Def. get a new one with a warranty. I have had 4 warranty replacements for coils and armrests (2 each) Great machine and really works well in high iron or salt water areas. According to the Minelab rep I talked to at their repair facility, most leakages are due to over tightening the control box to the rod, causing a crack in the housing. He said this is especially true when folks attach it to a aftermarket carbon fiber pole and crank it down. Seems like good advice to be easy with the tightening
NOT to hijack this thread, so please forgive me, Rob183, but -- there is something I feel compelled to address here.
silvercoinboy, I am really disappointed that a Minelab rep actually said this to you, as it is
entirely not factual. Period. If this is actually what was said by this rep, then I can only chalk that up to being simply an attempt to deflect responsibility off of Minelab (for whatever manufacturing issues are causing these failures), and to instead blame the USER (and, indirectly, aftermarket shaft producers such as myself) for what is very clearly a MINELAB problem. Very disingenuous, and very, very disappointing, if this is what has been said. I'll explain exactly why I know this is false information, in detail, below.
Awhile back, one of our members here (I will let him chime in and identify himself, if he chooses to) spoke with one of Minelab's technicians at their (Minelab's) repair center, about the leakage issues, and why they are occurring with the Equinox.
The three main reasons for the leakages/failures, as relayed by the repair tech, are as follows --
1). issues with the O-rings on the lid/door to the battery compartment; 2). issues with the screw that secures the battery compartment door (specifically, cracking of the lid/door itself near the screw's location), and 3). issues with the one-way valve/bladder farther up inside the handle, beyond the battery door.
Note that there was NO MENTION of the screws that clamp the handle onto the shaft being a cause of waterproofing failures,
AND FOR GOOD REASON. The REASON that these four screws ARE NOT RELEVANT to the watertightness of the Equinox, is because the first "watertight seal" on the Equinox resides MUCH FARTHER UP INSIDE THE HANDLE. It is NOT where the shaft and handle meet (note the lack of rubber gaskets/O-rings where the two sections of the handle assembly join together), NOR is it where those threaded brass inserts reside, inside the handle (the ones that the handle attachment screws screw into, to hold the handle on the shaft). Instead,
the first watertight seal on an Equinox is
much farther up inside the handle, inside the battery compartment,
where the O-rings on the battery compartment door are located. If you loosen the screw on your battery compartment door, and then open the door, you will see O-rings on the inner flange of the door, that provide that first "seal."
Once it becomes apparent that
this is the first place where any seals or O-rings or gaskets exist (again, you can check it out for yourself), it immediately becomes obvious that any issues with the handle-attachment screws, the threaded brass inserts, or the plastic surrounding those inserts, is entirely IRRELEVANT to the watertightness of the Equinox! With the sealing of the unit occurring farther up inside the handle, well beyond the handle attachment screws, attachment of the handle to the shaft therefore has no bearing whatsoever on the watertightness (or lack thereof) of the unit.
Finally, I will note here that the one "grain of truth" in all of this, is that you obviously don't want to over-tighten those screws. NOT because of any risk for water intrusion, but instead, if you crank down on those screws with excessive force, there is some risk that the brass inserts could break/pull free from the plastic they are embedded in. The result, then, would be that you would not be able to tighten that screw. And at that point, a repair -- to re-secure the insert to the surrounding plastic so that you could again screw into it -- would be tricky. For this reason, I would not recommend using any tool other than an Allen/hex key to tighten those screws. Doing so, with that type of tool, should cause you no issues, as you should not be able to generate sufficient torque to pull/break those inserts free. Still, it's not a bad idea to think "good and snug, but not over-tight" when attaching the handle to the shaft and tightening up those screws (or, for that matter, ANY time you are screwing screws into threaded inserts that are embedded in plastic, or wood, or any other similarly soft material). BUT -- taking care not to over-torque those screws is something to consider NO MATTER what type of shaft you are using, and, again -- it has NOTHING to do with any Equinox water-intrusion failures!
Steve
