Anybody else have this in their hardtop?

[KnotSure]

So while replacing speakers in my aft deck hardtop, discovered this stuff around both speakers. Rest of the hard top appears to be hollow (from knocking on it) except for about a 3" section all the way around both speakers. Was this done at the factory or by one of the previous owners?

[tomschauer]

Not sure if this was factory or after, but I am sure that it is meant to keep some back pressure on the speaker for better bass and help reduce annoying vibrations within the hard top.
I wouldn't remove it.

[KnotSure]

Ahhh excellent point, hadn't thought about that aspect. I'm trying to run new speaker wires and was torn between just drilling a hole in the stuff to run the wire through vs taking it all out to make that project a lot easier.

[tomschauer]

Tape a new wire to the old and pull it back through.
I assume you want a larger gauge wire.

[g36]

X2 for using old wire as pull wire

[KnotSure]

Old wire appears to literally be set inside the material, it's hard like cement almost. I do plan to use the old wire where I can once outside the stuff though. New wire is several times larger diameter, I'm doing LED-lit speakers and got wire that's got 2x 16 ga speaker and 4x 20 ga LED in one sheath. Or at least that's the plan.

[km1125]

Didn't know they made wire like that, but that's kinda cool for this project! Is it tinned wire?

[Viper]

If you're running new wiring, personally I'd go with a larger gauge than that even if your current system doesn't require it. You'll have a lower voltage drop and it'll offer the ability of upgrading to a higher output system without running new wire if you ever choose to go that route in the future. When it comes to running new wire, I always oversize because of that. In the case of hard to access spaces like hardtops and arches, I'll also run multiple cables at the same time even if I only need one positive and negative pair. Accessories are booming these days and will only increase in the future, and lets face it, most of us love to add new toys, so having the wiring already there in spots where it's hard to route really helps.

[bud37]

That stuff almost looks like the material I have seen used to bed the boat inner liner to the hull where the two meet....at least on our last boat.....