# Project Budget Cobalt Boat



## 8675309 (Jan 8, 2007)

Project Cobalt Boat


























Well this is actually a DIY project for mobile audio on the water. Subject is a cobalt boat. My friend wanted a stereo in his boat that would play clean and get loud when they are swimming outside the boat. He wanted to do this on a budget. The original stereo consisted of a Sony CD player and Sony marine speakers. We added an MTX 752 blue thunder amp and a kicker ZR 120 amp and some marine full range box speakers. Well this was not cutting it. Sound was poor to say the least. It was time to upgrade. I did not have time to complete the wire cleanup and did not have my short RCA cables yet. I will post more photos of the boat when he gets it cleaned up and all the carpet and seats back in it.

So with new intentions we ordered new equipment. We ordered a Sony CD player with a built in 1 gig memory chip to store MP3’s. It worked out better because it already had a wired remote. The sound quality of this CD player was not bad at all. I was a little scared of paying $220 for an Sony CD player on Ebay. I am glad I did now. It is a great little unit. 










We choose to use a Sound stream Tarantula 5 channel amp. I must say this amp is huge heavy and is built solid. I was actually impressed with this amp considering it had a cheap price tag of $230.00. Retail is about double that. The amp is completely capable or running active. This sparked my curiosity and with that I decided to run the entire setup completely active.


















We also wanted a good marine speaker. Something that was rugged, cheap, and able to handle abuse and water. We choose the Rockford Marine M162 comp set. We got 4 sets for $220.00 brand new from High desert audio. One issue was pleasing the daughter in the front seating of the boat. So we put 2 comp sets in the very front of the boat. Well to make these fit I had to cut the existing 4 holes out to accommodate for the new mids. I had to cut 4 new holes for the additional mids. I also had to cut 8 new holes for the tweeters. I have to say that I hate cutting fiberglass mainly because of the itching factor. Cutting the actual holes was pretty simple with the help of my new air body saw. I spent some time on the phone with Rockford to determine the xover slope of the mid and tweeter. They stated that the slope was 3200 on the tweeter and the mid ran open with no slope. Running these active I ran the tweeters and mids series parallel. That created a 4-ohm stereo load for the amp. After I set up everything and made sure all the connections were good I started the tuning process. I started out with the mids and tweets sloped at 4000. The mids did not sound bad but the tweeters sounded like poo. So after an hour of playing with it I came up with a final slope of 6500 on the tweeter and open on the mid with a HP of 80hz. That allowed the system to play loud and clean. I also should not have to worry about the tweeters frying. These 16 speakers sounded good by themselves and could play without a sub. But subs would add the finishing touch.













































We decided to use the Focal woofers I had. They fit the bill and modeled nice in a bass reflex box. Only problem is I decided to go sealed with them. They modeled really nice in a sealed enclosure. Another plus by doing this is not allowing moisture inside the enclosure. Each enclosure consists of a .902 cube foot enclosure after the foam and basket mass was accounted for. They actually sounded very nice and for every day listening will work out great. These things were a pain in the but to get mounted in the hull behind the panels. As you see in the photos the grills are not on yet. It was could and damp and the paint thing was just not working yesterday.


























Overall this thing has now got the system to match loud pipes out the back. While this boats twin prop is pushing it across the lake at 75mph and the wind is blowing you will still be able to hear the system. All of this was accomplished with a budget of $850.00 and some free labor. I guess time will tell how long it last.


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## 8675309 (Jan 8, 2007)

I did the entire install on this boat. My friend stood around and drank beer. What a punk.


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## B&K (Sep 20, 2005)

8675309 said:


> I did the entire install on this boat. My friend stood around and drank beer. What a punk.


Your friend sounds like most of mine, but I hope you managed a few beers yourself.


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## coffee_junkee (Jul 13, 2006)

Where did you score that Soundstream for $230? Is it the TRA880.5?


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## 8675309 (Jan 8, 2007)

I got it from one of my distributors. Yes it is a TRA880.5


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## Hillbilly SQ (Jan 26, 2007)

looks nice. and what size engine is in that beast? also, is one prop for speed and the other holeshot? er what?


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## 8675309 (Jan 8, 2007)

I think it is a 7.1 litre. I think it is equiv to a 454. One prop turns one way and the other prop turns the opposite. You can be running 55 shut the throtle all the way down long enough for the boat to sit back down in the water. You can hammer the throtle pulling your head back and it will be planed out and doing 70 in a matter of seconds. A little over kill I think, but it is fun to ride in.  


http://www.cobaltboats.com/ 

I have to say Cobalt makes some nice boats.




TEAM SHIMANO/FALCON said:


> looks nice. and what size engine is in that beast? also, is one prop for speed and the other holeshot? er what?


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## Hillbilly SQ (Jan 26, 2007)

equiv to 454 
so basically gallons per mile


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## 8675309 (Jan 8, 2007)

I think it is like 2 milers per gallon   

I know it cost $230 to fill it up


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## Hillbilly SQ (Jan 26, 2007)

a former boss of mine had a fiberglass kriscraft with a 454. he used to gas up the 80 gallon tank twice a day when they'd be out playing. it had twin holley doublepumpers on it. wide open he could literally watch the gauge going down steadily. he sold it many many years ago. his was an inboard. only think keeping my dad from getting something like a cobalt or something similar is the amount of gas they drink


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## DaveRulz (Jun 22, 2006)

they rate boats in gallons per hour, since it's hard to track how far they've gone


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