Ahhhhh, new system installed

I spent all night with a buddy finishing the install of a few things in my Mastercraft.

Problem is that now that I have it done I think I will need a second battery. We will mostly use the stereo with the engine off swimming around the boat...sooooo...I guess a new battery is in my future.

I have a Mastercraft X7 (same as a 197 really).

Two questions:

1. Where is the best place to put it?
2. Once and for all...what is the best/cheapest/easiest way to wire and isolate it?

Thanks in advance everyone.

No answers, or suggestions, till we see some pics ! Just kidding man, but seriously, were the pics at? At least tell us how extravagant you went with on your install.

-Blake

I am doing a "mini" install with the help of a friend who used to be into car audio big time but now has a company car....so he has a garage full of gear and no place to put it....lucky me!

Here is the plan....


First, this is a stock X7 but the X7 has the following:

1. XMD3 head unit.
2. 4 Clarion 6.5" speakers in the boat
3. Clarion 10" sub in the drivers area.
4. Clarion 400x4 amp.

My buddy gave me a 10" Polk sub, and a 400x1 Clarion sub amp that he had.


Here are the changes we are making/made:

1. I added 4 Kicker KS60's on the tower.
2. Removed the stock 10" sub and replaced it with the Polk 10" sub (blew the hair off my legs).
3. Added the Clarion amp that my bro had, to power the subs.
4. Wired the 4 stock speakers and the tower speakers to the original amp.
5. I added a cigarette lighter/power plug under the dash. I then bought a Ipod charger that has a built in signal amplifier on it....so the MonsterCable plugs into the charger in lieu of my Ipod. This is all hidden away up under the dash, only the white plug that goes into the IPOD is sticking out of the bottom of the drink holder in the observers area. I have the same setup in my truck...it is perfect.


Here is what I still need to do:

1. Add a second battery.
2. Build a sub box for under the observers seat.
3. Find a way to mount the extra amp, hopefully without mounting it to the sub box.
4. Finish installing the 12 LED clusters, I have 9 installed (purple).
5. Somehow, someway, get all the setting figured out.

Search second battery in this forum there is tons of info. BTW cheapest way would be to use a solenoid.

Go with the Blue Top Optima 34M (I think is the model number) and a Stinger solenoid (probably don't need the 200Amp model but why not, it won't break the bank.

Here's a link for the battery goodies:

http://www.hifisoundconnection.com/Shop/Control/Product/fp/vpid/1333954/vpcsid/0/SFV/30046

I'm sure there are other sources for this stuff, but his site is easy to shop.

2 GOLF CART BATTERIES= 115 POUNDS OF BALLAST, LESS THAN 100 BUCKS FOR BOTH FROM COSTCO, AND TWO GOLF CART BATTERS WILL LAST AS LONG AS 4 BLUE TOPS (FROM WHAT IM TOLD BUT I HAVENT HAD BLUE TOPS) BUT I CAN TELL YOU THAT I CAN RUN MY SYSTEM ALL DAY ON THOSE. kICKER SOLO X, 1200.1 AMP 4 KICKER 6X9S ON THE TOWER TO A 650.4 AND 4 6.5 INSIDE TO A 350.4. A GRAND TOTAL OF AROUND 2000 WATTS RMS

The golf cart battery idea sounds great! I have been trying to figure out how I could add about 150lbs of ballast on the port side of my boat (I pull my son and others by myself all the time) to even things out..maybe 2 of those batteries plus the other added equipment will help even things out.

How do you guys mount them?

I HAD THE SAME PROBLEM AND THE WEIGHT OF THE BATTERIES FIXED IT. i HAVE A DIRECT DRIVE AND WE ALWAYS PUT THE ICE CHEST ON MY SIDE AND THE BOAT ONCE I ADDED THE BATTERIES IT BALANCED EVERYTHING OUT PERFECTLY. ON MY TIGE I JUST MOUNTED TWO BATTERY BOXES DOWN TO THE DECK IN THE PASSANGERS COMPARTMENT AND THE BATTERIES FIT RIGHT IN. ANOTHER PLUS YOU CAN DEEP CYCLE A GOLF CART BATTERY 5-6 TIMES MORE THAN A DEEP CYCYE. AND THE PRICE IS RIGHT. JUST MAKE SURE YOU HOOK THEM UP RIGHT SO THE 2 6 VOLT BATTERIES = 12 VOLTS

Mike,buddy...I think your cap lock button is pressed.

SORRY ACTUALLY ITS BROKEN

Cool, thanks Mike.

Now I need to figure out where to mount the extra amp...any advice?