Electronics and cold weather question

[Slick fishing]

This is a e-mail from a buddy of mine and he has a tough situation with the electronics on his boat because there permantley installed in his boat dash and he cant take them out for the winter what do you think he should do to protect his electronics with out them being damaged by the cold, other than heated storage.. Thanks guys for any help and here is his e-mail.. Cya Slick

when I installed the electronics on it, I built them into the center console, a Lowrance LCX-111 HD sonar/gps, and a Sitex Color Max 11 GPS chartplotter...........so when I put it away in the pole barn up north, I just left the electronics on it...........so just for the hell of it, last week I called Sitex and asked them about winter storage, the guy I know down there says, "don't leave the units out in freezing weather, the LCD screen will freeze & crack!!" I never even thought of it, but those screen are "liquid crystal display", and if they're subject to exteme cold, the liquid freezes, expands, and cracks. I called the guy I deal with at Lowrance, he said it has to get around -10 below for 10-12 hours to break them. I don't think it would get that cold inside a pole barn full of boats, should be a little heat from the sun during the day, plus the floor should hold some heat. I sure as hell hope so.............otherwise I'll have to use the units off the Cherokee till I can send them back and get them fixed.

[TrailFndr]

Wrap the units with towels or old blankets to help keep them warm. If the unit is free standing above the dash, wrap it and tape the wrapping in place. Gives a nice insulation to the unit.

If its embedded into the dash, then cover the display with a thicker rag and tape it into place. That should help to protect it.

[krause]

I had forgot to take mine out of the boat which was in my garage last year come spring mine would not even turn on.It (was) an eagle.

[ESOX]

I have had my Chumminturd covered with an inch of ice. I have Left it on the boat in subzero weather, no cover on the boat either. The next morning it fired right up. I will manage to kill it sooner or later, but it is one tough little SOB.

[FishTales]

Think about all those very large boats registered in Michigan that won't even fit in a pole barn. They don't take out all the electronics. If they were that sensitive to cold temps you would think they would all have removable mounts and warnings in the owners manual.
I don't think there should be a problem.
Rich

[Jason Adam]

You should be fine. Most owners manuals have acceptable operating temps in them. I wouldnt worry unless your getting well into the negatives. If that is the case, I'd remove the stuff. I take all mine off. Some is flush mounted and some is stand alone. Its not that hard to remove...