Advice on music system for C22

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Henry

As a new C22 owner and a music lover I was hoping for some advice on what type of "sound system" to place on my boat...built-in or boombox?...battery operated or hard wired?. What seems to fit best on the C22? Brands and models would be appreciated!
 
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john renfro

sounds

hello henry, i have a car am/fm casett radio and speakers in my 22. ugly, but good sound and more volume than i can use. i have a household radio/ cd player that i am going to try to wire up for 12v. just because it was free. john
 
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Bruce Jones

Also Sounds

Hey Henry, I am at the same point...was thinking of getting the Stereo CD Player on special from West Marine ($199 I think) but wasn't sure if this was a good unit; or where to mount it; or where to place the speakers in the cockpit. Hopefully we will get some answers here from others who have done this...
 
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ken

sounds III

Henry.................... You don't have to spend a ton of $$$$ on a sound system. Any good car (12V) stereo should be more than enough. Hook it up to your 12V system. Just decide what you want ....AM/FM and CD or Tape. I have a Honda car stereo in my C22 and it sounds great. Yesterday I went to Radio Shack and bought some waterproof speakers for the cockpit ($40). Easy install......... and I also have speakers in the cabin. I hooked them up so that I can adjust the balance knob to turn on all 4 speakers (underway)...... or just the cabin speakers (at the dock) to play. Buy a good car unit and you will be a happy camper. Good luck!
 
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Henry

Ken...where/how to install sound system?

Thanks Ken... Can you or anyone give us some details on the installation? Where exactly on the boat do the player and speakers go? (I'm a bit nervous about drilling holes in my new boat.) How about drain on the battery...is it a concern if you are playing the system a lot without running the motor? Thanks again!
 
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Larry Watkins

Sound system

Henry; Any good car system will sound great on your 22. Place the speakers on the forward bulkhead, on each side for good separation, and run wire to the cockpit for added speakers. Get a pair of waterproof speakers at Target, wire them to plug ins, and clamp them to the aft rail so they can be removed when not using them. Use an FM/CD player, as it comsumes much less power than a cassette. If you want to save station settings, wire the memory directly to the battery, thru a fuse, better than leaving the DC system on, some people say. The power use is minimal, but lacking an alternator/generator, a small solar panel will help keep your batts up away from the dock. Good luck and enjoy! Larry
 
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ken

sounds again

Henry........ Larry of Long Beach gives some good advice. I have my Honda stereo mounted on the starboard side underneath the shelf that runs the length of the cabin. Used a coupled of short (1/2") wood screws.. holds fine. I have a speaker on each side of the cabin (Larry says mount them in the forward part of the cabin ....that's fine). In the cockpit ....... I installed two waterproof speakers about halfway on each side. If you open the lazarette and put your hand up as far as you can go....and as far forward as you can go you will see that there is a ton of space between the cockpit seats and the outer hull. More that enough room to install a speaker on each side. Drill a starter hole....... use a jig saw to cut the hole. The speakers come with templates to show you exactly how big a hole you need. If you have a sliding galley..... just make sure you duct tape the wires up and out of your way on the starboard side. Good luck!!
 
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Frank Vaughan

Sounds in a Cat 22

I made a copy of the lowest bilge board on our Cat 22 out of cheap plywood. Mount the radio/tape player on the center and two cheap outdoor speakers on the edges. When you are in the boat, turn the bildge board speakers to the inside, when sailing turn them to the outside. It is portable and easy. I used a spair trailer plug set as the conector to the battery, and layed an cheap fm car attenna under the afterberth. Plus, it is safer to sail in this boat with at least a lower board in place in windy areas.
 
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john renfro

drain

hello henry, i din't know about radio drain, but on more than one occasion i have driven a car 5oo miles at night with no alternater with no problem, and the headlights draw 55 watts each, and a car radio is a lot less.my speakers are mounted on the wooden panels just befor you enter the " v " birth. the radio is in the upper side of the opening for the pull out galley. john
 
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Aldo

Henry

Henry: I read your question the day you wrote it, but didn't get to respond, but I have been thinking about it for a while. I have had my 1980, C-22, since it was new, and one of the first things that I did was mount speakers in it. I cut into the fiberglass on the port side on the aft seat, and on the starboard side, in front of the porta-pottie. I used Jensen triaxials, which were popular speakers 20 years ago. They do still sound great, but I don't know that I would do it the same way now. Speakers have really improved in 20 years, and there are little computer speakers that sound fine. Here's what I am going to try this coming summer. (I'm not recommending this, yet, but this is what I am going to try). I am going to take a little personal CD player and plug it into a set of computer speakers, and take the headphone output from the computer speakers and plug them into my big speakers mounted on the boat. I might also move the computer speakers into the cockpit, just placing them into the coaming compartments. If this works well, I plan on building a little wooden bracket to mount just the amp form the computer speakers inside the boat, on one of the shelves that run along under the windows, with the portable CD player mounted on top of it, possibly with velco. I plan on using batteries in the CD player and computer speaker amp, or a 6 volt adapter that I previously made for a tiny portable TV. As some of the other guys who responded to your question, I have used a car cassette player in my boat, but I don't plan on using it any more. I hope that this gives you a few ideas. The computer speakers that I mentioned above are from $4 to $13 when purchased either on the Internet, or from a local discount type of store. Whatever you do, it will sound great, and will be worth the effort, I would just proceed slowly cutting a lot of big holes into your boat. I hope you get this response. Aldo
 
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Robert Sellers

Boom Box all the way..

Go with the Boom Box - We found a cheap $29 box with CD/Radio/Tape at the local Walmart. 4 C-Cells later and we were in business - Now over 6 months on the same set of batteries and still going. CD works great too and it can move from the cabin to the cockpit to the beach as needed. Thought hard about putting in a built in, but then, who needs something else to maintain.... r.s.
 
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