A much better story

[John Langford]

I have had a Standard Horizon CP150C chart plotter in a pod at the helm since I bought the boat. Last week I got caught in a strong rain storm and the plotter was pelted for about 30 minutes. The next morning it didn't turn on and a day later condensation became visible in the screen. So I opened it up and it had a lot of water inside. I dried it out and sprayed the board with contact cleaner but it never worked again.

I got back on Sunday and Monday brought the plotter into my local West Marine where I had bought it. Here is where the story gets good. I had misplaced my receipt but they had a record of the purchase from 2003. So there was no fuss about date of purchase. The unit has a three year waterproof warranty so the folks at WM offered to send it to Standard Horizon for repair/replacement OR they said I could upgrade to the newer CP155C for the difference in the price. I chose the latter. When we discovered that the newer model was less than the price I had payed originally, they refunded me the difference! :clap It just doesn't get better than that.

Now all I have to do is figure out if the leak was a one off event or if this is a structural problem. I have to say that I wasn't too impressed with the fit of the gasket when I opened my original plotter and found the water.

Anyway, three cheers for West Marine. They made my day.

[Ray & Sandy Erps]

Great to hear some folks still stand behind their products.  I went overboard one time wearing a bunch of equipment including a Motorola portable radio and an Autohelm electronic handbearing compass.  The only equipment that was supposed to be waterproof was the compass and that didn't survive and they wouldn't replace it.  That experience stuck with me.  I have a little Garmin GPS that I mount at the outside steering station on the boat and when it rains I put a little sandwich bag over it, even though it's supposed to be waterproof/resistant.

By the way John, after almost twenty years we made it into Victoria Harbor this summer and it was a treat to tie up right in the middle of that activity.  Your earlier recommendation along with the right tide tipped the scale for us to go over that way off our regular beaten path.