I have seen a couple boats with marine amps installed in the engine bay compartment. Has anyone else done this? I like the idea. I would rather not run 20' of power and ground wire to the cabin. However I am looking for thoughts and opinions on this.

Personally I would try and avoid it. The engine bay can be wet, but is almost always hot. Heat is not an amps friend.

i wouldnt because of the heat....

i personally would run & did run 0g to the cabin.

but i have seen amps in the engine compartment & they seem to work fine.

I would avoid it. Some amps use relays, which would not be CG approved and could be very bad (ignition risk).

I ran mine using 2 ga jumper cable wire ($40 for 40' of wire). Just bought a set of cables and cut off the ends.

that is a good idea! Jumpers could easily handle the current flow and are way cheaper than wire by the foot. Shows how we get raped as consumers.

Ok, so how about under the aft bench seat?

or go to attwoods and buy welding cable.. its a LOT more flexible and its cheap as can be.

Under the back seat is a much better option. That is where I have my amps.

Thanks for the input Griff. Since I have a battery installed underneath the seat it seems to me to be the next most logical place to put it.