Cutting fiberglass for a speaker - will it affect the structural integrity of boat?

[GMTK]

So the wife wants to be able to hear her music (better than currently) while lounging in the water behind the boat. I'm exploring some mounts for the bimini but it most likely won't work. Other option is to cut a hole on the back portion of my boat and add a 5th speaker (via an amp). It would be a 6.5 inch speaker. I've attached a photo with the proposed area to cut out. I have room behind the fiberglass for the speaker. My question - will this damage or hurt the structural integrity of the boat? That's the last thing I want to do.

 

[tpenfield]

Yes, as soon as you cut that hole the entire boat will collapse

​Actually, you should be fine, but I would be concerned about 2 things . .

​1) what is behind the hole that might be in the way . .

​2) only 1 speaker will not get you stereo and may not sound very good and the Admiral will still not be happy and let you know how disappointed she is.

What would be your options for 2 speakers . . .both left channel and right channel ? (they are different)

 

[Scott Danforth]

A buddy of mine has speakers on posts he drops into rod holders and then plugs in when he is anchored

 

[Grub54891]

A buddy of mine has speakers on posts he drops into rod holders and then plugs in when he is anchored

​That's actually not a bad idea, if you have room to store them. You could use rod holder inserts, and then they would have dial uses.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Got the idea off a few yachts

 

[GMTK]

I've got plenty of clearance behind the proposed area. Love the drop in speaker ID, will have to look at that more.

 

[wahlejim]

I highly recommend a UE Megaboom. At $300 it is not the cheapest bluetooth speaker out there, but it sounds fantastic and can be ised in more places than just your boat (bonfires, patios, etc.) If you get 2, you can link them together for stereo sound. They are waterproof as well. Mine has gone for a swim on a couple occasions and still works just fine. Fits right into a cup holder or it has built in threads to mount to a camera tripod. Also has 360 degree sound so we mount it high enough to hear all the way around the boat. Battery will last about 6-8 hours per charge depending on volume.

The reason I went that route is by the time I looked at amps and speakers and getting the sound I wanted, I was going to be spending about $500 plus installation labor for speakers that would only be used about 30% of the year where I live. We actually use it more than our boat stereo since it sounds better and we can just run music from our phones to the speaker.

Just another option to look into if you don't want to cut a hole into the boat.

 

[jkust]

I'm sort of a fan of do it how you want it as in cut the hole. I don't like that there is only one speaker location though. Not sure if these are available for marine speakers but I have twelve rooms of my main house with wired whole house audio and for the small bathrooms they sell dual voice coil stereo speakers so you get both channels from a single speaker. Surprised but the dual voice coil speakers actually don't sound bad.

 

[harleyman1975]

You would be surprised how much a powered sub helps the sound.

 

[GMTK]

You would be surprised how much a powered sub helps the sound.

I agree with you on this. Problem is if I install even a 8" sub I lose 50% of my storage in front of the helm.

 

[jimmbo]

Great, more noise pollution on the water. If people played something mellow like AC/DC, Judas Priest, Metallica or Sabbath, fine, but no, they gotta play that Rap crap.

 

[jkust]

Great, more noise pollution on the water. If people played something mellow like AC/DC, Judas Priest, Metallica or Sabbath, fine, but no, they gotta play that Rap crap.

I've gotta say, on my lake, with all of the towers on every surf boat and bowrider these days and every tower with speakers and every body with multiple subs including the pontoons, it's actually pretty reasonable out there. The sand bars get loud but that's what they are for. I'll give you the AC DC, a handful of Metallica, maybe one Priest and the same number of Sabbath songs and that's a short playlist.

 

[jimmbo]

Up here municipalities on lakes are trying to deal with all the Racket from boats. I'm surprised, actually disappointed, someone hasn't played Speaker Sniper.

 

[89retta]

Up here municipalities on lakes are trying to deal with all the Racket from boats. I'm surprised, actually disappointed, someone hasn't played Speaker Sniper.

Know what your talking about. Too much money not enough brains. That's the patch for ya here in Alberta

 

[GMTK]

Thankfully I'm on a lake that has so many coves that we rarely see another boat in a cove, and have very little noise pollution. And I'm not wanting a system that scares small animals away, wife just wants to be able to hear it while lounging. Thankfully our lake is desolate and even this past weekend when we tied up in a "busy" cove, we only had 5 boats....

Thanks to all those for the speaker advice, going to explore options prior to cutting in to the boat.

 

[jkust]

Know what your talking about. Too much money not enough brains. That's the patch for ya here in Alberta

It's funny you say that, this last two years there seems to be a sudden influx of money and expensive boats owned by the lakeshore owners. There's a battle between the older legacy residents, read those who never made money but for some reason or another own a house on the lake, and the new money people. Kind of an interesting dynamic. 600hp pontoons costing over 100k next to 30hp ancient jalopies, $150,000 surf boats next to an original owner 1984 tinny. The dynamic is changing and with that comes a whole different echelon of lake boats. There were several years there in and around the economy crash where this just wasn't the case.

 

[jimmbo]

Well, some people don't pay enough income tax

 

[Maclin]

Ah, First World problems

 

[gm280]

The only thing I could possible add is where ever you decide to install it, make sure it doesn't see a lot of water. Other wise, It won't last long to make any type sound for long. And that goes as well for "water resistance" speakers as well. Unless you get cast baskets and quality coated copper voice coils, there will be corrosion. Not necessarily rust, but every type metal corrodes with some type corrosion. Yes, even stainless steel as well. Not as quick, but it still corrodes. Water doesn't play well with any metal. JMHO

 

[Stumpalump]

The speaker has a metal frame. Any strength you loose with the hole gets replaced by the speaker. Thru bolt it well if your worried.