97 Shabah 180 upgrades
 

I'm gonna use the project section of the forum to keep track of my upgrades (projects) as they happen.

I bought my boat last year towards the end of summer and got to use it a handfull of times before it was time to put it down for the winter. This year I've only been out on it twice. Something about having a pregnant wife and her not wanting to wear a bathing suit yada yada yada. Anyways I'm starting to go heavy on the upgrades and figured I'd document it as I went along.

My boat when I got her
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/IMG_0846.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/IMG_0842.jpg
The wife and first son giving it their approval
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/IMG_0844.jpg

Last year at some point in time I hit something because one day I noticed to big chunks of the bottom missing as documented in this thread. http://www.mariahownersclub.com/foru...endations.html

So the first project was fix those spots and replace the keel guard with a new one. As you can see in the pics I have a green boat and someone thought it was a wise move to put on a white keel guard. Anyways I finally got around to fixing it. I used the How To from this forum and fixed the spots with MarineTex. I didnt bother with all the sanding and repainting to make it perfect since I was going to be installing another keel guard over it and you would never see it anyways. Unfortunately i dont have any pics of that process but I do have a pic of the new GREEN keel guard and it matches the boat color almost perfectly. You litterally have to be standing next to the boat to even tell there is one there. I'll get the pic up in a little bit.




Next upgrades are stereo and LED lighting. I'll get to those this evening.

Re: 97 Shabah 180 upgrades
 

Sounds interesting. I'll be keeping tabs on this one...

Re: 97 Shabah 180 upgrades
 

So onto the stereo upgrade. When I got the boat it had a Dual head unit which was ok sound wise but great because it had a hardwired remote mounted on the back of the boat which I soon discovered gets used A LOT. It had some Dual 6.5" by the driver and passenger seats and some old Kenwood marine 6x9's under the bench seat in the back. I originally wanted to keep the Dual simply because of the remote option but it was gonna be a PIA to get it to work with a couple of amps and more speakers.

So I went out and picked up a Kenwood KDC-352U head unit that is a big upgrade from the Dual unit. It's got front/rear/sub preamps and should handle everything just fine. I lose the rear remote option which sucks but it came with a wireless remote that will be ok as long as it doesn't get lost.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/IMG_1694.jpg

Next was the first of the speaker installs. I went with Polk Db6501 components in the front by the seats and Db691's in the back under the bench. I've had these speakers before and love them.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/IMG_1697.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/IMG_1696.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/IMG_1698.jpg

Next was to install the first of two amps, the JBL MA6004 4 channel marine amp. It's nothing huge and the Polks can handle a lot more power but it will do the job.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/IMG_1699.jpg

Dont mind the wiring, this was a rough install and when it's all completed I'll go back and clean up all the wiring.

Im looking for a spot to possibly mount 2 more 6.5" (db651's) full range speakers. Somewhere upfront to add a some more sound higher up and towards the front of the boat. Anybody with a 180 got any ideas?

Next up will be a sub install. Im looking for something free air to install in the passenger kick panel and would like to stay with Polk. They have a free air marine sub but it's on the expensive side. Might search for a deal and see if I can pick one up.

If so I plan to piggy back another JBL 2 channel amp (MA6002) off the 4 channel I already have and bridge it to run the sub.

Will update when I get that part figured out.

Re: 97 Shabah 180 upgrades
 

Next up was to swap all the lighting to LED's and add some more. Since my boat is green I went with the green theme and for where I'm at now with it all it looks really good at night, the pics just dont capture it all that great. I've done a lot of business with SuperBrightLEDs in the past on other projects and even though some of their products come at a premium they are some of the best LED's I've ever purchased. I started by swapping the bulbs at all the oem spots.
Courtesy light at the front of the boat
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/IMG_1700.jpg
Courtesy lights at the back
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/IMG_1703.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/IMG_1702.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/IMG_1701.jpg

Then I swapped the anchor light and man did it make a HUGE difference over the old incandescent bulb that was in there.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/IMG_1704.jpg

Did the same with the NAV lights and they are 10x brighter than before to.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/IMG_1706.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/k...t/IMG_1707.jpg

This weekend I will be adding two green light strips one under the passenger and driver side dash. That should really lighten up the main seating area. I'll also be installing two white light strips in the engine compartment. I dont like not having any light back there. When those are completed this weekend I'll get some pics up.

Re: 97 Shabah 180 upgrades
 

Hey man looks REAL good.

Any info you will share on the LEDs you added in the bow and anchor lights? Where you got them, what model, cost, all that good stuff?
I'd like to do that to firefly as well.

Thanks!

As far as adding bow speakers, the way I see it you have 3 options (none of them would work for me) either you cut into the side pads and fiberglass and mount them where you see them lots of times in new boats, you remove the nets down by the floor and put them there, or you put them in the storage and shoot through the seats....

Good luck!

Re: 97 Shabah 180 upgrades
 

I used an 1142x12 in the NAV light and a 1142x15 in the anchor light. I think they were like $6.99 a piece and I got them from Superbrightleds.com. I followed a guys how to on here but determined I needed different bulbs than he did. His NAV light used festoon bulbs where mine used the dual contact push and spin type bulb you find on automobiles. So you may want to pull yours out and cross reference them with the bulbs on the site just to make sure you get the right ones.

I was thinking where the nets were also for the speakers. I'm gonna take a closer look upfront this weekend and determine a spot.

Re: 97 Shabah 180 upgrades
 

Ok I decided to go with the Kicker Comp 10C104 10" sub. I've used their 6.5" subs in a free air setting in my GTO before and was impressed with the sound. I'm gonna mate it with a JBA MA6002 amp that when bridged gives me 160w power. The Kicker sub is 150rms continuous so the little JBA amp should power it just fine. I'm going to install it in the passenger side kick panel. For up front I decided to go with the Polk db401's or 501's and mount one on each in the space between the seat bottoms and backs. The 6.5's are to big but I think the 5's will work and I know the 4's will for sure.

I'm ordering everything today so will update when the parts come in. My LED strips showed up today so I'll be installing some more lighting this weekend.

Edit***

Change of plans. I decided I'm going to do two 8" Kicker subs under the bench on either side of the 6x9"s. It will be a cleaner install and there is plenty of room.


I need to look into a dual battery detup now I guess :)

Re: 97 Shabah 180 upgrades
 

GTO???

Seriously?

Spooky, I daily drive a 2005 GTO MBM A4 :D
Not to mention I have owned a 68, 69 and 72 GTO and have a project 69 Custom-S.

Crazy man, crazy. We really should get together sometime for bowling.

Re: 97 Shabah 180 upgrades
 

Yeah I had a 2004 PBM and it was probably the biggest POS I've ever owned. Major fail on GM's part IMO. :shakehead:

We can go bowling but lets leave the GTO talk back at the house. :)

Re: 97 Shabah 180 upgrades
 

Funny, I have not had one days trouble with my 05 in the 4 years I've owned it.

But that's cool, Mariah talk only ...I am good with that.

Looking forward to your updates when you get the strip lighting in and the rest of your boom booms.