Adding a radio to my boat?

[Newcastle]

I have nice little 16' Crestliner boat that I would like to hardwire a radio into. My livewell, bilge pump, depthfinder, and trolling motor all run off a single 12V battery currently. Wondering if I can use a standard car radio? Any tips or necessary things that need to happen to make this work?

[Sandmannd]

Yep, I used a car stereo in mine and it works great. I have an inline fuse in my stereo so that helps. Also, make sure you get Marine speakers so they can hold up to the water. I got a good set off hsolist for a good price. They are all over on there. Also get a mount for your dash (or where ever you are gonna put it) that has a waterproof cover that goes over it.

[Newcastle]

Unfortunately my boat is a tiller, thought I would mount it under the rear seat or concealed into the floor of the casting platform on the front to protect it from the elements. Does yours pick up AM/FM without an antenna or did you add something to enhance reception? Thinking it would nice to listed to Mauer hit into those game ending 6-4-3 double plays while out with kids.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Definitely get a "weatherproof" cover but don't even trust that in a storm. Throw a tarp or cover over it if it's gonna rain.

Car stereo works fine. You'll need an antenna to get radio reception. $10 at Fleet Farm will do the trick. I would also recommend wiring a switch to it so you can just flip the switch to turn it off (much like shutting your car off).

[Newcastle]

I usually park it in the garage so it typically will be fairly well protected, otherwise it gets covered-poly-tarped during storage. The storage compartment up front should be moisture free but who knows-if it really starts coming down a little extra protection wouldn't hurt. I'll have to engineer something. Like the idea on adding a switch for it, lots easier I suppose to leave it enclosed and just flip a toggle-

[Mid-Lake Rock]

Newcastle,

I don't know which model Crestliner you own, but on many of their models they have a "cubby hole" on the starboard side near the floor. You might want to mount it there. I had a 1996 Fishhawk and mounted a stereo in that compartment.

[Sandmannd]

You for sure need an atenna. I just got a cheapy at checker for $7 and I pick it all up.

[marine_man]

If you run into recpetion problems they make a powered antenna that is still small that you connect power too and it pulls in stations quite a bit better than the unpowered version.

If you don't wire it to a switch, figure out which wire on the radio's power harness is the one that's supposed to be connected to constant power for station memory / clock. If you don't use your boat real often it will draw your battery down in between trips.

marine_man