Reality TV has barraged the American people with bottom-barrel celebrities, wannabe pop stars and Donald Trump's catchphrase (not to mention that fab hairdo) for too long. Once in a while, though, it shows us something wonderful, such as this Arc Audio boat, pulled together on the OLN network's "Rock the Boat" last fall. It's one of the fantastic end results that make us forget what a low-budget waste of time reality TV can be.
Raw Shell
Creating an insane A/V system in just two weeks would pose a challenge to any team. For the crew of the Arc Boat install, two weeks would have been a luxury. At Ultra Boats in El Cajon, CA, seven installers had just seven days for the A/V section of the build, since the first seven involved building the boat from the unadorned hull up. Starting with an unfinished vessel had its advantages: It let the installers easily lay down Dynamat TacMat over the entire interior with Dynamat Hoodliner reserved for the engine compartment.
The Bow
Arc Audio wanted this boat to be the loudest ever built and therefore crammed in as many subs as possible. The result pounds out enough decibels to give nearby aquatic life tinnitus. Ten 15" Arc Audio subs flank the rear-facing seat at the front of the bow. The biggest challenge with the enclosures, and in fact with the entire build, was that no framework could touch the boat's hull. Since the hull flexes as the boat cuts a swathe through the water, the crew had to leave a 5/8" gap to allow for this movement.
Working with this restriction, the install team laid down two layers of sound damping material. This spacer creates a bumper for the edges of the front enclosure's plywood baffle. Next, they fiberglassed over the gap between the boat and baffle, which still allows the hull to flex under stress. Two layers of nitex soaked with the same composite vinyl ester resin that composes the boat's hull and a padded baffle wrapped in marine vinyl finish the enclosure.
The final six subs of the cabin stretch towards the stern on structural braces that bolt between the front bulkheads (more sound damping material between the bulkheads and enclosures allows movement and muffles creaking). The installers used their fiberglass magic to create individual enclosures from 3/4" plywood, mold fabric, nitex and vinyl ester resin. Where the last enclosures stop, the ampracks for 14 Arc Audio amps and the DXE processor begin, hidden behind the two side seats. If watching water ripple doesn't entertain everyone, some passengers can lounge down here and watch DVDs on the pair of 15-inch flipdown monitors.
The Dash
If you want to make this boat loud enough to rock itself out of the water, you'll need more than 10 measly 15-inchers. On the dash, the crew crammed as many speakers as would fit: four pairs of 6 1/2" components. However, it wasn't just a cut-and-drop operation. The installers made a fiberglass mold of the dash and created speaker pods with mold fabric, wood mounting rings and more fiberglass.
Instead of embedding another speaker, the crew saved the very center of the dash for a 10.1-inch touchscreen that controls the VeaLink computer. A marine-suede-wrapped and resin-coated trim shroud helps protect the monitor from moisture. As for the guts of the computer/head unit, the crew tucked them into the underside of the dash, accessible from the cabin area.
Pulsing some vibration through the captain and front passenger's feet, eight 8" midbasses punch from fiberglass pods. These pods conform to the shape of the main bulkhead they are attached to. For a last touch of bass, two more 15" subs were installed in fiberglass enclosures at the base of the dash.
The Sides
In addition to spray, rear passengers get plenty of sound waves from four pairs of coaxials installed in the sides of the boat. Beneath the coaxials' pods, constructed like the enclosures in the dash, the crew displayed some of the power system. In the rear panels, the Stinger wiring, distribution networks and fuse holders add some brightly colored pop to the otherwise gray and black interior. Submerged in fiberglass floor pods in the deck, the eight Stinger batteries put on a display. What's on display isn't as impressive as what isn't -the crew ran over 1,600' of Stinger wires and cables throughout this boat.
The Rear
The power sources for those batteries, and the 18 active amps and too-many-to-count speakers, hide under the engine compartment hatch. Alongside the engine that brings the boat up to 65mph, the crew stowed two Honda generators and four Iota Engineering power supplies. Also under the hatch they added-what else?-three more pairs of coaxials that hang down. On top of the deck, four more pairs of coaxials finish off the boat's complement of speakers.
Fourteen amplifiers fit in the cabin area, leaving the installers with four more that had to go somewhere. Sacrificing an extra seat, they ripped out the center section of the rear sitting area. Working with the Ultra Boats seat frame, they created an amprack using plywood, MDF, Masonite and fiberglass. An extra amp was added but not connected to the system, just in case Arc Audio decides to bump things up a bit. Total system wattage adds up to 22,400 peak at 4 ohms.
We never did get a peak SPL reading of the boat, but one look at it and you know it can blast the beat above and below the water. It may not make the fishes happy, but it certainly has earned acclaim at shows, winning two awards at SEMA 2005. Keep an ear out for it on the waterways of California and Arizona.
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Ultra Custom Boats
El Cajon, CA
Installers
Cabe Sipes, Chris Irish, Chris Merrill of Kustom Kar Audio; Fred Lynch of Arc Audio; Jason Ewing, Scott Babson of Kustom Kar Audio; and Todd Huffman.
Tech Box
* 496 HO Mercruiser engine
* 22" propeller
* Mercruiser Smart Craft system gauges
* Custom Extreme Trailers triple axle trailer with 20" Foose Designs Speedsters and BF Goodrich tires.
Special Thanks:
Arc Audio, BF Goodrich, Extreme Trailers, MHT, Rosen, Select Products, Stinger, Stockton Honda Yamaha, XM Radio, VeaLink