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I think I started that thread a while back, but I couldn't find it either!
It had to do with mounting a GPS on the deck as well as the issue of what is the true meaning of the manufactors' use of the word "waterproof".
In the responses, I don't remember anyone saying they had actually found a truly waterproof unit, i.e., one that would withstand immersion (even shallow) without unwanted consequences. Most everyone, if memory serves, recommended a clear case such as that used for cell phones, radios, etc. My "problem" with them is that I wanted a way to mount the thing more or less upright on the foredeck with some way to vary the viewing angle to compensate for different lighting conditions. Also, as an aging paddler who requires reading glasses, the farther away the unit is, the less I need glasses in order to read it. At arms' length distance, I can still read the display while still having reachable access to change screens or enter new data.
There are available mounting brackets which will provide a changeable mounting angle, and there are clear plastic cases for water protection, but no one that I remember had found both features in any single product.
My own theory, which no one confirmed, is that while nominally waterproof, the GPS gets thoroughly warmed up in the sun. Then, when an errant paddle stroke or large wave knocks it off its mount, the unit goes into the cold water which quickly cools the unit and creats a low pressure situation beyond what the manufacturer anticipated.
So, after Magellan returned my newly-rebuilt Blazer 12, I added some sealer to all the places that I could think of to, well, seal it as best I could:
Using the plastic goop sold for coating tool handles, Plasti Dip from Eagle Hardware (available in colors, too!), I "painted" the seam all around the case as well as the perimeter of the display screen panel, which is simply sticky-glued onto the face of the case (and is the factor's access for repair). At the battery cover I added another 1/16" closed cell foam to beef up the puny little O-ring type seal. Anything thicker, though, and the cover screw wouldn't reach its nut.
The tethered unit sits in a foam block carved to cradle it, and the block is velcroed to the foredeck bungie lines.
So far, so good, but there has got to be a better way.
This is an archived message from The Kayak Building Bulletin Board.
Guillemot Kayak - High
Performance Wooden Sea Kayak Designs
