Nice work, Joe! Looks great.

Guys- Does your sea temp (aka- water temp) guage work? It's listed on the same screen as the air temp which works just fine, but my 'sea temp' always says 'off' and I cannot seem to figure out how to turn in 'on'?

Mine works, but I'm not really up to speed on the gauge functions yet. I haven't gotten out enough yet.

Nic-

Talked with Colin aka/Twitch today and he said you wanted the paint code for your Epic. You will have to take a piece that you cut out to your boat. The take it to your local body shop and have them match the paint for you. If you want to spray it yourself then find the location of the company that supply’s the body shop with paint and have them mix you up some.

Shane

Thanks Shane! My budget didn't allow me to use you guys unfortunately or I would have in a heartbeat. You do excellent work!

What do you all use to clean the foam flooring on our boats? Mine is getting absolutely filthy during my install. It is just the standard grey so I'm sure it shows dirt a lot more than the camo print.

I got the 3rd batt installed. I ended up using some 3M 5200, and glued down a piece of aluminum to mount the batt tray to. It went well, but I realized that there isn't nearly as much room in the drivers side rear hole as I thought. There's 3 big ballast hose's, the pump and contoller for the trim tab, and the biggest space hog of all, the steering cable. The problem, that I didn't realize at first, is that the cable has to swing a little when you steer. So it ends up taking up a lot of room. You can see it in the pic's.

I'm not quite done yet. I had to order 1 more fuse holder like the one in the pic.

I installed the surepower 1314, and I got a manual disconnect switch so I could manually separate the start, and stereo banks during shore charging. I also got a thru-hull connector for the 3 bank Promariner battery charger. Everything went really well. I'm happy with the install.

The pic's didn't work on that one.

I started installing the caps yesterday. I got as far as figuring out how I wanted to run the wires, and where to mount them and the distribution blocks. It's pretty hard for me to get inside the cubby hole under the radio. so I had to make a template out of cardboard that I could drill through. I'm hoping to get them done tomorrow.

Does the epic have a battery disconnect anywhere. My Malibu had a perko switch to turn the batteries off when it was stored. My Epic sat all winter and now the brand new batteries dont seem to be holding a charge. Am I missing it somewhere?

No stock disconnect. Did you have a float charger on them over the winter? If not, they might have froze. No big deal, they have a warranty.

No I did not charge them. Where do I take them for warranty replacement?

You have to find a local dealer. I forgot what brand they are. Take your boat paperwork with you so you can prove how old they are.

I got a lot done this weekend. I finished installing the caps. Finished the wind dam. Finished installing the panel with HSE, and the WS420. Vacuumed the boat. Cleaned and sprayed the seats down with Babe's.

My original list grew along the way, but I got it all done except for the garbage hole. I'm still looking for a way to make it look right. I'm really happy with the way everything turned out.

Hey Joe, your wind dam is SICK!! I may call you and have you build and ship one to me.!! I will find out if EPIC did anything about this and let you know. If not I will either ask how you made it or ask you TO make it. =)

Joe- nicely done, on all of it!

Sounds like our weekends were a bit similar, we got our wind dam done as well and gave the Epic our thorough 'pre-season' cleaning. This is the first time we have ever used Exquisite upholstry cleaner...WOW! Followed that up with some babe's and it was all good.

I also used the Exquisite to clean the rubber flooring and it worked great too. It didn't seem like it would hurt the rubber flooring, but please correct me if you guys think otherwise.

Scott-
Here's what I did for our wind dam and what I would suggest. Call Scott @ Samson Sports (same company that manufactures our Razor towers on the Epics). Let him know that you are doing with I did for a wind dam. The channeling is the same channeling that is on our towers that the bimini tops slide up and down along in.

Let Scott know you want the following-
(2) 24" channeling with 4 counter-sunk holes drilled in them and have him round off and router both the top and bottom edges to ensure people don't scratch or cut themselves when walk by the rails from the bow to the back of the boat.
(8) 3/4 stainless screws.
If he asks about the rubber stoppers that he sent me, advise him they are not needed

I installed them straight down from the windsheild. Pre-drill your mounting holes and obviously make sure thing are straight and the two rails are in line with each other. You will notice that from the floor to the bottom of the windshield is more like 28" or so, stick with the 24" rails to compensate for the curve at the bottom where the sidewalls meet the floor.

