I originally wrote this up for MAKE magazine, but here's a quick and dirty version. If I find my original artical, I'll add it here.
Concept
Make a low cost, hardened AP that'll withstand a firehose directed at it.
Players
Linksys WRT54GS $40
FAB Corp NEMA 6 housing $20
walmart cutting board $1
Female N firewall adapter
N to linksys antenna adapter
External N 802.11b/g antenna
Quick and dirty
Dissasemble the WRT.
Remove the antenna connectors with a dremel tool from the wrt54gs.
Make a Power over Ethernet adapter. -more notes on it here.
Mount the board to a cut down cutting board as a simple insulator/mounting block.
Use the wired connector to connect to the N firewall connector.
Add a sealing connector to the housing
Run cat5 into it, connect the PoE spliiter and close everything up.
Mount it to the house.