How waterproof is a Raymarine E80 Chart plotter

[nponcele]

Hi,
I'm about to fit a new Raymarine E80 Chart plotter to our boat. The installation handbook says that although the unit is waterproof, it should be put in a sheltered position on the boat. To be most useful while sailing, I think it should be fitted in the cockpit somewhere (e.g. open to the elements). However, looking at the unit, it doesn't look particularly waterproof around the buttons, so I wanting to ask anyone else who has an E80 fitted to their boat, how waterproof the unit is. Can anyone let me know of their experiences with an E80?

 

[oldsaltoz]

Water resistant would be more accurate description.

The connection at the back is first point of most problems and needs some protection.

You can use a heavy duty plastic bag with a small sheet of Perspex glued along the edge of a cut out to prevent distortion, just make sure it extends over the connection and the bottom os lower than any part of the instrument and is open so it can breath..

I hope this helps

Avagoodweekend......

 

[pvb]

Welcome to the forums! The E80 buttons are waterproof, but it's the back which might not withstand lots of water. I have a C120 display which is cockpit-mounted, under the sprayhood. It works fine. I remove it from its bracket when I leave the boat, so I then have to wrap the exposed plugs in a plastic bag to protect them from water.

 

[P4Paul]

Our C70 is fitted in the cockpit binnacle and we have had no problems at all. We make sure the C70 cover is on when leaving the boat and that the wheel and binnacle are also covered.
Many of our friends also have C70 or C80's at the helm and again no-one to my knowledge has had any issues with waterproofing.

I should have added that all these plotters are also fitted into binnacles.

 

[Sy-Revolution]

I know from bitter (£450 in repair bills) experience that they are waterproof on the front but not on the back. We fitted ours to the coachroof using the standard ally bracket (actually the boat yard in Germany that fitted it did), after sailing through a bit of a chop off N. Foreland the unit went blank (our spray hood was missing, being repaired). Sea water had entered the plug sockets on the back and rotted the gold pins away completely, then got inside the unit and fried the PCB.

We now have a nice new sprayhood and the C120 is safely inside a Navpod (ebay £80). I made a cover out of some spare acrylic canvas for it when we're away from the boat.

 

[mordase]

Hi - I've been using a C80 mounted on the steering binnacle for the last few years and have not had any problems. Its important to fit the cover when you have finished to protect the screen from the sun/elements and better still to fit a cover over the wheel/binnacle. Hope this helps. Ed

 

[nponcele]

Hi,
Thanks for all of your replies, they have been very useful. The way I think we will mount our E80 will be to panel mount it on the right hand side of the cockpit in such a way that all the wiring will be on the inside of the boat. Hopefully this will avoid the chance of any water getting into the unit.

Thanks again for all your comments. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Regards
Noel

 

[pvb]

Before you chop a hole for it, make absolutely certain that the viewing angle is satisfactory. I find my C120 has a fairly narrow range of acceptable viewing angles; the E-series has a brighter screen but it may also be limited in viewing angles.