Was out running at a BMX track today(more than a little wet out). My receiver was in a balloon, when all of the sudden I lost almost all range out of it. Called it a day, and when I got home, pulled the receiver, only to find that the balloon had gotten a hole in it that had let water in. Hoping to be able to salvage the receiver, but don't know how well it'll work. I've managed to save one before with and electric toothbrushe and rubbing alcohol(seems to work better than a plain toothbrush).
Anyone else wish that they could make receivers waterproof from the get go, while still being affordable? I've lost 2 others due to hitting a small puddle(barely enough to allow the tires to throw some spray) while running. Makes me wonder how the boat guys protect their radio gear with having to run the stuff around water.

Use a balloon inside of another balloon...

I solved it. Put a cheapy AM(that I have a lot of laying around) in it with the balloon. Now, if it drowns again, I'll lose something that I wouldn't of normally used, and not a receiver that runs me close to 80 bucks around here.
Got it cleaned out, and so far it seems to be working. Time will tell. Guess I should probably upgrade to a 2.4 ghz radio soon to replace my 75 mhz JR that I've been using since almost day one(didn't like having to carry more than 1 or 2 radios, and I had 3 cars then).
Still can't figure out how my ESC(a Tazer 15T) has survived numerous submersions without a single issue.

Cleaning with alcohol helps absorb water from the circuit board (you need to open the Rx case of course). Subsequent to that, spray the circuit board with WD40 to help prevent future corrosion. With regards to the ballon, squirt a bit of RTV into the ballon end where the wires come out so water can't enter there.

Funny, but I wonder if a person was to "T" the exhaust pressure line (on a nitro) and feed a line into the ballon. Keeping it pressurized would keep out water in the event of a pinhole. It's only about 1 psi, so the ballon wouldn't inflate much, just swell up a bit.......................er.....nah,, silly idea....LOL.

The Exhaust idea is pretty cool but I'd be concerned with the oily mess that it would make.

A week or so ago my kid decided to drown his Pede is a foot deep mud / soup hole and the receiver packed up with water and mud. I opened it up and put it under a desk lap for an hour then simply brushed the mud out with a tooth brush. Works great now. I've since sealed in in two balloons with a dab of RTV at the balloon opening. It'll never get wet again.

You like that idea? Maybe the oily mess would keep the receiver circuit board from corroding............

Just buy one of the Traxxas waterproof receiver cases that come on the Emax and the Slash