2/Both switch...and you can keep the OEM. Simply hit the manual button if you need to combine batteries for an emergency start. I've put Battery Doctors in 3 previous boats...swear by them especially for the price.

I've got an online supplier of the clarion remotes, wires and y-adapter that is half the price off all other retailers. PM if you need a link.

PS. The 2" hole left behind by the old OEM remote was replaced with a 2" digital voltage meter.

View attachment 35075
View attachment 35076
View attachment 35077
View attachment 35078
View attachment 35080

NOTE: Yes I know my double battery wiring is a mess...it's in template mode. Will clean up and add some battery terminal covers for safety.

That's quite a project! Looks great!

 

[Nosnibor]

C180 Stereo upgrade.

My new project listing for today is an updated Clarion head, cut out speakers in the front for 6.5 as well as a sub in the common area on the wall of the port side. I went Polk Audio Db series all around with 6.5"X4 and a 10"x1. I'm running the four speakers off the head unit and using a cheap 2 channel for the sub until I can find the right marine grade amp I want that won't cost $300.00

Amp was mounted in rear hatch against wall that the air box used to be attached to for ease of access to the manual controls and additional air space to keep it cool when parked.

The OEM remote wire wouldn't work (my ride is a 2007) and the hole was to small for the remotes I bought...so rather then (painfully) fish the wire to the drivers console and cut a larger hole I went with the transom mount of the LCD remote. I then got the 2nd wireless remote which will mount in a blank space on the console as all you need when driving is volume.

I added a 2nd battery for the stereo to suck power off of the deep cycle. I'm using a Battery Doctor isolator/charger which is great as you don't need to add a 1/2/Both switch...and you can keep the OEM. Simply hit the manual button if you need to combine batteries for an emergency start. I've put Battery Doctors in 3 previous boats...swear by them especially for the price.

I've got an online supplier of the clarion remotes, wires and y-adapter that is half the price off all other retailers. PM if you need a link.

PS. The 2" hole left behind by the old OEM remote was replaced with a 2" digital voltage meter.

View attachment 35075
View attachment 35076
View attachment 35077
View attachment 35078
View attachment 35080

NOTE: Yes I know my double battery wiring is a mess...it's in template mode. Will clean up and add some battery terminal covers for safety.

I like the remote you got. I ran into an issue I didn't foresee when I just did my audio upgrade. I originally was going to bypass the stereo completely and just play bluetooth directly to my amp so I bought a bluetooth receiver with a remote that I replaced where the stock remote was. Problem is I decided to keep my old deck for AM/FM so now when I want to change the volume there I have to either have my passenger change the volume or I go to the other side and do it. Now I am trying to decide if I can remount the old remote somewhere to control that but I don't know if 2 remotes on the dash would look trashy or get confusing, lol. I may end up just saving and then get a new deck that has bluetooth and a new remote for that...oh well. Hope your system sounds good. I wish I was that handy to do things like that myself.

 

[Carboncow]

I like the remote you got. I ran into an issue I didn't foresee when I just did my audio upgrade. I originally was going to bypass the stereo completely and just play bluetooth directly to my amp so I bought a bluetooth receiver with a remote that I replaced where the stock remote was. Problem is I decided to keep my old deck for AM/FM so now when I want to change the volume there I have to either have my passenger change the volume or I go to the other side and do it. Now I am trying to decide if I can remount the old remote somewhere to control that but I don't know if 2 remotes on the dash would look trashy or get confusing, lol. I may end up just saving and then get a new deck that has bluetooth and a new remote for that...oh well. Hope your system sounds good. I wish I was that handy to do things like that myself.

My handiness is limiting with my old(er) age and patience. It took me about 3 days and 10 hours to get it all in. I found working on these smaller boats is WAY more painful and frustrating then a 35ft boat. Some of the wiring was a small challenge with fishing lines, finding what to work and all around contorting at times. I'm sure someone younger and a pro could have done it in half the time. No matter how many times I use a rotozip tool on fiberglass I seem to break about $25 worth of bits before the hole cutting is done! Learned a few things and a few things I would have done differently but overall the stereo works above the buzz of the engine at full speed...and a little distortion on the sub that is prob due to the $80 "Dual" lower quality class A/B amp I used. Once I find a better one I'm convinced for my needs this is more then enough money and time spent.