Once the rails were installed, I took my boat to a plexiglass shop and had him cut & fab me a 3/4 peice of plexi to fit exactly. Make sure that he makes it as snug as possible up top to seal using the rubber seal that is on the bottom of the windshield. I got my Epic emblem that Joe and I have on ours from my Epic dealer.

Total cost of wind dam-

$25 for channeling fab, screws, holes drilled including shipping (samson sports)
$45 for Plexiglass
$45 for custom fab and fit of plexiglass

Total= $115

Attached are some pics, some of the pics were taken 'before' we gave it it's pre-season cleaning so you will see some dirt and grime in the backround :-)

Did I mention...Exquisite...HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, when I was done cleaning the boat I walked around my garage looking for vinyls, plastic, rubbers that I could shoot and clean, (kids bikes, seats, chairs, my rubber boots, etc) this stuff is amazing...

Very cool!...thanks for all the info! Haven't talk to Gary yet to see if Epic has done anything about this on the 2011 yet. Love the fact that you guys can do all this. AMAZING! You guys are KICK ASS !

Ice, very, very nice!
They definitely cut yours a lot cleaner then mine. I had to use a jig saw, and some sand paper.
How much did you dealer charge you for that sticker? I need one for the front of mine. The one I have, I got in a care package.

Just to give you guys a little sneak preview, w/o pic's of course. I got some 1/4" aluminum, about a month ago, that I gave to my machinist buddy.
He hasn't had time between jobs yet, but he's going to cut and polish two big "Epic" decals out of it for me. They'll be 4 1/2" x 36". That's the exact scale of the smaller 1 1/2 x 12 sticker on the tower. I'm going to mount them on the gunnel between the tower and the rear hatches. They're going to be a "fancy" place to step. I'm really excited about them. The wait is killing me.

Joe-

Thanks, we are happy with the way it turned out. I got the sticker emblem from my dealer, he just gave me a couple. email me your address and I'll send you the other one that I have.

Regarding the 'fancy' step plates, stealing a line from Gatorade....

"That's G"...that's all I can say. Are you going to put some grip tape on the top of them? Can't wait to see them...

No grip tape. Don't want to mess up the clean look. Besides, I have to balance and agility of a jungle cat.

Really though, they're going to be 1/4" thick, and cut out like the sticker. Should be plenty of toe grip there.

Finally finished my filler panel for the transom speakers. Here it is from start to finish.

Raw board
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...V/SAM_0130.jpg

Raw board cut for 4 wet sounds xs-650's
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...NotPainted.jpg

Raw board with speakers placed in
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...otPainted2.jpg

Final product painted panel, with notches for the speaker connections
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...EpicPanel2.jpg

Final product other view
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z.../EpicPanel.jpg

Nice dude!

I don't know if you noticed, but there's a big rat in some of your pic's

Thanks man! Going to install it tomorrow. Will snap some pics once its on tomorrow night.

Where did you get those heater vent flange assemblies that match the oem ones?

Joe- Emblem is in the mail, should be there on Monday. I also sent you a few Orange Epic stickers you may like. Let me know once you get them to make sure they made it to you.

Hey ICE,

Any way you would be willing to send me a template for that wind dam so I could bring it to my local plastics company to make a plexi piece. Love what you did there. let me know
Thanks
Nic

Ice, I'll let you know for sure. Thank's again!

Nic, Call Danny at Heatercraft 208-687-4400. He's super cool, and will take care of you for sure.

Ice and Nic, I wish I had a template too! that wind dam was a pain in the rear to cut out.

looks awesome nice work

Thanks Joe!

I installed the panel this evening after work along with the 4 wet sounds in it. Man what a pain in the ass that was. Looks awesome though now that it's on and the speakers are in. I will take some pictures tomorrow. It got too dark by the time I finished.

Nic-

I'll take measurements of the plexi tomorrow or saturday and send it to you. Are you going to get the channeling from scott @ samson sports? If so, I will measure it as if you do not need those notch cutouts on the bottom of the glass like mine. If I was to install the wind dam again, I would not use the black plastic stoppers on the bottom of the channeling. I had Scott send me the plastic rounded stoppers so people wouldn't catch or snag the bottom of the channeling when they walked through the walkthru. However, after seeing how Scott fabbed the top of the channeling, it is angled and smooth enough to where if I would have had him do the same smooth angle on the bottom, it would eliminate the need for the black stoppers. This way, your plexi doesnt have to have those little notches on the bottom and will prob save you $ on the plexi fab labor. I would just have scott make each end of the channeling angled and smooth instead of using the black plastic stoppers on the bottom. Does that make sense?

