Stereos For Ribs

Has anyone experience of the above? I'd like to fit a weatherproof system to my boat - where is the best place to get the necessary kit. Cheers Al

Shoves;

My son and I were looking at an Alpine, fully waterproof job, and it was 250:00 pounds for a radio CD player, I am away from home at the moment, but when I get back 1 week we are buying it......I'll let you know what it's like and where we got it from

I have seen a few RIBs with stereos fitted, and there are a number of waterproof(ish) sets available.

However I have serious doubts about how long they will manage to survive the beating from life on a RIB. From what I have seen they are really designed for life on a ski boat or cruiser where they won't take too mcuh abuse -- they don't show any signs of being ruggedised.

Keep us posted -- it will be interesting to see how it goes!

John

I too wanted to do this last year when i had a ski boat, bought the speakers (JVC waterproof model) and a waterproof front for a standard car radio which is really just a sealed and hinged plastic lid to fit on the 'dash'. Never got round to fitting it though...

Now that i have been 'converted' to a real boat i would still like to have some background noise at times and have considered fitting the outfit - but so far have not really found anywhere to put the speakers.

My other concern has been over what 'headunit' to use - will a CD player really be of any use at-all? I think not! Tapes are dead, and i think minidisk would suffer the same fate as CD, so what i am really waiting for is a solid-state in-car MP3 player.

I must say a second whip aerial will look good on the A-frame though :-)

The waterproof cover for car radios is made by a company called 'access technologies' and the model is an MRCV-100. I got it at the London Boat Show '01, for about £40 i think. From what i remember they had an alternative full enclosure available, but i don't know who i bought it from i am affraid.

Let us know further detials if you go-ahead...and where you intend to fit the speakers (top of my fuel tank is under seat and front of console has an access door).

Daniel

Some of the units I have seen on Rib's come with plastic mounting brackets, some with metal brackets. Should I say I have seen lots of ribs with broken plastic brackets. Also if the CD jumps the radio is still pretty useful!.

Happy hunting.

Russ

Just found these 'marine' Sony speakers on the Compass on-line catalogue:

http://www.compass24.com/cgi-bin/grossbild.pl?bilddatei=..%2Fproduktbilder2%2F5%2Fg ross%2F0558105_o1_99ig.jpg&Name=Sony+Loudspeaker+XS-MP+61

This must be the longest URL ever!

They have a CD/Radio as well

http://www.compass24.com/cgi-bin/grossbild.pl?bilddatei=..%2Fproduktbilder2%2F9%2Fg ross%2F0974140_o1_FS02ig.jpg&Name=Build-in+Radio+with+CD+Player

Regards

Keith Hart

Of course you could always try.....(picture 1 + picture 2)

Keith (improvisation) Hart

Keith, get a stereo set-up in Quicksilver..you might go faster.

Keith (Mungo Jerry) Hart hahahaha!:) :)

Thanks Charles, I may do if I pointed the speakers backwards.

Anyway here are the pictures I forgot....

Keith Hart

Plus

Keith Hart

what i am really waiting for is a solid-state in-car MP3 player. Have you seen www.carplayer.com ?

John

Just had a loot at that John, but they are all hard drive based - seen those before - in fact installed one in a friends Range Rover recently.

No way at-all that'll last more that 10minutes in a RIB, and i question the life in my sports car with its hard suspension.

Thanks anyway

Anyone else seen something that takes a RAM-stick or similar???

I have attached an image of the boat front for car-head units that i was talking about earlier (thing in background in a foam seal)...

I think I saw some waterproof stereo housing in Scubakids "Camel" - So come on John - is there anything in it? - and did it survive the camel race?

Yes, I do have experience from my own rib.

Go for waterproof speakers, and a cheap radio-cd (actually as cheap as you can).

Normally you will have to change the radio-cd unit after two or
three years as it becomes damaged from sea salt.

Invest in a good waterproof protective case which you will fit in
your console and place the radio-cd unit there.

regards

dimitris

Yes I do have two "waterproof" fitments on Dromedary sad to say that the stereo that was fitted did not survive the race the combination of power/salty atmosphere killed them all if you need a site for MP3 players try

www.scan.co.uk

check the "today" page to see if one is on offer or get it at normal price if you cannot wait.

John

So guys......

I love systems, belive me in my jeep I have a Panasonic single CD head unit with 8 cd changer, 1 x panasonic DVD and screen, 1x 240v inverter (yes it does drain the battery if the engines not running), 3x pheonix gold 360w amps driving 6x9 in the roof with 7" mids in the front doors and 12" sub woofer in the boot.

So i have been long thinking of what i do in the RIB??? So the £1000 dvd is a bit of risk with salt water etc.

My best plan as yet is JVC waterproof speekers with a jack on the end that plugs in to a personal minidisk. I have a Aiwa minidisk that I used on my motor bike & joging and it doesnt skip. My plan was to put this in a waterproof bag like we put our VHF's in.

But thats just my point of view.......

Originally posted by JAHNO
So guys......

and 12" sub woofer in the boot.



Beau - looked bigger than 12" to me=)

It 's impossible for a radio/cassette player or a radio / cd player to survive more than 2 or 3 years beacause of the salt water. Best thing to do is buy 1 (or 2) pairs of good speakers and a waterproof case for a CHEAP player. Experience has taught us that only the SONY case is what it says (waterproof). ALL other models aren't really.
I've used this combination for the past 3 years, without taking too much care of the player and everything works fine so far.