 

[Nosnibor]

My handiness is limiting with my old(er) age and patience. It took me about 3 days and 10 hours to get it all in. I found working on these smaller boats is WAY more painful and frustrating then a 35ft boat. Some of the wiring was a small challenge with fishing lines, finding what to work and all around contorting at times. I'm sure someone younger and a pro could have done it in half the time. No matter how many times I use a rotozip tool on fiberglass I seem to break about $25 worth of bits before the hole cutting is done! Learned a few things and a few things I would have done differently but overall the stereo works above the buzz of the engine at full speed...and a little distortion on the sub that is prob due to the $80 "Dual" lower quality class A/B amp I used. Once I find a better one I'm convinced for my needs this is more then enough money and time spent.

The amp I got was a JL marine amp with 400 watts. It will cost you some but it has a low power drain and makes my sub hit so hard the port side of my boat is wobbling. I had a bass controller installed to help with those songs that hit extra hard. I haven't gone out on the water yet but my speakers are also wired to that and they were getting louder than I could remember with no distortion. A good amp seems to make all the difference. I had mine installed but they actually mounted the amp in a space behind my front port seat. Apparently there is a ton of dry empty space in there.

 

[Carboncow]

The amp I got was a JL marine amp with 400 watts. It will cost you some but it has a low power drain and makes my sub hit so hard the port side of my boat is wobbling. I had a bass controller installed to help with those songs that hit extra hard. I haven't gone out on the water yet but my speakers are also wired to that and they were getting louder than I could remember with no distortion. A good amp seems to make all the difference. I had mine installed but they actually mounted the amp in a space behind my front port seat. Apparently there is a ton of dry empty space in there.

Find no dry spaces on my boat other then the glove box and I figured that was going to be to hot...and I need the dry space for other things. I was a bit lazy at times and figured running the shorter power wires was easier then running to the glove box. I'll look into the JL stuff again but I just didn't want to spend $300+ on an amp but it's obviously worth the investment. I debated running one of the pairs of 6.5" off an external amp but I'm glad I didn't...they seem fine with the head. Will reconsider a 2+1 amp at the least. Which amp did you buy?

 

[Carboncow]

Forgot to post up my eBay special LED drain plug lights. $25 each with LED drivers...really bright. Lighted switch installed under engine bay door and LED directly attached via a fuse to the 2nd deep cycle.





EDIT. Underwater night usage photos come Memorial Weekend.

 

[go_panthers]

Looking forward to the in-water pics.

 

[ckgixxer]

Just finished today, finally! 2008 speedster wake

 

[timrich]

Nice work!

 

[rcguy]

Right on! That would look nice behind my new 'RED' Ford 150.

 

[go_panthers]

It had been about a week since I had done any maintenance on the boat (business travel), so I had to do something big. I replaced the o-ring on the drain plug.

I also put the mooring covers on, then the travel cover so I could wash the travel cover. Applying the waterproofing tomorrow.

 

[go_panthers]

Completed the waterproofing Tuesday, and got rain yesterday. Big difference in how the water beads up and flows off of the cover.

 

[rcguy]

Completed the waterproofing Tuesday, and got rain yesterday. Big difference in how the water beads up and flows off of the cover.

Pardon my ignorance but could you please explain the cleaning and water proofing process of the canvas cover. I have a Poppy cover that is about three years old and believe it needs a cleaning and water proofing. What product do you clean with and what product do you water proof with. Thanking you in advance. Russ

 

[JPass]

Pardon my ignorance but could you please explain the cleaning and water proofing process of the canvas cover. I have a Poppy cover that is about three years old and believe it needs a cleaning and water proofing. What product do you clean with and what product do you water proof with. Thanking you in advance. Russ

303 products are what I've always used for my covers. They make a fabric cleaner and a water proofer. Here's a video of how well the water proofer worked on my last boat cover. I haven't done it to our current cover yet:

[video=youtube;L9oDM_xE4R0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9oDM_xE4R0[/video]

 

[go_panthers]

Pardon my ignorance but could you please explain the cleaning and water proofing process of the canvas cover. I have a Poppy cover that is about three years old and believe it needs a cleaning and water proofing. What product do you clean with and what product do you water proof with. Thanking you in advance. Russ

Sure thing. (Gotta love working from home). I ran out and did a quick video to show you how the weather reacts to the top now.

