Compasses?

[swginn]

Been looking at compasses on the web for the last hour or so. Came across these. they may be suitable for you especially the 70FBC or if you want a bracket,the 70BC.

http://www.silva.se/marine/prod_com/pow_start.htm

You could always get a bracket mount Plastimo Offshore. I saw an Danforth Skipper 2 compass in my chandlers today that had a very neat bracket for mounting at angles.

[Rupert Bear]

I have said before that a fixed compass is not my cup of tea. I carry a small handheld in the spares box for emergencies along with laminated charts but use a plotter normally.
Don't think it is worthwhile using space or money to fit a fixed.

[Hightower]

I don't think brackets for anything is a good idea on a RIB. With all that slam dunking it gets and peeps moving around in a heavy swell sooner or later things start falling off.

Andy

[robin]

For what it's worth.....there was very little room on my console for loads of nav stuff...however...it's a good compass (plastimo) it reads pretty accurately when i remove the gps and fish finder. When i put the Gps on it swings 5 degrees left, so i switch on the fishy finder and it swings t'other way. Job done, good enough for rock and or roll.
Always carry a handheld iris compass for back up and proper compass use and also a water resistant chart in a waterproof pack.

Point is....on a fast moving boat like a rib (as others have said before me) it is very difficult to navigate with any real degree of accuracy with a steering compass...say within 5 - 10 degrees.
If you are in sight of land (which i am most of the time and i would imagine a fair proportion of us are) then you are far better off using a handheld if required and picking up transits on the land or water to steer to. This has the dual benefit of being 1...accurate and 2...gets your head up out of the boat and looking where you are going instead of at wobbly instruments.........
Here is a gratuitous picture of my eldest son modelling Tifino console.

[marknj]

Nice white/chrome dials

[Red Fox]

Just got a Richie Explorer for the same price as a Trek, £34 instead of £48 from Nautequipe. Deal by phone if you can! If you fit a flush mount check that there is room underneath to fit it in and that the back of a dial is not directly under the hole you drill! Otherwise it won't fit flush. The Explorer has compensation magnets as well.

[roohairy]

One more point, some compasses are sold specifically for 'sports boats' and these are more heavily damped than those intended for slower displacment vessels, make sure you go for one of these.

[Chris]

Hi Andy, I know this is a v.old topic however I am in the same situation at the moment and have to mount my compass on a 45degree angle, How did you find the Mini C? Did you get much interference from the other instrumnents?

Chris

Originally Posted by Hightower

I too am looking to buy a compass. Can't fit one on the console but was restricted to a 45 deg angle on the front LH side of the console (like fiirst photo).

The only option was for flush mount and the only compass I've found that'll fit there is the Mini C from Plastimo. What I'm worried about is the lack of compensation this budget compass has.

Do I need compensation if using a GPS? I've got GPS Chartplotter, could I work out from the heading on the GPS what the deviation is, to make a note of it and use the correction when I come to use the compass?

Andy

[Hightower]

Do a search for local suppliers. Should be fairly easy to find a dealer. I used a local Chandlers and it's what they had in stock at the time. As for deviation, I had none when I initially fitted it and I had a vhf just above it, a gps and a depth finder all above. Then I bought an 8 spoke SS steering wheel and had loads of problems and would swing violently one way then the other as I turned. I took this into work and demagged it in a machine I have in the workshop and that cured the problem.

In my new RIB I'm thinking of not fitting a permanent compass but keeping a hand held one for emergancies and using GPS as my primary nav. I think that accurate compass use is pretty usless on a RIB espetially in rough wether.

Hope this helps.