Nice work Nic. I used the same procedure when I removed the 8 Clarions and Installed the 10 Inch HLCD NVS Addictions in our Epic. I also changed the Clarion transom amp to a Tru-Technology. We put over 100 hours on it last year and it works great. With our pre-Kicker system there is an 11 inch space from the speaker to the speaker cover (which I added a plastic mesh on the inside) so water to the speaker has not been a problem for us "YET".

A few other things we've done; Our boat was an early '08 with a rough dull gelcoat. I spent a lot of time removing the factory graphics, wetsanding and adding good ole' redneck tribal graphics.:eek:

I added a grab rail for the swim platform and a tow hook. We do slalom behind this boat and the 8.1 can pull a bunch of tubes.:D

Lastly I added trailer frame extensions to assist with getting in and out of the boat when on the trailer.

Great thread with lots of mods I plan to do!

Thanks Dale! Your boat is looking awesome. I really like that tow hook you put in the back for tubers. You should snap a picture of what you did inside the hull for that.

Here is a quick phone snapshot of the plate installed on the transom from last night.

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...2023V/Boat.jpg

Dale-

Great work! We are actually in the infant stages of making an assist step as well. I love what you did with yours, how does it work for you? Attached is a pic of a metal plate that we fabbed. We were thinking to make it removable with a pull pin and maybe mount it to the outside or front of the guide pole. LIke I said though, very early stages. I really like the ones you did, functional? is it wide enough that people don't slip on it or fold their sandals over it when they step up? Any things would do different if you were to do it again?

Here are some pics of our step, very 'rough' stages, obviously if we ended up using it, we would powder the top red and use black grip tape on top and etch out the Epic emblem so the step was all black with Epic in red (like the Epic emblem on the Pacific trailers).

Nic-

Nicely done!

Alrighty Joe, I'm here and very impressed with the mods everyone is doing.

Here's what I have guys and I need to know your interest. I am working with a couple of manufacturers right now on getting some things completed that will benefit us.

1. gunnel pads - I have measured and completed a cad drawing for the ginormous gunnels we have and all I have to do is buy it. I had templates but I don't think they survived our latest hurricane here on the gulf coast. I am willing to get them to make more templates but I would like to know who is interested so I can let them know as well. And I mean a serious interest. They are a good fit on my '07 but I will need to find an '09 owner to test the new templates.

2. Fold down swim platform bracket. I do believe we are past the initial design phase of this project and I am waiting to hear back on current progress. I hope to have a prototype ready very soon, again I am waiting to hear back. The idea will be that the swim platform will slide out and then fold down to make it easier to back into storage as well as provide more space in your storage unit/garage. I also need to justify to them to further this endeavor. Please let me know your interests by PM, I do not want to hijack this thread, unless you guys are ok with posting up here.

Glad to see I am not the only one trying to innovate and personalize the EPIC!

Fred

Joe - I will take pics of the "T-handle" drain and post them up early next week, as well as the play pen cushion, and transom subwoofer boxes (when they are done)!

Dale,
How many 10inch nvs speakers do you have?

Nic Vit's old speakers - thanks Nic! Yes, I still have holes to fill, you can see I used to have the grills on there and I still have to wet sand. BUT I do have those subwoofer eclosures I have built, pics on another camera, that will cover those tiny holes and led strip rust stains.

1 more pic of the graphic - with the exception of the banner, both sides are different as we put these on seperately in a collage fashion.

Guys, nice I read this everyday and get pumped to get my 2011. Just wired money today to EPIC. Black hull, and also they are putting on the FAE for me. I had to order it but shipped to them and they are putting it on. So, that will be done. I will want the best solution for the WIND DAM, so whoever is doing that let me know. Also Fred, I have black hull coming and want to put my own version of wrap on it. So, is what you have from the factory? or did you do that? If you did, is it going to be easy to take off the factory stickers? Or should I have them just not put them on? Oh...one BIG thing!! Has anyone thought of a swim step of the platform that tucks up under the platform with a latch? I have 4 small kids and not sure they can get on without a ladder type thing, even if it is one step...thoughts on how to do that or has someone tackled that? Thanks guys, May 20 is the date for me guys, can't wait to show you all.

Thanks for all the ideas, Joe and Ice....

