Rubi-WAC

Anyone do anything about attempting to waterproof the electronics in the dash?

That's the only thing from keeping me from taking out the soft top and never putting the doors back on. My baby got rained on once with some heavy rain with only the front doors off and some of my electronics started acting a little screwy.

I would think you'd need to put something in that gap between the windshield and the top of the dash (also known as the black hole). Maybe get a rubber seal and place that around the inside of the side panels that can be seen from the outside (covering the speakers). I would also think some type of soft clear putty or epoxy to line the edges of the gauge cluster. Possibly covering the wires that run inside the tub with some cellophane wrap.

Has anyone thought or done anything I have suggested? I desperately want to keep the doors off all the time.

echofoxtrot

This thread inspired me to try running without doors, but soft top up for the rest of the week. Normally I only have them off for a few hours. It's gonna be dusty in there... Oh, and I draped the rear window in the back and put a garbage bag over my bass-link... just in case.

As long as I don't get pulled over for no doors I should be good!

rescuejeep

i have to do this as well and he electronics scare me. i was thinking of making some type of clear plastic cover.

This is the plan.

Some durable clear plastic and and some type of rubber seal for the "black hole at the front of the dash. Cut the plastic for the top, then make one that molds around the cd player console area, then connect everything. have it drape down and somehow stick the bottom around the feet area.

The whole dash would be covered, visible to use the buttons, hell you could prob make a flap for the cdplayer.

Good luck and hope someone does this so i can copy!!!!

Rubi-WAC

That's not a bad idea at all. The only thing I can think that is made of the material you might be describing, would be those computer apple keyboard covers that iSkin (?) makes.

I have been looking into this clear rubber spray on coating for underneath the dash and in certain edges. The company is:

protectmarine . net

I can't find any personal reviews of these types of products though. Although, if this coating works like it says it does, then you could use this on all the electronics, and then seal up some of the removable plastic dash pieces with a weatherstrip in the inside of them so you could still take it out.

This is now my new project for this weekend. I would still love to hear any other ideas that people might have done for their boats or old Jeeps.

echofoxtrot

Duct tape and garbage bags are the answer to all the questions reguarding gaps in the dash and what not.

About 30 minutes go I was driving home from work... 10 degrees C, pitch black out... And it wasn't that bad at all comfort wise. If I had something to cover my ears it would have been perfect. I had the doors and soft top windows out, but the top itself up obviously. I might go completely topless when I am on dayshift, weather permitting.

Semi888

What exactly was acting weird? was it the radio or something else? An option (although more expensive) would be to buy some marine speakers and a marine radio. I have some speakers on my aquasport that take salt water waves like its nobodys business and just keep playing quality music. This would be a more hardcore solution for someone who wants to take the top out for the summer.

Oh yeah, and where is the black hole everyone is talking about? Is it where the defroster holes are?

Mark Doiron

I just pulled the trail cover off of mine. It's sunny out and I got caught doorless and with just the safari top a couple days ago. Got drenched. This is the first chance I've had to leave it to dry out. I had to pull all of the recovery gear from the storage cubby, and pull the floor mats.

Will keep the doors off except when taking the rare long drive. Drove a couple hours to Stillwater recently and got beat to death by the Oklahoma wind. So, will probably put doors on for this coming weekend at Wichita Mountains. And, it will provide some security while we're in the backcountry.

Rubi-WAC

I'm not opposed to marine audio, I just would rather get some weather strip and make sure nothing gets in there in the first place. A lot of bare metal is behind the dash. Wouldn't want that to start to rust and have other problems.

To find the black hole, throw something on the top of your dash by the defroster air vent. Drive around for awhile, and when you stop it to grab the item you've set on the dash, it will have fallen in that gaping hole between the windshield and the defroster vent.

Pretty much everything was being slow. Part of the problem might have been the strong wind. In which didn't matter that I had the top on, because everything got soaked. Somehow my horn randomly went off 5 minutes down the road and it wouldn't go off. A constant horn sound. Nothing would stop the sound except unplugging my iPod. I didn't get it.

I also had water pouring on my feet coming from the steering column. Even though I had shut all my AC vents, it was still leaking water onto my shifter. The gauge cluster was dimming in and out. I could tell water had got in there (which evaporated by the next day). Radio seemed okay afterwards, it was just acting like it was in extremely cold weather.

No permanent damage. Everything held up way better than I thought. It's a Jeep, I know it's going to get wet. But just one storm and I started noticing problems, it would be nice to take some preventative measures.

only_in_my_jeep

I hate to tell everyone this but last year someone had a problem with rain in the dash. His jeep's electronics went out and it took a day or so of drying untill it started working again.
I still run doorless and safari top untill it is in the 90's at night then I put the top and doors on to run AC till it cools back off. With this I considered a trail cover for hard rain and decided a simple blue tarp is my solution. It works like a charm and I only put it on if rain is predicted.

ajburton13

Yeah, well I'm not taking the doors off, but I am going to run with just using the Hard Top panels as a bikini when it rains and getting rear seat covers.

So I have a soft top available in the for sale section.