Flooded bilge: Solar and Stern Thruster

[Rocky Lou]

Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances for which I am entirely responsible, I had about a foot of water in my bilge. That resulted in a number of electronic related issues issues most of which I have handled.

However, I'm confused that both the solar and Stern Thruster stopped working.

As for the solar panel, it's well above the position where the water was. It's located in the starboard Lazorette on my Cutwater C302 C outboard.

As for the stern thruster, it's always partially underwater, and I would think it had ample waterproofing. However, talking with Lewmar, that may not be the case.

Any advice on either issue would be appreciated.

 

[Cutwater28GG]

I believe the thruster installed is not the waterproofed version. also there is a big difference between water resistant and waterproof. My sense is the control box can get water in it and be ruined. I had one fail because water dripped from the cup holders onto the wiring harness..

For the solar I wonder if there was a short somewhere else like the ACR's that cause the solar controller to fail. If you have the original sunsaver duo you might want to replace with a victon MPPT unit anyway.

 

[Rocky Lou]

I got the impression that the 2019 model that I have has the first generation thruster and shortly thereafter, they came out with a second generation that has separated electronics. The Lewmar folks mentioned I may need to upgrade.

Given that I dock 99% of the time, the solar panel is more of a decoration for me than anything else. Hopefully it will dry out and start working again.