Scott, I took some pic's of the interior for ya.

Thanks brother, they have offered me to change the interior but I just can't see how. I have black hull, but want black inside, but have no idea how to? Thought about making the grey black, but I just think that it will get just too dang hot. Guess I am just going with stock interior, but I am wanting to change outside graphic. So, may not have them put them on.

Make sure they send the graphic with, even if they don't put it on. That way you at least have it for when your wrap wears out.

Yes great point....

Lookin good Fred! I bet that sounds pretty nice now!

Joe, man you got that boat sparkling!

Here is a quick snapshot of the transom with all the speakers in it

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...V/IMG00649.jpg

Wow; looks nice and clean Nic. I will get a pic of the tow mount when I get a chance but I can tell you it is thru bolted to an 18 inch long piece of HEAVY aluminum angle. If it pulls off the transom is coming with it!

Ice, your steps will certainly be the deluxe model! My first attempt was to have a local trailer mfg fabricate steps made of angle iron and expanded metal. They really did not extend far enough back to be useful and looked like crap so I scrapped them. I then searched around my shop and came up with that material. (don't turn me into OSHA but they are made from the rollbar that I removed from our new Kubota tractor :cool:) I had intended to add a nonslip surface but it really has not been needed. We've had them on for a year and loaded a bunch of folks including kids and they have worked perfectly.

Duffy; We have a pair of the 10 inch HLCD speakers mounted in the transom. There really is only room for one on each side but it has been more than enough to get the attention of the local water patrol officers. I really need to add the FAE so we can back it off a bit.

We were talking about the cooler issue. I thought a thru-hull drain in the bottom of the boat would be the best solution, but I think we were all worried that it might void our hull warranty. I e-mailed Jason at Epic just to be sure. Just like every other time I've had contact with anyone at Epic, I got an immediate response. He said I could install a drain and NOT void the hull warranty. However, he cautioned that the fuel tank was directly behind the the cooler, and if I somehow drilled into that, it wouldn't be covered.

So I went to the local marine parts store to find a v shaped thru-hull to install. They didn't have one. If I can't find one soon, I think I'm going to ask my buddy to make me one.

I also had a setback with the heater. I ran the boat in the driveway for an hour. I had the temp guage up there, but no heat out of the second heater. Even if I ran it up to 2000 rpm, no heat. So I'll be installing a pump into the system this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes.

Ice, I'm still interested in those steps. They look pretty nice man.

Fred, glad to see you made it on here. You have a lot of cool ideas going on. Good job on the speaker swap. I can't wait to see the sub boxes.

Nic, That panel turned out sweet. The spacing turned out perfect. I like the remote spot too. Way, way better then trying to squeeze it in the middle.

Ice, I got the stickers, and the decal today. Thank's a lot buddy. I might have to swap the white one on the tower for one of these orange one's.

Scott-
As far as the wind dam, if you end up going the route I did, I have a template traced and ready to send to you if you want it, just pay the shipping. I traced one out for Nic and thought I'd trace you one just in case. Let me know.

Joe-
Great info on drain, I am going to be in pursuit of a through hole drain as well, probably have my dealer do all the work though. The idea of me punching a hole through the lowest point of my boat, right next to 50 gallons of 91 grade is a recipe for disaster! Bummer about the heater, but knowing you, it's probably already fixed. Glad you got the emblem and stickers all in one piece.

Dale-
I am liking your step better than what we have going. Especially since- 1. It's more permanent, and out of the way. 2. It's and tried and true & you have had no issues and it has worked great for you guys. Why re-invent the wheel? I may be jacking your idea and copying you...

Nic-
Sent you a PM, let me know your address, your template is ready to go.

Ice; When you said you might have your dealer do the cooler drain in your boat would that be Tyrell at Prestige? I like that idea as well and Tyrell is a great guy but I don't want to make that 3,253 mile round trip again so................

Joe; When you do yours please take plenty of pics to go with the detailed instructions.:D

Got my sub box finished minus carpet last night. It's going up under the driver's feet area. I removed the plastic heater panel. I should still have plenty of room to stretch my legs fully out without hitting the box.

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...nfinished2.jpg

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...nfinished1.jpg

Also, has anyone ordered any carpet for our boats? I need to carpet the above box but can't find anything local.

Yes for sure I want that ICE. I will be out of town next week but I will send you an email the following week for it. Also, did you get your channelling from the guy above? I want to find that smoked look, but figure I will just get it tinted after its done right? Has anyone thought about the 2 other ideas I thought of?

