oil repels water. Spray some WD40 on a rag and wipe an extremely thin layer over any exposed metal as part of your cleaning ritual, maybe a tad more on screws that would tend to rust. However, I pulled an old Besseler MX and its matching table out of a barn here in Georgia that had sat in its plastic cover for 20+ years with minimal rust. Dust is a bigger problem than rust, so get a cover or use an oversized trashbag and leave the bottom open. Maybe even build a 3-piece clamshell box out of cedar and plywood [ I ] that clamps to the base. Cedar cigar box for the lenses.