Water Will Find A Way

For many years I have discouraged people from trying to use watertight boxes or assembles. Most people in this club have taken that advise and I think would report it was good advise. Byron was one of the few people who did not. I thought I found, and dismantled, all of his watertight compartments in BC Lion but I missed one. Under the center turret there was a darlington-transistor/power-relay water-sensing circuit. Apparently the power relay got wet at some point before I bought the boat and was never died out. Even before I disassembled it you could clearly see that there is a lot of corrosion inside the water-tight box.

Actually, I am glad this was the problem and not the pump. I can fix this without spending much and leave Eric with an easier to maintain ship in the process.

For those of you thinking that Byron didn't do enough by using Tool-Dip... that is only the outer layer. He bundled all the wires together so they exited the assembly at the top and embedded them in some hard plastic so they couldn't flex for about hanf and inch past the assembly. It looks like he used nail polish on the circuit board. He then embedded the entire assembly in a block of rubber before tool-dipping it.

Short of using resin instead of rubber... and using pins instead of insulated wires for exiting the assembly I can not think of much more to do. I would have guessed this would have lasted a long time.

Why I Don't Like Water-tight Boxes

Watertight boxes work great - until they don't. Water will eventually find its way into any hollow water-tight box. Trust me - it will. I know this from both personal experience and talking with people who have been in this hobby longer than I. Water always wins. It may take five minutes or five years but it will find a way in. The problem is that it will probably find its way in long after you have 'learned' that you don't have to worry about it anymore. Water is cunning like that: it know to wait until you trust your watertight boxes and seals... then it strikes.

This is a huge problem. Electronics getting wet usually is not a problem - as long as you promptly remove the water and dry out the part(s). The nightmare scenario is water getting in and staying in... like a slow leak into a watertight box. Then the water wreaks havoc and quickly ruins everything. To make matters worse the watertight box will probably prevent the part from drying by itself - so it will stay wet even longer than an exposed part.

If you leave everything open and assessable you can easily pour alcohol into the parts and let it force the water out. The alcohol then harmlessly evaporates leaving your part relatively dry. You can then leave everything out in the sun for a while to be extra certain it dried out. It takes almost no extra time and always works... year after year... unlike watertight boxes.