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deck compass

T

tim_in_bc

Paddler
Joined
Mar 23, 2005
Messages
46
Location
Victoria bc
I bought a nice deck compass for my Nimbus Telkwa the fibreglass version of the boat. I have seen quite a few compasses mounted on the deck just in front of paddlers but my thought was to mount it forward of this as I use a deck bag.

Even if I do not use the deck bag I would store some items in the under the deck area and some metal objects might affect the compass.

Given the shape of my boat it might be best to mount the compass on the forward hatch.

Has anyone mounted their compass on the forward hatch and had any problems with it there.

I am assuming I would store metal objects in the aft compartment.
 
I've read that the reason for locating a compass forward on the deck is to alleviate sea-sickness which can be induced from looking at something up close on the deck for too long. Whether or not this is true, I don't know for sure, but it seems to make sense. I've noticed that most production model boats have compasses mounted between the front of the deck bungees and the front hatch.

Mounting a compass on your front hatch is probably OK so long as you can read it but you'd have to be very careful when removing the hatch cover and placing it aside when removing gear from your hatch -- this might make the compass more prone to scratches and damage. For this reason, I'd be inclined to mount it on the deck, rather than the hatch cover.

With regard to metal objects, perhaps it would be a good idea to run an experiment to see how close you can place metal to your compass before it affects the reading. I suspect that a piece of metal would have to be very large or placed very close to the compass to create a problem.

btw: just wondering -- where are you located Tim?

*****
 
I have a recessed deck fitting for a compass on my Romany Explorer, and I've noticed that mine is one of the few boats that has its compass mount forward of the front hatch. Most that I've seen are behind the hatch. I haven't mounted a compass in it... the Silva compasses that the mount is designed to accept cost around $180 and I usually have my GPS mounted on the deck anyways. In areas that I'm not completely familair with I also bring a compass and charts in case the GPS were to fail. But like Dan says, I don't imagine anything in your hatches would interfere with the compass unless it were quite large or quite close.
 
On my Seaward Quest the compass is mounted well forward on the deck, just a few inches aft of the forward hatch cover, leaving lots of room for a deck bag. On my old boat I had a deck compass that attached with bungee cords and I used to mount it much closer to the cockpit so that I could reach the bezel if I need to adjust the reference lines. Having tried both I prefer it further away. Admitedly, I don't use it that much because I always have a GPS on the deck.
 
I have found that with an orienteering handheld compass my jacket zipper or even the electromagnetic field from my GPS will have a dramatic effect on the compass.

I am no expert but with a sailing vessal the usual procedure is to adjust the declination of the compass anytime any metal is added or removed from your craft. This is done by referencing shore markes with your craft and a chart. In a Kayak I suppose the same thing could be done if you were to be fairly regimented in your loading routine. That is to say that things tend to always be stored in the same place.

JMTC
 
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