Stereo Mount

[Clay Greene]

In our 1989 Mark I boat, we do not have a good place to flush mount a boat stereo.  There would be room in the face above the chart table but that is being used for a Raymarine instrument and the display for a tank monitor.  So, our stereo has been mounted in an ugly black plastic mount that was intended to be installed under a shelf but instead has been turned upside down with wood blocks on the bottom.  It is one of those things that annoyed me but never enough to investigate a replacement.  In the process of rebedding the chainplates, I managed to spill some cleaner down into the salon when I was getting the cursed silicone off the deck.  The cleaner perfectly dripped down onto the black plastic and scarred it for life.  I took this as a sign quite literally from above that it was time to go in search for a new stereo mount that would fit on the shelf on the port side of the boat.  

A C34 owner with greater carpentry skills than mine, of which there are no doubt many, would have purchased some teak lumber and gone to work.  My skill set is more in the purchasing arena so I went to work with my tool of choice - Google.  I ultimately found a teak dorade box manufactured by AFI under the SeaTeak brand at Amazon for $55.  From the dimensions given, it appeared that it was going to fit but it was going to be close. . . .

When I received it, I found that there was an internal baffle that must serve some venting purpose.  That was easily removed with a hacksaw.  I then had to cut out the hole for the face of the unit and the back.  A single-DIN stereo fits perfectly - the back of the stereo rests exactly on the rear cut-out for access to the connections.  I suppose I could have oiled it and left it to age to match the rest of the teak but I am looking for less things to oil on my boat, not more, so I applied three coats of Minwax spar urethane.  It is lighter than the surrounding teak but the color matches up perfectly with the ash paneling behind and it has the distinctive teak grain.  

And miracle of miracles, it fit exacly under the shelf and even left just enough room for the Ipod cord from the back.  For all the times I have complained about things not fitting by an eighth of an inch, this is some modest cosmic payback.  Photo attached.

[Clay Greene]

Here is a second photo, this time from the side.

[efhughes3]

I'd say that looks pretty darned nice!

[Rick Allen]

I would agree. nice job!

[Terry Forshier]

This really looks great. I am from "old School" though and prefer to carry my music in a sony boombox. CD, tape and radio. Years ago , when I started sailing, we had a ice box, a battery, fans, depth sounder and radio. I just cannot sit at anchor and play music and drain the boat battery, so I keep a supply of d cells for the "box" and move it where I am on the boat. Now I plug in the ipod or i phone. I also use water sparingly.
Old Habits die hard.

[Stu Jackson]

Here's what I did.

[Stu Jackson]

and...

A couple of years later, I added a powered subwoofer where the CDs are.

As to draining batteries?  Urban myth.  2 amps max out of this rig at good volume with all five speakers working (two in cockpit, the two small black ones and the subwoofer).  The small black speaker shown to the left of the stereo is one of two - there's another one off the picture to the right against the V berth bulkhead.  I got them at a fire sale at Radio Shack.  They do good highs and mid range, but suck on bass, so hence the powered subwoofer.

There was a recent topic about battery drain from stereos.  Quite enlightening.  3 pages of good stuff:  http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,5807.0.html