Anyone cut vent hole(s) 4 sub under port dash?

I have a self-powered 8 inch bazooka tube thumping away under my port dash, and I noticed that it gets much louder and sounds much better when I lift the observer's seat up. Does anyone have experience cutting a vent hole, say through the walkway area or something, to let the sound out in a situation like this? I'm thinking I could use a hole saw and then cover it up with a speaker grill. I'm just wondering how big a hole I'd need to make it worthwhile.

I've seen a few (I'm sure someone can post pics) but if its just a bazooka tube have you thought about moving it to the other side of the boat under the helm? Not sure what kind of space you've got, but that's what I did in my last boat and it was night and day, and didn't leave me with holes in the boat when I added a second sub.

Thanks for the response Ian. I just put a 10 inch wetsounds sub under the driver's side dashboard in a sealed box so that area is totally, totally full. I'm just trying to make the bazooka sound a little better to keep up with the wetsounds . . . . .

Not going to happen LOL

sorry

I think grant has done similar things...he is far braver than I. You are right though...it is pretty much useless to seal a sealed sub under the passenger dash.

I did one in my SAN.

Just finished this one this week. The Acrylic grill was milled out by Scream Marine, but all the other fab work was done by us. Venting a sub from a closed locker is a night and day difference.

If I was going to cut my boat up for a sub install, I sure as hell wouldn't do it for a Bazooka tube. I'd suggest just selling that and doing something better.

Why not do a proper sub/box under the driver's side dash like most folks do?

Eric,
In order for the vent to be worthwhile it has to have considerable surface area....at minimum equal to the size of the woofer....but given the size of the port locker, ideally the vent should be even larger.
The Bazooka tube sub is sensitive (takes minimal power to achieve output) but has limited power handling. In any case, it is going to have trouble keeping up in SPL to the Wetsounds (which is more powerful to begin with and I am assuming is less obstructed) even with the port side vent addition.
On top of the above, the two subs will have a very different phase response since one is bass-reflex and the other is air suspension, plus one is placed inside a box (port side locker) and the other is not. This arrangement never sounds good as the bass is just smeared and muddy.
Use the best sub that will fit in the most ideal location, then you're done. Just because you own it doesn't mean you have to use it.

David
Earmark Marine

I definitely agree with what David is saying, but I decided to go for improvement without maximizing fab and cost. I have two 12's (one port and one starboard) which the one port benefited greatly from any space in the observer seat. I decided to go the low cost simple route which was not ideal, but definitely helped my situation. Plus, many people on my boat do not even notice I did anything, should not hurt resale value, and cost $8. I purchased 6" Jeep Cherokee grill cover and ported my observer seat. Better ways to do it, but for an hour and $8...I am happy :-)