SeaRay 182 bowrider speaker installation

[Shakin97]

Hey guys,
So I bought a 2002 182 bowrider. The gals like to ride in the front but there are no speakers on a stock 182 in the bow area.
just 2 6 inch in the rear which sound great but cruising at any speed the sound up front is horribly missing..... I looked around the web and saw a couple modifications for speakers, and one stood out which was the speakers on the floor.
Here is what it looks like stock....



Then I found the 2 spots I wanted with some measuring and marked them. I drilled a small pilot hole on both sides so I knew where center was when lining up the hole saw and where to pull away the carpet under both front seats. I was afraid if I did not so this the hole saw blade; which is very aggressive teeth wise, would grab the carpet when I went through and unravel it.




This was all done with JBL GTO 429 (35W RMS) 4" speakers, which I was VERY pleased with when I was done... The hole required is exactly 3 3/4 inches which means as I found out later after visiting ACE, Lowes and HomeDepot, Is not a stocked hole saw size which is bazaar. They have a 1 3/4", a 2 3/4" and a 3 5/8", but no 3 3/4"... And I thought I was being smart buying a; what I thought was a standard size, 3 3/4" cut out sized speaker... Oh well, lesson learned. Ordering a 3 3/4" Lenox hole saw on Amazon is easy enough and I had it in 2 days. When done, they fit with maybe 1/16th' of play... Perfect.




Hope this info helps another thinking of doing this project. Oh, should have mentioned I replaced the stock CD stereo by JVC with a new ALPINE CDE-143BT. Just $129 at StereoKing ($170 on Alpine.com). It's blue led, easy to operate and has a 3.5mm input/USB input/Bluetooth for external music streaming. At 4X18 Watts max power (That is measured in RMS, not PEAK) being 72 Watts it is louder than we need it for sure. But, if you are kinda deaf, or looking to be, there is pre-amp outs on this unit so you can jack your output power easily with whatever amplifier you want to run. Anyway, it was a fun and very satisfying project well worth the time to do.




Rob

 

[Shakin97]

I'm trying to upload the last 2 pics, but it claims I'm over my quota.. They are tiny pic size, under 26Kb.

 

[Shakin97]

And here is the bow now.

 

[Sportzkidz]

Hey rob that’s awesome and looks great! I have the same boat and have exactly the same issue you do. I already replaced the two back speakers 6.5inch and headunit. However I need more oomph, like an amp or install 2 more speakers to the bow like you did. I’m pretty much at max volume and still need more loudness especially when flying on the lake at high speeds. Either I may do an amp or spend money on two 6.5 inch bow speakers for same price? Also what kind of speaker wire and length for the two bow speakers you used?

 

[Hillzy_Aus]

I recently went through this same process but with my 2007 175BR. I looked at installing the speakers down the bottom but after reading into it (and hearing of one guy who wasn’t overly impressed with the end result sound wise), I opted to install 4” fusion speakers on the side just in front of the hand rails - turned out great! Just adding another alternative that’s all


Of course this was just the start of the stereo changes and now am a long way down the track (new 6” fusions in the rear, 10” polk sub running 400wrms, 6.5” wake tower speakers, 2 amps total and a 2nd battery setup haha - its great tho).

see attached pic of where I installed the bow speakers - ignore my dog haha