NavList:

I have never experienced the soaking of a nav station.  But it IS true that the nav stations on most of the boats I have chartered over the years are aft, right next to the companionway stairs, and would be susceptable to a soaking.  Most often the navigational books are stored on shelves more amidships, and unless you got (literally) a ton of water in the cabin, they would stay dry. 

When I do sight reduction of my sextant sights, it is usually on the dining table, which is in the cabin amidships, not back at the nav station.  So my Nautical Almanac and Pub. 249 never spend any time aft.  It is, ironically, "just" the electronics that are at risk if you get pooped or a big wave forward sends spray down into the cabin.

The biggest boat I have ever chartered was 46 feet long, and it still didn't have a "chart table" big enough upon which to spread out an actual chart.  There too, I worked on the dining table amidships.  I could *imagine*, though, that bigger boats might actually have a usable chart table, which - if still positioned by the companionway stairs - could leave a variety of paper-based navigational resources at risk.

Bob.