Topic: Leave it in or pull it out??

[southern maine diver]

Nice to see everyone on this forum... and some familiar faces as well.

I have a question regarding winter use/storage of the 997-c SI.  I leave my boat in the water all year long up here in southern Maine. I go out to some diving work once or twice a week. Our temperatures can get pretty damn cold with weeks straight of lows going below zero. 

Can I leave the control head hooked up or should I be removing it and bringing it into the house to keep warm? I would think the in and out from the warm, toasty woodstove heat to the frigid outdoors would cause condensation??   

What say you experts out there??

Wayne

[Jolly Roger]

Good question Wayne.
I think since the units are sealed, condensation shouldn't be a problem.
My concern when getting my unit from the boat is always the plug of the cable connector. Leaving it on the boat would eliminate this concern, but then I'm worried that the unit might get stolen.
So I always take the unit off from my boat and I'm extra cautious when removing / inserting the plug.

My two cents

Regards / Harry

[southern maine diver]

Hi Harry...

Thanks for the reply.  My concern with the 997c is how will the very low temps affect it. I have never had a theft issue, cause I unhook it and leave it locked up in the cabin. Just wasn't sure if I should be bringing it in from the cold. But thanks for the reminder of keeping it out of other people's sticky fingers.

Wayne

[RGecy]

Wayne,

I would bring it in.  Even though they are sealed, moisture and cold temps still have some effect.  The SD card slot is not completely water or air tight.

I always bring mine in and its flush mounted.  Takes an extra 2 minutes to pull it out!

Robert

[sonar2000]

Wayne, I will do some checking but I remember somewhare that the sonar units do have a low temp just as they do have a high. dont remember where I saw this or whose sonar it was about. Since this is an electronic I would caution on the side of error and remove.  I will look around and see if i can find where my poor memory seems to recall something on this.  chuck

[sonar2000]

I seem also to recall these temps are minus 20 degrees f  and 120 degrees f.  Eddie H (new member) might weigh in on this.  or greg....        chuck

[sonar2000]

Another person who dels with cold is Kendrik.   he may also be able to comment on this.   chuck

[southern maine diver]

Thanks Robert... Chuck...
I appreciate your input.
Wayne

[IRC Kevin]

Hi Wayne,
My boat is also left in the water all year. We had temperatures of -12 C a couple of weeks ago, with the marina frozen. My 997 doesn't seem to have suffered from this unusually cold weather for the Lakes. It's also protected by a neat cover my other half made for it from some Sunbrella + left over from our new camper canvas. I'm not so bothered about theft as the pontoon has locked gates and there's 24 hour security at the marina.

[keizerh]

Another person who dels with cold is Kendrik.   he may also be able to comment on this.   chuck

No problems here with minus 15
hendrik

[RGecy]

I have had bubbles form in my LCD and fixing to send it in this week to have replaced.  Here is a quote from the Kyocera website I would take heed in!  Better safe than sorry!

The liquid crystal material can be permanently damaged by very low temperatures. Bubbles can form. Molecules can aggregate into solid crystals. Either of these will disrupt the carefully twisted order of liquid crystal molecules when they are transmitting light, resulting in a permanent optical defect.

http://americas.kyocera.com/KICC/lcd/notes/tempconsider.html

[soretoe]

I transport my boat to and from the lake and always take my units out.

[Kimi]

I think the biggest risk is´that it could be stolen. Im not shure either what high temperatures would do??

And I have seen a couple off times when boats have sunk. Nearly ewerything that was connected to the battery will be destroyed.

So, I take all electronics away from the boat when I leave it for a longer period. Dont need to fight whit my insurance company if somthings bad happend!

Kimi..