Good News and Bad News

A

Anonymous

Guest
I have a Furuno GP 1850wdf and fish for striped bass more that 150 days per year

The bad News
Two weeks ago we got 11 inches of rain in an hour and the water overwhelmed my bilge pump and the boat sank at the dock. It was down in about 15 feet of water for 3 days.
Boat was raised and is now almost ready to use again

the Good News
My electronics were in my car!

Question:
The power supply cord and transducer wire were under water for a while. Do I need to replace either or both of them?

thanks,
andy
 
Andy,
In the short term if you dry everthing out, it should be fine. In the long term it will have an impact and shorten the life of the cables. Water tends to "Wick" up the wire and shielding and there isn't much you can do about that now. I would recommend ensuring you have a backup GPS source on the boat (as you should anyway) and use it for as long as it lasts. You can always replace the cables at a later date when they go bad, or sometime when you find some downtime. Sorry to hear about the "soaking"
Johnny
 
Hi Johnny,

Thanks for the quick reply. this forum is a great idea. I forgot to ask about the GPS antenna. Will that survive a soak?

Andy
 
If the antenna "Mushroom" went totally under water, then it most likely won't last but a year or two after drying it out good. Drying it out might be a problem because you can't easily open it up and have it go back together. Since you really don't have anything to lose at this point; I would drill a small hole in the plastic and get all the water out you can then let it air dry for like a week or two in a non-humid area. Close the hole with some rubber sealant and hope for the best. If it works, you might get a year or two out of it. If not then you could always put on a low cost GPA017 antenna ($125 list) to the unit for a good basic GPS fix. I am sure some of the dealers lurking on this site could sell you one, if you don't have a dealer already.
Johnny.
 
Dear Andy,

We would be happy to assist you with a replacement GPS antenna. I must agree with Johnny, once something gets wet, it should really be replaced. Since GPS antennas are cheap, I would strongly recommend that you replace it. If the voltage line shorts as a result of water damage, it could take out the voltage provider, which is quite possibly a more expensive piece of gear.

I always treat water ingress like lightning damage.....always replace, never repair.

Please let me know if there is any way that we can be of assistance to you.

Eric
 
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