Water in Alumacraft Control Panel

[SkunkedAgain]

A few weeks ago Vermilion got a couple inches of rain over night. The boat was full of water but the thing that really caught my attention was that one of the switches on my instrument panel was buzzing and half-lit. I realized that there is no gasket or seal around the switch panel to prevent water from just running down onto all of the wires.

Has anyone run into this before? Where can one get the materials to make a rubber gasket? I don't want to permanently seal the panel, because I may need to make wiring changes again.

[jeffreyd]

i would suspect that you will need to replace the switch at some time. water will corrode the inside and eventually make it where the switch wont make good contact. as far as making a seal, how big of area are you trying to seal off? you could go to an auto parts house and ask for some material to make a gasket yourself. you may be better off going to a marine store and asking if they have anything.

[broken_line]

silicone! (: fixes everything

[delcecchi]

I have some sheets of rubber, from the plumbing department at fleet farm. I don't know if they still have them.

[Valv]

Boat switches are somehow water resistant, but by no means waterproof.

This means they should, somehow, resist to water intrusion to an extent, but many times they just don't.

I would replace the switch before it goes bad.