I beach my BK-9 all the time in Florida. No real issues so far. Buy a backup used BK-9 (someone here got a cherry one for $800!) and if the worst happens, you are good to go.

For me, having a BK-7m (and having played a BK-5) there’s utterly too much of the best stuff from the BK-9 missing, the stuff that made me change from my beloved G70 in the first place, to consider it anything other than an emergency backup. No SN sounds (I live and die for those guitars!), no HB organ, no chord sequencer, crap plastic action 🤮, no mic in… Sorry, but for me, the only alternative to a BK-9 is another BK-9!

And there is so much in the sounds that I use missing (the SN pianos, Rhodes and guitars, many of the drum kits, strings and horns etc.) that I found redoing my Performance List so it works on the other BK’s is a huge task. Not to mention the fewer MFX. It’s a lot to compensate for, and simply gets you back to doubling your programming effort, so you gain very little from having an altogether different brand of arranger in the end.

My BK-7m is relegated to being the hub of my jamming keytar rig, and a lot of fun in that scenario (though it’s killing me to lose my favorite guitars!) but no chord sequencer makes it almost useless as an arranger to me.

Gig your BK-9 in a hard plastic case, take good care of it, keep it out of bright hot direct sunlight, even beach gigs don’t hurt it….