Well since the new boat has a tower on it, my friend Brandon and I got a couple wild hairs up our asses to build a box out of fiberglass for the 6x9s we pulled out of my jet boat...
Here it goes. Throughout this little semi-tutorial remember that what you see as the top will actually be the bottom. The bottom (flat) will mount on the underside of the tower.

First step. DONT MEASURE ANYTHING! Do it all by eye... except the rings for the speakers of course. Use a stencil.





Sorry I don't have more of a step by step but we really didnt pre-measure anything... just guessed and did it all in my head.
Everything gets nailed together using finishing nails.
 




The diamond piece was actually going to be the back portion of the box where the solid circles are... Decided last minute that the diamond was too small and didnt have enough wood to cut a larger one. so It gives some shape to the top. In this picture we were experimenting with diamond placement.





Back view





Ahh diamond's doing better flat...





Back view again...





Wood glue is important considering the speakers pulsing and the vibration/impact of the boat traveling through the water... Don't want anything coming apart and rattling in the future.





Next cover the entire box with nylon. The nylon will act as a somewhat firm surface to start laying the fiberglass.





Oh ya don't forget the resin the nylon and let it dry overnight.





Almost done resining the nylon









These next few are just after the first layer of fiberglass. As of last saturday the second layer of fiberglass is almost done, don't have any updated pics. It looks the same. So far I've been working on it an average of a half hour a night for the last week. Looking forward to meeting all your tunage needs at the water next summer... Already have 4 6.5" component speakers on the tower, 2-12" subwoofers, 4 6.5" components throughout the inside of boat two 600 watt RMS Eclipse 4 channel amps and a P.O.S. sony for the subs.





What do you guys think so far? Worth continuing? I'm getting tired of this fiberglass work... Starting the third coat tonight.

Put those Kids to work in the background!

How much does all that MDF wiegh ?

-beerjet-

I predict lots of bondo and sanding in your future. The fiberglass looks pretty rough the work is just starting for you . I was a installer for a few years and right where you are at in the project is about where I would loose steam...

The whole sheet of MDF was too heavy for me to carry.... The box itself weighs in at 7lbs with two layers of glass. One more layer to go... As far as the speakers fighting each other... I've heard varying opinions that ultimately led me to the belief that having a single large enclosure, speakers matched both in size/model, having them all lined up together and spaced evenly would produce the best quality sound. I am by far an amateur. If you reference subwoofers, many custom builders put 5 or more subwoofers in the same fully enclosed box (unpartitioned)... This is all an experiment for me, I was just board and have a $1000 roll of fiberglass sitting in the garage. All I needed was some resin, MDF, and a lot of patience... By the way, this is my first time dealing with fiberglass.

The whole sheet of MDF was too heavy for me to carry.... The box itself weighs in at 7lbs with two layers of glass. One more layer to go... As far as the speakers fighting each other... I've heard varying opinions that ultimately led me to the belief that having a single large enclosure, speakers matched both in size/model, having them all lined up together and spaced evenly would produce the best quality sound. I am by far an amateur. If you reference subwoofers, many custom builders put 5 or more subwoofers in the same fully enclosed box (unpartitioned)... This is all an experiment for me, I was just board and have a $1000 roll of fiberglass sitting in the garage. All I needed was some resin, MDF, and a lot of patience... By the way, this is my first time dealing with fiberglass.

A lot like jet boats (droop or no droop, which loader is best, etc...), car/boat audio has a lot of opinions. Some of the opinions can be substanciated with fact. The main reason that you can put X amount of subwoofers in a box that has no dividers is because of the frequencies the subwoofers produce. Most subs (in a standard "3-way" system) cut off around 80 Hz and there is very little, if any, stereo seperation in that low of a frequency range. Once the speakers get into a frequency range where stereo is "heard", seperate enclosures are mandatory for the "best" sound. I wouldn't halt your project due to a lack of a divider in the enclosure. BTW, the reason that subwoofer boxes should not be built without a divider is due to the flex of the box's walls, the more the flex the more sound quality and quantity that is lost. The lightest way to build the project that you are building is for you to finish your project, splash it and make the splash the mold, and then use your mold to make the final project. Whether or not that will be required will depend on the final enclosure's weight.

enclosure looks sweet, when dealing w/ 6x9's u souldnt have a problem w/ any of those factors as posted above.....i love the sound of sealed up 6x9...just take your time finishing the box and sand, sand, sand and it will look great....

A lot like jet boats (droop or no droop, which loader is best, etc...), car/boat audio has a lot of opinions. Some of the opinions can be substanciated with fact...

    

Which means it will just get heavier.   I hope you have a good mounting system
Still would love to see it completed
2sav

I am losing steam. The glass was rough. Now it's all been sanded pretty good. Have some areas to go over again... Then some Bondo and paint. It's been interesting. It will be mounted on the tower, I have two 4" pieces of 1/16" steel sheet metal glassed onto the inside of the box to spread the load from the small area of a bolt head to a 4" plate. It will be mounted with a clamp similar to the clamps on these speakers-
http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-White-07-Wakeboard-Tower-Boat-Speakers-NEW_W0QQitemZ110182490990QQihZ001QQcategoryZ23807QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

These are the speakers I currently have on the tower.



I understand all of what you just said 2sav, and it was taken into consideration... Aside from the resin, I have nothing invested in this other than time. Good stuff. So you think I should port the box?

I dont know what you plan on using for subs in the box but i would not port it until you hear it first. If it sounds ok leave it alone but you will not get much for a good sound at a high volume.

When you port a box it depends on the frequency the sub and of course the dimensions of the box are all big factors so if you want to experiment with porting after you hear it and dont like the way it sounds, this might sound cheap or ghetto but alot of people use the 2"  or larger pvc pipe for porting their boxes. This way you can cut different lengths  and see what gives you the best sound and performence at higher decibels without distorting the subs.

Dont let this bring you down or stop you from building it. You have a good idea and should continue it.

Now all you can do if perfect it

2sav

Got a single 12" bandpass box that used to be in a boat fo sale 

You should keep it for the PT boat


2sav

2 sav , Do you actually read the threads that you post in? He said it was for six by nines! And if you can't read you could tell by looking at the box , seeing how the surfaces for mounting were oblonged.

Sorry my fault, it looked to me it was for 10" subs


Thanks for pointing that out

2sav

thread title =  "Re: Tower Speaker Fiberglass Box 6x9s."

So now that you know we're talking 6x9's what's the diagnosis?