Ladder for getting onto the swim platform for kids?
or
Bow filler cushion?

Ice, the heater fix is going to be done tomorrow. Thanks for the vote of confidence.

Dale, I'll take some pic's for sure. I've already taken more pic's of this project then all my other projects together.

Nic, how did the bilge go today?

Scott, I'd like a bow filler for sure. I haven't figured out how to support it yet. I talked to a vinyl guy here, and he said he could make me a cushion no prob.
As far as the swim ladder goes, I'll have to see how hard it is for my 5 year old to get in. Him and his brother did pretty good on my last boat. Besides, You might not be able to fit it in there now that your getting an FAE.

True Joe.....

I know I will want a filler so I have to see when it gets here how to support it. Have you had any thoughts on that? As far as the ladder goes, you may be right. My boat is coming from the factory with FAE already on it. Darn...hmmmm Yeah my wife will kill me if I bought a boat my 4 year old can't get back into...lol My 6 and 8 will be find but the 4 and 2 won't for sure. So, guess I am going to have to wait and see it when it shows up. I do want the filler tho, so give that some thought since you are the guru along with ICE. Between you two, you have solved just about everything.

Oh, and what is that stuff called that I have to spray around everything so the bass doesn't shake everything? And where do I spray it?

Scott, You need dynamat. Look on e-bay. Get the sheets, I think its better then the spray. Your going to have to take the whole right side of the boat apart to get it in there though.

Nic, the box looks great! Where's the heater hole?

Joe - Turns out I didn't have the ground buss hooked up as I had nowhere to hook it yet with no accessory batteries in. Once I grounded it the bilge and the blower worked off the start battery.

As for the sub box, I couldn't make it the size I was planning. I didn't want to take off the steering column so that limited me to 17.5 inches tall. I couldnt design a box big enough to be ported and the recommended sealed size didn't allow me room for a heater pass through either. I am currently trying to figure out where else to put the heater vent. I will probably convert it to a pull out hose with the housing/flange secured to the top of the box.

You could mount the vent that you have on top of thebox. Just angle it down so it blows on your feet.

I figured it was the ground. I forgot mine one time when I was messing with it.

Dale I would love to see some pics of your HLCD's mounted in the transom.

unbelievable!! keep up the good work

I finally got a chance to put the boat in the water today. It's been a loooooong winter, and an even longer spring. It seemed like every time we got a nice day, either the boat was torn apart, or I had something else going on. Everything worked great! I did have to tweak a few things though.

I installed an HSE over the winter, but I didn't get a chance to mess with the tach signal generator. There's 4 wires (besides the power, ground, and tach). You have to twist 2 of them together to make it work. I can't remember which one it ended up being, but it wasn't the one they recommend you start with. Either way, it only took a few minutes to get the right one. This thing is awesome! I would highly recommend it. It's going to be so great to not have to mess with the volume all the time. I would also like to say that Jim at HSE was a pleasure to work with. He made sure that I had everything I needed, and even called me a couple times to make sure that everything went good. Great people, great product!

As you all know, I installed a second heater. The guys at Heatercraft said that I might need a water pump to speed up the flow of hot water, because of the extra run of hose. I tried doing without, but I didn't get much heat out of one, and no heat out of the other. I ended up installing a pump today. No big deal because I already had a relay wired up from when I wired up both heater boxes to the same switch. It works great now. I have all the heat I need now.

I got the Boat Buddy installed. It only took a few minutes, but I needed to take the boat off the trailer first. No suprises here. Loading the boat is a snap now.

Nice Joe! Glad to see everything is working out for ya. I am close to being able to throw mine on the water as well. Just a few more things need doing and then a good cleaning top to bottom.

Here is the configuration I chose for the amps. Tomorrow its time to connect them all up, do some wire management, and see how it sounds. Can't wait!

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...IMG00657-1.jpg

Joe - boat buddy's tend to get fickle over time. If you hit it too hard it won't engage, if you hit it soft it will engage. I found with mine that over time I have to have it "half cocked" meaning that the lever just barely rests on edge when you have it pulled back and it engages every time now. I also found that with my particular trailer that the boat buddy will allow that extra 1 in of slack of not being all the way loaded. The bow would bounce on the road because the bow was not rested all the way on the most foward guide. So to eliminate this I also have my wife give a little power to keep it nosed in all the way or I just get the winch and pull the winch strap tight once it's all the way loaded. If I was just going to the storage on/near the ramp no biggy but I'm not. I hope this makes sense.

