My waterproof VHF's have had no problems stored in my life vest pocket, which affords them protection from direct spray.
All 3 are still alive, though one has a salt-jammed squelch control. The biggest problem is corrosion of the battery charging terminals: you must wash with fresh water after every outing or one of them will erode from electrolysis.

The sames goes for GPS's: the ones that have died have been subjected to direct spray (foretrex, etrex, and GPSMap3 dragged under a Tornado on the boom during powerboat righting last weekend.)

I think folks are nuts thinking a non-waterproof satellite phone is going to do them any good. I've killed 2 cell phones now by getting the slightest amount of salt water on them from wet hands.

I once tried putting a thin latex sock over my VHF for protection from spray, but you can imagine the looks I got from people. :-D

--Glenn