MainlySteam
New member
Last Saturday climbing on board, Plop, and out flipped my electronic car key and to the bottom it dove - ahhhhhhh, water is 3.5 to 4.5 metres deep. Got out a magnet with some fishing line and trawled for half an hour but no luck - I was pretty sure no magnetic bits so gave up.
So Monday Mrs MainlySteam went in and got another key (I was away)- equivalent of GBP180 for an OEM replacement one /forums/images/icons/crazy.gif, but she managed to get a non-OEM one for about half that. Thursday night got back to the boat and I decided to have another trawl, this time with a treble hook (fishing type) on some nylon fishing line with a ball sinker about 250mm up the line.
Much to my, Mrs MainlySteam's and the bemused onlookers' surprise about the 3rd drag up from 4 metres down came a starfish (good news as they live on hard bottoms) and about the 6th drag up came the key hooked through its ring/forums/images/icons/smile.gif.
After the salt was rinsed off the outside in fresh water I dried the key and disassembled it, expecting to be met with a flood. Inside the module with the electronic security gubbins and push buttons in it was, to my surprise, completely dry inside - it clipping together onto a soft gasket. Off up to the car to test it - worked perfectly.
So, we have a pretty ordinary car maker (Honda) who can make electronic keys with pushbuttons which can stay 4 metres down for 5 days without letting water in, but some marine instruments cannot stand the rain (although often their problems are due to incorrect installation). And, if you send a modern electronic security type car key swiming it may likely survive the trip without a lifejacket, and a weighted treble hook may be the key to recovering it.
John
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So Monday Mrs MainlySteam went in and got another key (I was away)- equivalent of GBP180 for an OEM replacement one /forums/images/icons/crazy.gif, but she managed to get a non-OEM one for about half that. Thursday night got back to the boat and I decided to have another trawl, this time with a treble hook (fishing type) on some nylon fishing line with a ball sinker about 250mm up the line.
Much to my, Mrs MainlySteam's and the bemused onlookers' surprise about the 3rd drag up from 4 metres down came a starfish (good news as they live on hard bottoms) and about the 6th drag up came the key hooked through its ring/forums/images/icons/smile.gif.
After the salt was rinsed off the outside in fresh water I dried the key and disassembled it, expecting to be met with a flood. Inside the module with the electronic security gubbins and push buttons in it was, to my surprise, completely dry inside - it clipping together onto a soft gasket. Off up to the car to test it - worked perfectly.
So, we have a pretty ordinary car maker (Honda) who can make electronic keys with pushbuttons which can stay 4 metres down for 5 days without letting water in, but some marine instruments cannot stand the rain (although often their problems are due to incorrect installation). And, if you send a modern electronic security type car key swiming it may likely survive the trip without a lifejacket, and a weighted treble hook may be the key to recovering it.
John
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