Ordered my channeling from Scott at Sampson today for the wind dam.

Heres an update guys. The dividers are almost done. Super light and wayy stronger then the stock ones. They still need to be polished and the flat top piece needs to be attached.

Thanks Fred, I had a BB on my last boat. I remember what a pain they can be sometimes. I keep my boat 4 houses from the launch, and the gas station is only a mile away. I do use the straps if I'm going any farther then that though. Even though there's a learning curve, I still love them. It just makes it so much easier at the launch.

Nic, WOW!!! I didn't realize you were getting new amps too.That looks sweet! How much of a pain was it to remount those amps? You should see me try to wiggle my way into that cubby hole. It's pretty f'n funny.

Twitch, those are sick! Is that real carbon fiber? Put me down for some.

J/K I'll probably have to go the budget route and just reinforce mine. They do look pretty sweet though.

On a side note, I really want to take a fiberglass/carbon fiber class or something. I have a huge lit of things that I would make if I only knew how. I'm almost ready to volunteer at a shop, just to learn something.

Joe,

I just got done taking a two week course at Alteon for composites. Damn interesting class and would love to get to apply some of it. The class was for composite repairs on airplanes but alot will transfer over.

Hit me up if you have any specific questions and i'll see if I can answer them.

Jeremie, I really appreciate the offer, but I wouldn't even know where to begin. I really have no experience at all with that kind of stuff. I can make the magic happen with wood or metal, but not so much with glass or carbon.

Thanx Joe, This guys does awesome work check out what he did for our 22' Donzi.

WOW! Did he do all the machining himself?That's some pretty nice work.

Yeah Joe, I went with 2 SYN4 amps to power the 16 xs-650's at 100 watts each and then a SYN1 to power the kicker sub and a xs-xxx at 500 watts each. I connected them up last night to be sure everything was working and with no gain on the amps it was already as loud and much clearer than the kicker system. Especially the transom setup. Man do those 8 650's sing back there! They are going to be sickly loud once I start adjusting the amps.

Mounting those amps was a royal PAIN! Literally. I found the best way to work in that cubby hole is to get on your back and go head-first into the cubby then lay flat on your back inside. You can then sort of wiggle and rest your back against the side of the boat which props you up a tad. Not looking forward to the wire management under there.

Joe do you mean the throttle/gear levers? we bought those but he did all the fiber glass work. At first that big box(first pic) was going to be sticking out of the side which looked sorta funny so this guy just used his brain and made what you see in the second pic. Its really amazing work. Between that and the dividers I was blown away at how good he is with fiberglass and what not.

Finally got my batteries all situated and plugged in the on-board charger for the first time tonight. All is well and working.

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...V/IMG00661.jpg

Dale-
Yes, I am going to have Tyrell and Kenny @ Prestige do the drain. Tyrell said 'hi'.

Nic-
RIDICULOUS!!! Wish I could hear that thing in person. Also, I haven't been able to climb into my boat the past few days, just been busy and we've had crazy thunderstorms every night when I have had time to go measure the thickness of the wind dam, you may want to just take your channeling to the plexi place and have them fit the width, the more I think about it, it may be 1/2" thick, sorry I don't know for sure.

Fred-
I am definately interested in gunnel pads. Are they going to be aluminum like the ones Joe was talking about with a seadeck-type top? Do you have a pic of what you are thinking?

Twitch-
Sick dividers! I am may be interested in paying your guy to making me some too, lemme know if that might be a possibility.

Joe-
Boat buddys are super handy, I LOVED mine on our boatmate trailer until the pin bent (to Fred's point). I think my pin bending was more user-error than boat buddy error. Fred's suggestion of 'half-cocked' is perfect, that is actually how my dealer showed me how to do it when I bought the Supra.

Some things I have added to my 'To Do' list-

Rear Compartment handles-
I just received 3 yards of the gray vinyl from Epic that I am going to have a local upholstery shop make me two handles for each hatch. The crossways handles like someone suggested earlier on this thread.