Here is what I did.

1) Purchased this Star-Brite waterproofer (West Marine had it 20% off, so I got it for $41.28 (includes 7% NC Tax), and a cheap pump sprayer from the garden section at WalMart ($5)


2) Cleaned cover. I did this late Monday evening after the breeze calmed down, hoping to not have a bunch of pollen on it in the morning. The instructions say the cover has to be dry before applying the waterproofer, and you can't get the cover wet, or remove it (i.e.fold it up) for 9 hours after application. I just used boat soap on it, w/ my car wash brush. I let it dry overnight and it was ready for application at noon the next day.

3) Applied the Waterproofer. I pulled the boat into the driveway in the sun and filled the pump sprayer with the solution. It said I could use a spray bottle, but that would have taken forever. I sprayed the solution onto the cover from a small step ladder, focusing actual top surfaces of the cover. The instructions warn against getting the solution on the fiberglass, so I had an old beach towels ready to catch any runs that were heading down the side of the cover. I didn't focus on the sides of the cover as much. You want to get the top wet. These pictures were taken right after application.


The gallon of solution was enough to get the boat cover well-saturated, and I also hit the SPX cover with the rest of the solution (although I didn't do the cleaning first - it was spur of the moment)

I left the boat in the sun for the rest of the day to dry the solution. It appeared to be dry fairly quickly, but I left it out there for the 9 hours. We got rain overnight. When I went out to see how it did, the cover looked totally different that before. Beads of water instead of just looking like a wet cover.

Here is a video of the results:
[video]https://youtu.be/sUgMd-shzts[/video]

It is shedding water much better than before.

 

[Carboncow]

4" Air Intake Installed

OK. Finally got around to taking some images of my 4" Air Intake. This is a Spectre (K&N knock off) and built just as well for half the price. I used a Spectre 3" to 4" adapter at the supercharger intake and used 4" black ABS drain pipe from there to get the right angle. I actually thought the ABS may be temporary but I'm going to run it till I see an issue. I used some heavy duty zip ties to attach the filter/pipe to other piping in the boat to take some weight off the ABS. The only real issue I saw was the ABS pipe was bumping into the temp sensor on the muffler but I solved this by rotating the muffler out of the way and stretching the rubber strap accordingly.

Once you take out the OEM air box/pipe you'll need to relocate the voltage regulator which can can see attached in the one photo.

You'll also need to relocate the oil crank case breather to a cash can. I paid about $35 for this moroso unit with an air intake and a pepcock at the bottom.

I've got less then $100 in setup.

 

[go_panthers]

I've always wondered why my Challenger 210 Naturally Aspirated engines have no provision for air filters...

 

[Carboncow]

I've always wondered why my Challenger 210 Naturally Aspirated engines have no provision for air filters...

My experience is most boats don't have air filters...at best they have flame arrestors but if you have an intercooler (or for that matter super charged) engine then there is no need for a flame arrestor either as a backfire in the intake is never going to make it back up to the entrance. It's nice to have the K&N filter type as long as it doesn't create any more drag then the 8 feet of 3" OEM intake and box that it's replacing...most who have tried a similar solution with even a longer intake and K&N then me have claimed 100-300 RPM gains. NA engines will have little increase.

 

[pete63]

OK. Finally got around to taking some images of my 4" Air Intake. This is a Spectre (K&N knock off) and built just as well for half the price. I used a Spectre 3" to 4" adapter at the supercharger intake and used 4" black ABS drain pipe from there to get the right angle. I actually thought the ABS may be temporary but I'm going to run it till I see an issue. I used some heavy duty zip ties to attach the filter/pipe to other piping in the boat to take some weight off the ABS. The only real issue I saw was the ABS pipe was bumping into the temp sensor on the muffler but I solved this by rotating the muffler out of the way and stretching the rubber strap accordingly.

Once you take out the OEM air box/pipe you'll need to relocate the voltage regulator which can can see attached in the one photo.

You'll also need to relocate the oil crank case breather to a cash can. I paid about $35 for this moroso unit with an air intake and a pepcock at the bottom.

I've got less then $100 in setup.

View attachment 35246View attachment 35247View attachment 35248

nice job
i have the air filter high at the front of the engine bay. (cooler air, away from the exhaust)