Compass Location?

Hi Guys,
I took some pics and added them to my album. Page three has pics of my compass. I take it out of the bracket for trailering and put it in a nice bag that came with it ( forgot to remove it last time and it was just fine).

I have only been out once since installing it but it seemed to not be affected by the electronics and is easy to see.

Steve
 
I'm with you Moose. I also put my compass on the side of the wall that I write with although I'd ultimately prefer not to have to look down to read it. I get a similar sensation when taking my eyes off the road to use my cell phone in the truck.
 
Thanks Sea Bran for the photos. Nice install job. That might just be the ticket for me. Tim
 
Seabran,
This doesn't have anything to do with your compass, but I noticed that on your undersink photo, you don't have any insulation on the Wallas exhaust pipe. When I bought my boat used it didn't have it either. I would have thought that it was standard equipment? Anyway I ordered a short section from Scan Marine in Seattle. That pipe gets pretty hot and if something under the sink rests against it-could melt it.
 
OK, now I agree with the heretic here...the only way we are going to get into trouble with our chartplotter / handheld backup GPS combo is if the government turns the satellites off. We HAVE paper charts, and took the Power Squadron course - the problem we soon found with traditional coast piloting techniques is, you have to know where you are to figure out where you are going. This can be tough until you have acquired enough time to recognize what you are seeing on shore, and even then, as Austin observed, one island looks pretty much like another (except Speiden, I can always recognize Speiden!) Nope, we are firmly planted with both feet in the satellite age! And I can make change by counting up in my head, too!



El and Bill":c2vo0cr4 said:
Sorry to sound like a heretic -- and I know this could spark a rather heated discussion -- but why do you need to mount a magnetic compass? My chartplotter has one built in, more accurate than magnetic. My hand-held GPS has an excellent compass for backup. And then, I carry a little handheld sighting compass for backup or shooting sights (something the mounted magnetic compass has trouble doing, without swinging the boat). My binoculars also have a sighting compass. So, why mount that old-fashioned, next to worthless, probably not accurate, big ol' thing on your dash? ... unless you like that historic look on your boat?
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Yeah, I guess you don't have to compensate for tide too much in Spokane! Seriously, trying to follow a heading on a compass in the fog, with wind and tide? Nope, give me a good GPS route to follow...also, I don't troll, so that is a non-factor.

On the "no GPS heading info when going slow" there is a solution, in fact it might be a necessity - either an electronic compass or an autopilot hooked up to your chartplotter for fast heading update (Les recommends one or the other with every C80 system). We opted not to get the electronic compass, since I have since seen the light on the necessity of the autopilot (sorry, Bill!) and am just gathering another two BOAT units...



CAVU":1al3arft said:
I don't have radar and have a very minimal GPS but with my compass I can navigate very precisely.
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While these fluxgate compasses may be more accurate, they are not immune to this mounting location problem. My fluxgate and heading sensor are mounted on the bulkhead under the Wallas --- probably one of the best locations to mount these EXCEPT when you store canned goods in the galley cabinet. A storage bin in the galley cabinet containing a couple of canned goods slid aft while underway and caused the fluxgate to be off by a little over 20 degrees. When it occurred to me what was going on I moved the offending bin and everything returned to normal. But since that time I have had problems with the compass being off --- I think that I will need to recalibrate the compass.

Corwin
 
Ken,
I have tried to keep plastic stuff from getting up against the exit pipe but had no idea you could insulate it. Is there a pic somewhere that shows this - what do you use to insulate it?

Nice looking folding steps!

Steve
 
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