"Len" wrote in
oups.com:

I am planning on installing a Furuno 1623 radar.
Some time ago I have read in a forum that users had drilled a small
hole in the foot of the dome in order to let condensed water pass.
Anyone here with experience regarding this allteration? Or with
experience with problems due to condensed water?

Fair winds,
Len.



The Raymarine 2KW radome has a rubber drain tit in the bottom of it,
instead of being properly SEALED with a big rubber gasket and lots of
screws.

This allows it to "breathe" the wonderful sea air we all love. As the
sun rises in the morning, the air inside the radome expands and produces
pressure, blowing air out the rubber tit to equalize pressure only 4
screws holding the top on cannot stand with its pitiful rubber gasket.

As the sun sets, during the most HUMID part of the day, the sun having
boiled water vapor off the surface of the water all day, the temperature
inside the radome drops, creating a vacuum. This vacuum sucks in a fresh
load of 99.9% humid, salt air saturated, load of exotic, corrosive gasses
until the radome reaches minimum temperature, somewhere long after the
sun has set as the outside air temperature continues to drop.

The radome, now colder than the wet bulb temperature on a hygrometer,
does the same thing your beer glass in the cockpit does. The fresh
humidity saturated with salt air CONDENSES on all the now-cold radome,
cheap pot metal framework that houses the electronics, the cold
magnetron's soft iron core, all the electronic boards INSIDE the cheap
pot metal case because some idiot left gaping holes in it for the wires
and sea air to ingress/outflow with temperature. Even INSIDE the
electronics box, water condenses on everything all during the night.

By dawn, before the sun warms the radome to re-evaporate the rainstorm of
dew that has been rotting pot metal into a white powder, rusting the core
of the magnetron's magnet into iron oxide, corroding all exposed
electronic parts for hours and hours, today's radar damage has been
accomplished.

The sun rises. This cycle repeats until so much pot metal oxide has
fallen into the horizontal electronics boards it shorts something
out...or...it has corroded the totally unprotected cheap printed circuit
board antenna array...or...the maggie's core has lost so much magnetism
the maggie arcs, instead of spinning its electrons across those cavities
that make it generate microwaves. Then, like I have three times now, you
replace this piece of electronic crap with yet another one, so the cycle
can continue, unabated.

See how well this works? Do you wonder why Raymarine cannot grasp this
concept and make a HERMETICALLY SEALED, dry nitrogen pressurized radome
with REAL waterproof marine connectors?

We do....

I hope your Furuno is as sealed as you can get it so it doesn't rain
inside every night. I think Raymarine's would work better if left out in
the weather, myself....(d^

Larry
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