I’m thinking about installing a radio for my bass tracker. What are your thoughts on a marine grade radio vs. an old deck from a car. What kind of speakers will I need? I don’t need crazy volume. I just want to be able to listen to a ball game and an occasion Boston/Rush CD.
If you purchased a weather proof cover for it you can use a standard deck with out any issues.
I have installed many that way for boaters.
Without a doubt, go marine. I crapped out three car radios with marine covers on them. Finally, we sprung for a Sony marine stereo. The thing has been doused and is still going strong. A car stereo might work in some applications, but our pontoon was not one of them! Marine stereos don’t cost that much more–it’s worth it.
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If you purchased a weather proof cover for it you can use a standard deck with out any issues.
I have installed many that way for boaters.
Want a job? 
Solder on the circuit boards in an automotive deck corrode pretty quickly. A cover keeps water off the face but does nothing in protecting the insides from a humid environment. Check E-bay for a inexpensive marine deck.
Use the kenwood marine stuff it is pretty reasonable and does a great job. I can listen to ball games just great. I can also drown out the cove with music with my 1000 watt amp pushing all 4 speakers! 
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and an occasion Boston/Rush CD.
Great Tunes, and I’m a huge Boston fan, but nothing gets gets the blood pumping more than putting the hammer down on the F150 with Top Gun’s Dangerzone BLASTING.
By the way marine, all the way. also if you don’t have one, a good Marine VHF Band radio with 4′ antenna can not be beat either.
Jack 
I crapped out 3 car radios in my last boat trying to save a
buck.
By the time you pay for the cover and probably buying a box to put the car radio in,
you come real close to having paid as much as marine anyway.
Hands down best deals on marine radio/speakers/amps is on Amazon.
-J.
try sonic.com.. i got a great price on a sony..cd,ipod.radio and speakers $ 300.00 if you use a ship to shore a splitter fro $ 30 is worth the price
If you’re going to take the trouble to do it, I’d only buy a marine-specific stereo.
The way I look at it, my hobby is fishing. Not troubleshooting boat electronics. There’s enough of that that you HAVE to do, so why add something that’s any more failure prone than it has to be?
It’s the same amount of work to install so why take chances?
BTW, I try to “ruggedize” everything when I install anything on the boat. So for a stereo for example, there’s those slip-fit connections where the speaker wire connects onto the terminals of the speaker. I put shrink tube over the tops of those connections and heat shrink it so the connectin is watertight and is less prone to vibrating loose.
Also, use common sense when routing wires to keep them out of anywhere where they can get snagged on something. Just bought a boat for my dad and the assh@t that owned it ran the wires for the front depth finder right through the rod locker and just left them laying loose. So, of course, every time you pick up a rod, it has wire tangle up in it. What an assclown! Don’t create problems.
Grouse
Grouse
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