stereo in salt

I'm looking at buying my first boat of my own and I'm trying to figure out what it's going take to get a stereo in it. I live in central Florida and will mostly be in lakes but I will be taking it to the coast from time to time. Since it's going to be exposed to the salt occasionally, do I need to go with marine grade parts? Let me know your opinions and experiences. Thanks

I ride 100% of the time in salt and all by equipment is regular car stuff. Been using the same in various boats for many years without any issues.

Well sort of, the speaker grills on my 6.5" in the bow are going a bit rusty due to them getting wet a little too often. They still sound fine though! The rest of the kit inc. 3 amps, electronic crossovers and headunit are all fine and corrosion free.

I recommend buying car equip too. You'll spend up to or higher than twice the $ to get marine grade. If any issues ever do come up, you can replace a few years down the road with new equip for the same $ too.

Brandon
Look into the Memphis Line, not much difference in price.

Ask your insurance agent about the fine print of your policy before you use car stereo equipment

(Message edited by monkey on October 30, 2007)

Ask your insurance agent????Why its an aftermarket stereo, what ever happened to personal responsibility. Are you going to make a claim on a 2 year old $200 deck or maybe 1 year old blown $100 speakers.
I run in salt and have not had any real corrosion failures with infinity, polk,RF/soundstream amps, sony decks (in a closed glove box).

Just make sure you throw out the fasteners for the speakers that come in the box and replace them with stainless. I could never figure out why many marine speakers come with screws that rust. Cheap!

Bob, I was talking about the possibility of something shorting out in your stereo and causing an electrical fire that damages or destroys the boat. Some people have made mention of policy exclusions for this... in other words, it could invalidate your coverage if something goes wrong.