Click on any of
the pictures below to see a larger version.
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This 1985 model Ski Nautique 2001 received a total makeover
with many of today’s popular accessories and electronics.
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| BEFORE |
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As we brought this Ski Nautique in it recently had a wakeboarding
tower installed.
These ‘before’ pictures show the empty cavity under
the bow without provision for electronics mounting.
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| These ‘before’ pictures show the empty
gunwales without any provision for mounting speakers. So we
went to work first constructing the enclosures and mounting
structures while reinforcing a few of the existing panels. |
| AFTER |
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To the right of the steering wheel a hardwired, waterproof
remote control was installed on the dash panel. Remote commands
include power, volume, disc, track, station and many more.
The controller is back lit at night as soon as the navigation
lights are switched on.
Just to the interior of the remote, we added a dual-amp-balancer
which fades between the subwoofer and tower speakers. Just
above a waterproof toggle switch turns a large four-channel
amplifier on and off.
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Under the bow and just forward of the dash, hidden from view
and reasonably protected from water, an AM/FM/CD controller
plus a ten-disc changer provide the source electronics. The
changer features an electronic buffer for shock protection
and also plays MP3 discs. To the right a 10-inch marine bass-reflex
subwoofer is installed using two aluminum ring brackets.
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On the floor decking and behind the folding rear-facing passenger
seat an oversized auxiliary battery was added to solely power
the audio system. When at anchor, the auxiliary battery can
be totally discharged without depleting the starting battery.
An automatic-switch 150 amp battery relay combines the batteries
for charging while allowing the batteries to discharge in
isolation. Immediately to the left of the CD player a switch
controls the battery relay, selecting between “always
connected”, “automatic” or “always disconnected”.
A large manual battery switch acts as an emergency parallel
fail safe in case of a battery or relay failure. Concealed
behind the auxiliary battery is a 100 amp DC breaker. The
primary battery is recessed in the deck just below the auxiliary
battery.
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A 10 amp AC charger (upper left hand corner) is connected
to an external 15 amp AC inlet via a 20 amp AC breaker (shown
just to the right of the charger). The single bank, three-phase
AC charger maintains both batteries overnight when returned
to the boathouse. When accompanying the 43 ft. cruiser at anchor
for the weekend, the Nautique charging system conveniently plugs
into the mother ships generator to stay live and charged. This
also allows the Nautique’s stereo to be enjoyed for as
long as they want to play. |
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A fan-cooled four-channel amplifier is installed far forward
under the bow. Two channels are bridged mono and operate low
pass on the subwoofer. Two channels drive the wakeboard tower
speakers in the highpass mode. |
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| Marine mildew-resistance carpet covers custom-made
birch speaker enclosures. The enclosures are elevated off the
deck on starboard spacers and are mounted via aluminum brackets
and stainless steel hardware. Each enclosure contains dual marine
6 1/2-inch coaxials mounting to a recessed white marine vinyl
covered baffle. |
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The port side speaker enclosure also contains the 120 VAC
inlet and cover for easy access.
The four Bazooka coaxials are powered by four discrete high-power
outputs of the CD player. When battery power conservation
is wanted, the amplifier can be shut off so that just the
four speakers and CD player operate. This high-efficiency
mode allows the charger to keep pace acting as a power supply
and keeping the batteries close to a full charge.
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| Two black powder-coated aluminum enclosures adorn
the tower. Each contains an MB Quart 6 1/2-inch coaxial. |
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The tower unlocks and folds down for garage storage. |
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A quick-disconnect watertight 4-conductor deck plug provides
a speaker cable service loop that allows the tower to fold.
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We made extensive use of high-grade birch, resin-coating
and aluminum bracketry to fabricate mounting structures where
provisions of any type did not exist. Plus, everything was
built to survive an extreme pounding.
The other distinguishing feature of this boat is the
charging system that allows extended play, automatic isolation
from the starter battery and EZ connection to a larger boat's
generator. We had a blast building this electronics system.
Many wake and ski boats nearly two decades newer won't be
as much fun as this resurrected Ski Nautique. It was very
generous of Mom and Dad to outfit this boat for their young
teenagers.
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| Earmark Car Audio
©2004 Earmark Car Audio. All Rights Reserved.
Design & Programming by Ad
Cetera Inc.
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