MacGregorSailors.com

The dealer just qouted me a price of $1700.00 for an installed marine stereo with 4 speakers for my new 26M. When I question this they stated that they get that much to run the wiring ( $75.00 an Hr) . Is it that hard to run stereo wiring in an 26M?????? In the meantime I have cancelled the stereo since the best setup out there is at the most $500, I'm not paying $1200 for the install. I will attempt after delivery to install myself or at another marina/mechanic!

You are getting screwed by the dealer. If you have not already purchased the Mac yet, give Bill at Boats 4sale a call. He is a regular of this board an has the best prices around especially on Mac options. He also is very helpful to those who purhased elsewhere.

Jeff

keving
i recently purchased a new 26 m (january)with several dealer upgrades and ended up reconfiguring much of what my dealed had done--effectively paying twice. my advice is to get the boat bare,. study this board and all the mods, decide which things will suite you. example-- I told my dealer to mount my cd player to one side of the bulkhead above the dinett next to the dagger board, not in the center, well guess what, he mounted it in the center and when i needed to mount the new breaker panel and link 10 battery monitor the stereo was in the way.
i had him put in the dual battery system-- he used the cheapest group 24's he could buy---i ended up replaceing the whole system with 3- group 27 batteries--several other things i wasn't real happy with. He mounted the VHF antanna right in front of the cleat you use to tie up to the dock--guess what, plastic breaks real easy. i have since run wires from the stern to the bow and its a piece of cake, and its fun doing the things you want and doing them right.

scott

Yeah, he's trying to rape you. Heck, for that much money, I'd fly up and install your stereo for you!

Seriously though, with a little patience, installing a stereo is a piece of cake. Out of all the stuff I've done to our boat, electrical is what I've enjoyed most. Routing wires behind the liners can be difficult, but once you get the hang of using a fishtape, it's not bad.

But $1,700 is outrageous... unless, of course, this includes a flat panel TV, DVD player, etc.

--Mike

Keving,

Run...run...run. That is crazy. Heck, I could fly out to NJ and still install the system for less. I have ran wires all over my M it is challanging at times, but it is also a lot of the fun with the MacGregor boats.

Rich

I think the info most relevant to the question is how many hours it takes to install a radio and four speakers in an . Do most who do it themselves here do it in significantly less than two days (16 hours)?

--
Moe

Ok, good point Moe. I did do the install myself, but if I was to pay myself...I would have gone broke! This applies to just about every mod I have done. ..but again...to me it is part of the Mac FUn.

Rich

Hi Keving - For $1,700.00 I'd even include an 8-Track tape player.
It's pretty easy to run wires in the 26M. The botom of the liner, that the straps for the interior seatbacks go into is basically a J-channel.
What I do for mounting radios, etc. on the overhead (ceiling), is remove two(or more) of the plastic caps that cover up the nuts used to attach the deck hardware.
You can remove some of these machine screws, and replace them with longer ones, and use these to attach radio brackets, etc. On the 26X, I removed the two machine screws, directly in front of the electrical panel, used to hold down part of the hatch-slider, put in longer screws, and used them to mount my VHF radio bracket.
Or, you can put Coupling Nuts on the bottoms of the existing threads which gives you something to screw into.
Or, you can attach Eye-Nuts. I plan on putting an eye-nut under the port side forward stanchion base; running a bungy-cord to it from near the daggerboard trunk and using this to hang a curtain so I can remove the head door.
I'll probably do this on my 26M, if I ever get one in that isn't sold. Right now, I'm kind of like the shoemakers son. And I didn't even know the shoemakers son didn't have a boat. Who knew?

Keving

I just installed a stereo myself on my 05 M and it was quite simple. Routing the wiring can be a challenge depending on where you want it. I installed mine above the mirror and it took only a few hours tops.

Looking back, there are a lot of dealer options that I would have rather done myself (i.e. compass, depth sounder, shore power, etc.) with money to spare for other mods. Macs are great boats, but you will want to add some creature comforts to even a loaded Mac. My advice to you on most dealer options is do-it-yourself if you can. Not only does it save you a significant amount of cash, you feel pretty good about it at the end of the day.

Thanks for all the good tips, my boat should be in at the end of May, then 3 wks for prep, hiopefully launch the 3rd week of June on Greenwood Lake NJ/NY for this season.Can't wait!!!!!!!

scott vos wrote: ... ended up reconfiguring much of what my dealed had done--effectively paying twice. my advice is to get the boat bare,. study this board and all the mods, decide which things will suite you.

Agree whole-heartedly w/ Scott. I felt the same way after buying a bunch of dealer upgrades five years ago w/ my new 26X - it's a waste of money, and worse yet ... misplaced holes in the boat!

Besides, installing stereo these days would be akin to installing a Pioneer turntable for vinyl records. Spend that money on a 20gig MP3 player plus the computer to rip them ... and still have money left over for a GPS unit.

Another example, my dealer suggested that he could install a "dual-log" or some such Marine distance meter, at the very attractive price of $1,000. He had never heard of GPS. No offense to Bill, but some of the dealers are long-of-tooth.