Adding some padding on the top edge of the rear seat-
There is currently no padding between the hard plastic backboard and the vinyl, we have banged our shins, forarms, feet etc. way too many times, it freakin hurts!!! So same upholstery shop is going to add some molded foam on top of that plastic back board :-)

Trailer extender-
We are currently in the R&D stages of adding some type of removeable trailer extender to the back of the trailer that has a platform to carry a couple kids motorcyles, kids 4-wheeler, luggage, etc. There was a sweet one a guy on WW had on his Supra trailer, but I can't find it on WW anymore. For those of you who remember seeing that one, same type of idea here. If you guys find or have a pic of that Supra trailer, please share, I can't seem to find it?....

Adding speakers to the tower (downward facing).
Fabricating a plate that we can basically mount two 6.5's or 5.25's into the area between the two top tubes of our tower. The speakers would be downward facing and would be able to 'fade' the sound on the same channel as the cabin speakers, so fade 'front' would control these tower speakers along with the cabin speakers. The idea is similar to the Jeep wrangler 'sound bars' built into the roll cage. Reason why- When my boat is full of peeps they are sitting in front of the current 4 cabin speakers, and somewhat 'block' the music.

Ice, I really like your idea's. Are you talking about making handles like tuneman was talking about earlier in this thread? I would be interested in share the cost of the vinyl if you have extra. I was thinking of removing the nylon lift straps and having the someone sew the vinyl over them and then installing them like tune suggested. Like I said, I'd be interested if your getting them made, and have extra material.

I noticed that edge also. Nobodys been hurt yet, but I can see what you mean.

I was thinking about tower speakers too, but my girl finally said enough is enough. Maybe next year, who knows.

Nic, you really have those batteries wedged in there. Looking good buddy.

Joe-
Yes, like the ones Tuneman suggested earlier in this thread, sorry I forgot it was Tuneman that suggested them, i knew someone did, just forgot it was Tuneman. Below are a couple pics of a Sanger that has them and I will be doing. I like how thin they are and how tight to they are, no slack in them. I should have plenty of material left over, I can send you some if you choose to go this route. The only concern is that at the rear of the hatches the corner is both white and gray vinyl and don't quite know how the gray strap will look across the white portion of the vinyl. I know that is somewhat splitting hairs, but I really like the idea of them blending in as much as possible. The front end of the hatches are all gray, so we are good to go there.

As far as the backseat top edge goes, I didn't mean to sound so harsh, but definitely something that we want to replace. I don't know if we jump around, wrestle around, or have more 'dancing girls' on the back seat/deck area more than the average, but definately something we have noticed... Scott, if you are reading this, DON'T WORRY, you still made a great purchasing decision! LOL...

NO pics of the gunnel pads. I have to get them in and I have lost the templates. I have to call him soon, tho, for sure. There will be no metal in my pads. It will be pure Seadek.

I have the crossway handles. You can simply get Hide-em off of ebay by the foot and get it in white and grey. THis is what I have on my hatches currently.

Hey ICE I got the template today. Really appreciate it!

I was personally back and forth on how to do my wind dam with my ideal situation using hidden magnets and eliminating any channels and any need to attach the channels. Well, I ended up really simplifying things but still made a panel that doesn't need any channels. It's really nice as when it is out, there is no trace of anything left.

We are getting lots of rain here and I'm currently laid up with bruised ribs but I'll snap some pics the next time we are out! I used 1/2" plexi, cut the profile out and it follows the slope of the fiberglass behind the bow seat backs. The bottom of the panel simply sits on the floor padding while the top rests on the window. Doesn't move once it is in place and it is virtually invisible being clear with no channels. Something to think about if you are about to drill holes/order channels!

We've got a lightbar installed too. It was super nice that the boat came with the extra 'acc' toggle switch in factory configuration to allow for at least one aftermarket accessory without aftermarket switching. We ran the wiring through the existing wire loom/conduit that is in place for the nav lights and that whole install is super clean/factory looking. Also pulled the 'mounting clamps' off of the bar and just bolted it direct to a plate on the tower cleaning up the install even further.

mispost sorry

WOW is all I can say. I have mine on order. They are giving me some options on the tower color and graphic type and color. I have a black hull coming so going to go with something silver as graphic so I can get a chrome tower. As far as all the MODS go, yeah it sometimes does get a bit concerning but I know you guys are just loving the boat just making them your own. So no worries. I do like the idea of the wind dam with no channels or holes. May have to go that route. I am back now and will be here more since home. May 22 is date for new boat, but I travel to TEXAS to meet with GARY from EPIC to ride and get my boat. They are also putting on my FAE at the factory (think I might have said that already, just didn't go up and look) so, pumped. FAE is most important to me, so that will be done, wind dam is second to me. What is third????

