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We Recently got a 2004 226. For what it is, the boat is in fantastic shape. Engine runs great, good upholstery, only problem is that the stereo system is an absolute rats nest. (Pictures later on in post) All speakers are stock and I believe one of the amps is too. None of the tower speakers work, and the 2 bow speakers do not work either, only the 4 in the rear. An aftermarket subwoofer was put in that no longer works. My guess is that the previous owners tried to install the sub themselves with no knowledge and did not do too great of a job. Is it worth trying to diagnose it, or should it all be gutted and replaced with a new stereo system. Thanks
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Last edited by benjamin_rohrs; 05-31-2023, 10:27 PM. -
Your first clue on condition should have been the "to our knowledge" statement from the dealer. Either they checked the boat out or they didn't. In this case the jaded person I've become over the years of buying used boats and cars, I'd venture to guess they did, they knew the stereo wasn't working correctly and used that line to weasel around the known stereo issue. Hopefully that's all they weaseled on but I personally would be looking really close at everything and assume no maintenance had been done to the boat unless they can prove it was.
As to the issue at hand with the stereo..... I'm sure everyone on the forum has heard my stories on bad stereo and wiring by POs and "professional" stereo shops so I'll skip all that and do the condensed version. Assume everything is FUBAR. If you have electrical skills or are willing to learn, go through and document the installation from front to back making notes of everything that is not installed correctly or is junk. Create a plan to correct/replace items that are in need of repair/replacement so you can cost everything out. Once you have this you can develop a plan based on need and budget.
Based on your brief description and no pictures of the actual installation I would venture to guess that you have a mix of factory and aftermarket gear installed which was probably done by one or more POs. Since I've seen these types of installations using everything from home electrical wire nuts to lamp cords nothing would be off the table for me as to what you might find during the above mentioned survey of the installation.
There are several great guys on this forum with tons of stereo experience on this forum that are always willing to help out, I'm sure they'll be around shortly with their always great advise/console. -
Hello, I have this same boat and have been through a few things on the stereo. Do you have pictures of the components? That will help. That said, a few thoughts:
- On my boat the Head Unit (HU) drives the bow speakers and the amp, mine is mounted under the front flip up seat, drives the sub and four rear speakers
- My sub is stock and is a Polk audio, not sure if the same as yours
- I had the amp go out twice due to poor storage over the winter, when that amp went out I would get sound from front bow speakers but not the four cockpit, inverse of your situation
- To start to test I would begin by going under the flip-up seat and look at the back of the HU, see if you can identify the speaker outputs there, if like my boat, these should drive the bow speakers. If you don't have speakers hooked up there then they may have rerouted them to anther amp. If there are speakers hooked up there, try to reseat them
- If there are no speakers hooked up there, they may have mounted a new amp to drive the tower speakers and the bow speakers
- If it is a factory setup, the HU is a Clarion (?). There is a setting to turn on amp output.. I realize it sounds like you are getting amp output but worth checking the setting? See here: http://www.clubsearay.com/index.php?...roblems.21462/
- It would be interesting to see where they wired the tower speakers to, I would think it is another amp but perhaps they drove them off the HU and that is why the cockpit and tower speakers are not working?
Ultimately you may be best to replace the system this fall, I have had to just suck it up and replace my amp, the HU is next. They are nearly 20 years old but hopefully some of this helps get you going for the season.Comment
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I can get on the boat tomorrow and take pictures of all the sound system, ill send everything then. fsts2kComment
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Not sure what you can make make out from these, but here is what im working with.Comment
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As far as wiring goes, gut and rebuild. You will spend less time doing this, then trying to sort out that mess.Comment
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MLA what I was thinking, I just have zero knowledge to start something like that. Need to find a marina or shop that will do it for a somewhat reasonable priceComment
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Looks like FUBAR to me. Called another one. MLA and I are on the same page. Rip and replace. That's the only way to do this one right.
As a side note..... Next I would look at the brakes on the trailer, good chance the brake fluid is going to be in similar shape as the stereo wiring.Comment
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Nice work. Stereo wiring really isn't that hard if you do your research on what you need and lay everything out logically.Comment
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Yea, that isn't anywhere near stock. I unfortunately agree with the rip and replace. You could spend some time tracing wires to isolate speakers and get some of them working but it would be quite a job. SorryComment
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