In a taking on water emergency, I want sealed/waterproof battery and fuse compartments. Electricity and aqua = no power to bilge/outboard. Should be a no brainer.

I agree and most are really bad about putting both bilge pumps on one breaker. One goes bad in and emergency and the other one does not work. Even the dealers seem to not know. When you specify that it must have two separate breakers, they will assure you that it does when it does not. You have to stand over them and watch them do the work. This means that you have to come up with the research to tell them exactly what you want and how you want it fixed. I have even had to purchase all the items and make them trade out what they can to get the boat right so it will not fail when it takes on water.

They can't even make a dry storage box dry. Fish in the rain and all compartments are wet. To be totally dry the compartment lids must have the drain drought around the lip with a drain hose on each compartment to the bottom of the boat. Not many will do that and there is no fix.

Add in the memo to make a boat that isn't a zillion dollars.....lol.

+1

Tell them to make the console big enough for a 24" graph, as not to be "out dated" in a year or two.

Dc power should not cause problem in the water. Contamination of battery water is your main issue. We submerge batteries all the time, no issues, and still have power when submerged.