You should get a WS420 and an HSE. Those have to be the coolest things so far. I can't explain how nice it is to be able to adjust the inside, and rear speakers separately. And it's even cooler to have the volume adjust itself. SO, SOOOO nice.

Nic-
You're welcome, glad I could help.

Ian-
Damn dude! Where were you about 2 months ago! LOL, oh well, sounds like we both have applications that are gonna work for us, but yours much easier process.

Joe-
If you were to only do one at a time (ballin' on a budget) what one would you do first, the WS420 or HSE?

Ok, being a newbie what is a WS420 or a HSE? Explain...

WetSounds 420 Equalizer

http://www.wetsounds.com/pages/products/WS-420.html

HSE Volume Control

http://www.hsetrident.com/html/rvc_info.html

I guess if you were really on a tight budget you could still fade the inside from the rear using the fader on the stereo. You wouldn't get the sweet mic, or the fine tuning of the sound, but you could do it. So I guess if I had to pick, I'd say the HSE. I'm not sure if there still on sale, but earmark had them pretty cheap recently.

Also, something that's essential is the dynamat for the whole drivers side. Without it, theres just to many rattles. There is a cheaper alternative to dynamat. It's tar tape. It's basically just a 6" strip of tar with a aluminum backing. Don't tell anyone, but it's the same thing as dynamat minus the dynamat logo. I found some at a local semi trailer parts store.

Another easy fix, Adjust you amps properly:
set the gains on the amps to roughly 25%. Turn the bass boost on the sub amp(s) only to about 9-o'clock. Set the sub eamps crossovers to about 80HZ.

On the full range amps, make sure bass boost is totally off, set the crossovers to high pass with the frequency at roughly 100 HZ

These are the best, easiest upgrades.

Another thing is adjusting the gains on the amp.

With the Dynamat Joe, do I have to tear the boat apart to put it in? Also where do I put that stuff? Can you show me pictures or talk me through it? I don't want any rattles with a brand new boat just cuz the stereo is on. Does it rattle when the stereo isn't on? Anyplace on youtube or something to see what I have to do to make it right?

Don't get the wrong idea Scott, this boat is solid. We were surfing the other day and I was amazed at how easily the boat cut through the rollers that we were putting out. To be clear. The boat doesn't have any rattles on it's own. The problem is, the sub hit's really hard, and it rattles that whole wall. You don't have to dynamat, but it really does make a big difference.
To answer your question though, you do have to take the side apart to get it done right.

Believe it or not, I didn't take any pic's that day. It was the second day I had the boat, and I was so excited about the whole thing, I forgot to take any.
It really is an easy job though. you can do it with the most basic hand tools. I would get a heat gun, or a hair dryer to really get the dynamat to stick.

I'd be happy to walk you through it on the phone. You have my number, use it.

Twitch, did you get yours in the water yet? I can't wait to hear about the trim tabs.

Thanks man, I will when the time comes.

I did a bunch of adjusting to my setup today. Had to wear ear plugs while I was tuning it. It was really that loud. The neighbors probably loved me. I would definitely recommend the xs-650's from wet sounds. They really pack a punch and provide an extreme amount of mid-bass for such small speakers. They are also clear as can be, even at extremely high volume(I'm talking volume that you need earplugs in volume). I had the transom cranked and they remained articulate. I would not hesitate to say it is about 3 times louder than the kicker transom setup. Love it!

I did find some strange happenings when I put my subwoofer under the driver's feet compartment. When I was running the new sub along with the kicker in the side of the boat it sounded pretty good. I got rattles from the hard hitting kicker as usual, but something I thought was really lacking. I then proceeded to unplug the kicker sub and run just the sub under the driver's feet. Man what a difference that made. It didn't pack as much punch, but it was 10 times clearer and I would even say it hit deeper. I didn't have anywhere near the rattles I had when the kicker was running too. That thing puts a lot of pressure on that side of the boat.

In conclusion, I have decided to keep the kicker in for purely looks alone to keep that square hole filled. I was also fortunate enough to try out an Image Dynamics 12" IDQv3 sub today as well. That thing was amazing and crystal clear. I will be going with one of those under the driver's feet, and I will be putting in a 10" Image Dynamics IDQv3 somewhere else in the boat. The kicker just was not meshing well with the rest of my install.