First off (before I forget!) Here is a link to my pictures, project files, etc... Boat Project - Google Drive
I bought a 1970's boat for $300. I put a lot of work into it and it is finally getting to the point where it is nice. That is a whole different story you can read about here: http://ourboatrestore.blogspot.com/
I am to the point where I want to start making the thing fancy. Earlier I had decided that it would cost about the same or less to use an Arduino with a cheap GPS receiver to report speed than to buy a new speed indicator (The old one was all busted up), and now I am expanding on that idea. I want my little speed reporting computer to also take care of everything else onboard the boat. I am buying a 128 x 64 LCD display and want to mount it into the dash behind the steering wheel.
In the Google Drive share I put at the top I have my project files, my eagle files, and picture etc... I plan on keeping it updated as I work on my little project, but before I get more side-tracked, the question I came here for: What is the best way to weatherproof this display? A boat is constantly exposed to moisture, and it is stored outdoors, so it has to endure the cold and the hot as well. I mainly stick to freshwater, but saltwater is not out of the question. I came up with an idea of how I might do it, but I had not found any examples of how other people have done something similar before. Here is what I was thinking: plan.png - Google Drive and here is the dash: Display Location.jpg - Google Drive
I was basically going to try cutting a window through the dash (it is basically a sheet of fiberglass on top of a sheet of wood) and leaving a bit of a lip to silicone a bit of plexiglass in place, and then screw the display in from the other side (the screen is from here: http://dx.com/p/5v-3-2-lcd12864-screen-module-with-backlit-yellow-green-screen-english-word-stock-121820). To keep water from leaching in I would put a thin layer of silicone on the exposed wood and finish it off with a plastic box of some sort attached to the back with connectors filled with dielectric grease. It might be better to have everything in one container that slides into a hole, but I am not sure where to get/how to make something like that. Anybody here have any experience with this kind of thing?