2005 Rinker 270 fv cooler spot replaced with cabinet door and Led stip lighting

Aprice

Hello ROC members,

 Here are  two small custom projects I have completed. First in an effort to utilize the space behind the cooler storage bin and eliminate the small ice melter cooler, I changed out the bin spot under the cockpit sink and added a cabinet door. I used  boat outfitters to buy the door which turned out to match perfectly with the battery switch cabinet. See link here:

http://www.boatoutfitters.com/king-starboard.html


I also added the led strip lighting to the cockpit, cup holders and cabin . As of now they are all connected so the color is synced throughout. I have them powered off the accessory switch.  I took the oem plastic cup holders and turned them into led cup holders. I used a countersink bit and drilled a 1/2" hole and ran the strip light through it. In addition to the 3m tape on the back of the strip lights I used clear silicone to secure the lights to the cup holder and to fill in the hole. I figured if it turned out poorly I would be replacing the cup holders with the led ones anyway. So far I am totally happy with the results and low cost. I have less than $50 total invested. I ordered everything off Amazon. 

russellh

Great job! Love the cabinate door idea as there's so much wasted space behind the cooler box. Well done and thanks for sharing

Aprice

Parts used are in the pics below. I cut the connector jumpers in half and used the extension wire to connect everything together with the butt connectors. I cut the12 volt power wire off the 110 volt transformer to connect it to the accessory switch. That gave me about 2 feet of wire and the male plug that goes into the led controller. Total time was about 4 hours  broken okver two days. I did have some classic rock playing in the background to drive my motivation. 

randy56

To cool, maybe you should post all this, on the Rinker custom projects, for others in the future.

diggin2day1

This is the best picture I can find of the access door in my 2002 fv270(previous owner installed it):

J3ff

Bookmarking this!  I'm planning on doing the interior LEDS this winter - going to go with RGBWW and dim-able.  

Thank you for posting this up, it answered a few questions...

1. was can you just cut the wire to the power brick and plug it in (since they all say 12 volt)

and 

2. Wondered how well those extension wires worked.. 

Interesting idea about the door. 

Diggin - any idea if you can measure the size of that door? 

J3ff

Seems like they want 212 bucks for that door... hmm

rasbury

Nice job! Interesting ideas!  I really like the interior. My 270 is an 06 and I like the lighting in the newer boats look- you did a great job on that interior lighting. I'm sure you can dim them as well and keep a comfortable setting as well as the ability to really light it up. Rinker really must have looked hard to find a cooler to melt ice as quickly as that cooler does- very big waste of space. We end up with a larger cooler sitting back by the table which is a pain. I had thought about doing what you have done but I do not have the equipment to fabricate a large door like that. Did not think you could order cut to size so reasonable. Did they cut the corner radius as well or did you have to wing that? I assume you used the same trim around the opening that was used for the cooler and just cut out the back part of it? Now that I see what was done on diggin's boat I like that as well.  I would like to find a really good cooler that would fit in that spot and then have the door on the side with some storage in there. I do take extra fenders and throw in there now by pulling up the garbage pail to get some use out of that wasted space. Great job and great ideas, thanks for sharing!

J3ff

I ordered the lights today for the cabin... hoping they'll be here this week.

Ordered these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IHDYYFS/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 

These are dimable and have two white LED's that can give you the "warm white" color that normal light bulbs have. 

I personally find the 3 lights that come standard in the 2004 270 cabin to be pretty useless and ugly..

rasbury

agreed J3ff...very outdated compared to the new stuff....but I can live with it!

J3ff

rasbury said:

agreed J3ff...very outdated compared to the new stuff....but I can live with it!

Yeah I lived with it this year... no more

rasbury

It's on the list but not a priority...

Cableguy Greg

Ras, there are places online that you can get a door custom made for that spot. I have a link, but I am not at home. 

J3ff

Cableguy Greg said:

Ras, there are places online that you can get a door custom made for that spot. I have a link, but I am not at home. 

Please share, I want a door there but not for 200 bucks  

rasbury

it's going to be 200 bucks...or more if it is pre fab I'm sure...

J3ff

that's rough lol - 200 buckaroo's on a 21 inch door?  

rasbury

I'm just guessing- I borrowed a buddies boat one time, a fishing type boat and it had a hatch on the front that the sun had ate up- when I stepped on it my foot went through it. It was 150 bucks as I recall for the hatch and the frame around it- just plastic stuff....

J3ff

Got the stbd side done today - ran out of supplies to get the port side done... Just demoing the various modes/colors.. I plan to keep it mostly to light blue/white..the main reason I got this one is because it needs to be able to dim. thinking most of the time these will be just above the dimmest setting. already can see what a huge improvement it'll be. 



Video:
http://tinypic.com/r/28so2rl/9

laureniac1

J3ff got any pictures of the wiring process? What do use to mount the light strips to boat interior? Close up pics of wiring and mounts if you can

randy56

Haha Ha Fun !  watched your video, are you going to put a brass pole in where the table is? 

J3ff

laureniac1 said:

J3ff got any pictures of the wiring process? What do use to mount the light strips to boat interior? Close up pics of wiring and mounts if you can

I did the same as the OP here.  Cut the wire to the power brick and inside it there's a negative and positive wire... took those two wires and connected them to this cig plug which is right where I wanted to start the lights:

In the above picture you can see the sensor for the remote up top and then almost everything is hidden behind that wall..  the things on the bottom are a 1 to 4 way splitter. See picture below. 


I bought a 1 to 4 way because I wasn't sure how many strips I am running.  Right now I think above and below the top shelf is good enough...might add another row on the underside of the back rest in the future.. 

I did end up filling in that tiny part up front next to the mirror:

laureniac1

Wow thatnks for pictures J3!! last question the cig lighter wires are also hot correct? Then the remote that comes with lights turns them on and off

J3ff

yea cig plug is always hot if the battery switch is on. 

Aprice

http://www.boatoutfitters.com/king-starboard.html
I love how it came out. It was a little pricey but I figure I can always stick the cooler bin back in and take the door for the 340 or 342 I feel is in my future. There are a few other door companies online but boat outfitters matched oem perfectly.

Cableguy Greg

Here is the link that I have...

http://www.boatoutfitters.com/build-your-own-custom-starboard-boat-door

onislandtime

So the 49ft extension did everything? You cut the " 2 prong receptacle" plug off and hard wired to the cigarette plug?

Aprice

Yes the 49ft extension wire was enough for my application  I cut the wire off on the 12 volt side of the transformer  because i was using 12 volt  and not 110v. I wired it to my accessory switch from there. I  cut the male 12 volt jack plug off the 110 transformer and plugged the male jack end into the controller and hard wired the other end to the switch. the check marks show what I used in the picture and the red slash show what I didn't use. Hope this helps. 

Dream_Inn

This is the same thing I did with these lights around my hardtop.  They work very well with the exception that I had to add a capacitor to the processor power inside the small white box.  The symptom was that the remote would work for a short period of time and then not function.  The input processor power needed additional capacitance.

Handymans342

That looks like the inside of David Bowie's spaceship

onislandtime

@Aprice Ahhh got it. My 04 342 came wired with the old strip light and the switch is located on the distribution panel over the galley. I figure to tap into where the line starts. At least that's where I think it starts lol

Aprice

@onislandtime I was just looking at a 342 as a possible upgrade and thought about how I would do this again and replace that strip lighting also.

@Dream_Inn  I havent had that issue but use the remote with 10 to 15 feet and haven't tried any further out. Not sure if that has anything to do with it cutting out.