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Is a magnetic compass at helm too old-school?

peaman

Sustaining Member
If you love the plotter model too much to change it, just remember to remove it to the inside of the cabin when someday it dies (or the boat develops sudden electrical problems) and you are back to Plan B and plotting your course with chart, pencil, and dividers.
This here is the best advise. I had considered eventually mounting the chart plotter in a pod, but have decided against that, to allow easy, tool-less removal of the unit if I need to rely on the compass. In my opinion and experience, the primary compass is just too fundamental to navigation to be considered as little more than an archaic decoration.
 

Teranodon

Member III
This here is the best advise. I had considered eventually mounting the chart plotter in a pod, but have decided against that, to allow easy, tool-less removal of the unit if I need to rely on the compass. In my opinion and experience, the primary compass is just too fundamental to navigation to be considered as little more than an archaic decoration.
I can't see it. The only time I have ever truly depended on a pedestal compass was sailing offshore with no references on the horizon. (And, by the way, I found this very difficult to do for hours at a time.) In that case an error of, say, 10 degrees, doesn't really matter, because the point is merely to hold a constant course. OK, if a really strong magnet was nearby, the compass couldn't move, but that's a stretch.

When there are landmarks to be seen on the horizon, a handheld "hockey puck" is all that's needed. I use mine all the time. Usually, I want to know where something (island, reef, headland, buoy, etc.) actually is. I poke at the touchscreen chartplotter, read off the magnetic bearing, take one step to the side and squint through the puck. Presto! Every once in a while, I will haul out my WM compass binoculars for small/distant objects. The Ritchie would be useless for any of this.

I still think that, for inshore sailing, the pedestal compass is merely a sentimental tribute to days gone by. Massive electrical failure is, of course, a real possibility. To find my way home, I have two old Garmin handhelds in the nav desk, a bag of Costco batteries, and a chart book.
 

dhill

Member III
I find that I use my pedestal compass quite a bit. It is particularly helpful when navigating in thick fog due to the delay of heading in the chart plotter display, as Loren pointed out.

I will be glad to have it if a lightning strike fries all of my electronics, connected or not. Electronics are great, but I think an independent backup system remains very valuable.
 
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steven

Sustaining Member
I find it convenient to sight across the analog pedastal compass to get an approx relative and magnetic bearing to an object
 

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
Found the problem with the fluxgate was a power tool stored in the bottom of the next locker. :rolleyes: D’Oh! It’s really weird and disorienting when the chart plotter shows your heading way off from the direction the boat is going. FAR easier to steer by the manual compass if you can’t see any landmarks.

Making big laminated placards for adjacent locker hatches. “NO MAGNETS”. I think I’ll dedicate that locker to shoes and boots.
 

Joliba

1988 E38-200 Contributing Member
I use my binnacle compass occasionally to obtain the relative bearing of an object or to hand steer-- especially at night. But actually I don't think that I even looked at it during my autopilot dominated cruises the past few years. However, I am an old-school sentimentalist and still wear a wristwatch and maintain my standalone cameras. I don't think that I use my wristwatch much either ... until it's not on and I find myself glancing at my bare wrist periodically to check the time.
 

Prairie Schooner

Jeff & Donna, E35-3 purchased 7/21
Offshore, if the crew is steering (as when racing) I think nothing beats a big red-lighted compass, especially on a gray day or night with no cloud or star to aim for.

But few cruising crews steer nowadays, given the availability of various types of autopilots. Steering does give the night watch something to do, but I think most family cruisers would rather cut the watch to one and let folks sleep.
I helped transport a 60' sloop from Puerto Rico to Bermuda and the autopilot wasn't working. No chart plotter at the helm, as I recall, though there was a digital multi-function instrument. I found the analog compass easier to respond to. 900 miles, cloudy weather, and I spent a lot of my watch hours glancing at that compass card, daylit and redlit, and was glad for it.

We just ordered a Zeus 9" for our recently acquired 35-3. I'm glad to hear about this as I plan the installation. Thanks "peaman"!
 

peaman

Sustaining Member
Thanks "peaman"!
You're welcome! We're on the same page: there is nothing inviting about steering by compass for hours on end, but sometimes, in spite of all preparations, stuff happens that requires re-calibration of expectations.

I brought my 32-3 from NJ to RI in April, on a 22 hour run through NYC and Long Island Sound. The chartplotter did not have a chart to cover that area, so we went by paper charts and Navionics on an iPad with limited battery life (it was dead well before we arrived home). My dauntless crew steered through the moonless night to the compass headings that I offered, and that got us safely to our destination just as the sun was rising. How much more tedious that would have been using only a hand-bearing compass.
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
There is a little drawing of the Raymarine Compass interference Warning sticker on this page. This was supplied with our AP, and is actually red and yellow, IIRC.
I wish they would sell these ten-cent items to anyone wanting one. It's a handy warning posted on the outside of the base of our nav station frp cabinet, to remind us to store metallic items away from it.
 
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