Steering compass

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Mon May 17, 2004 4:22 pm

I often come here asking you guys to talk me out of a tree. Here's another one.

A buddy of mine had this compass hanging on the wall of his kitchen, and thought, with a bit of TLC, it would look better on my boat. He's right, of course.

(but it doesn't bulkhead-mount. it deck-mounts. )

So I'm trying to figure a way to use this thing. It has a great old look to it, and I'm learning that it's a pretty well-regarded unit. At the moment, I'm thinking of mounting it on the aft deck.... out of the way of everything but the dog, but maybe a little strange to look behind you to see the steering compass, though I know a lot of old knockabouts were set up that way.

Any thoughts from the peanut gallery?

I have a nice new through-bulkhead-mount Saturn still in the box. I was a day away from installing it when this Sestrel-Moore landed in my lap.

Post by **Tim** » Mon May 17, 2004 4:41 pm

I think I'd prefer the compass to be ahead of me, for convenience and to avoid the inevitable bass-akwards reading confusion. It all depends how you use your boat. For any sort of regular use, I think having the compass behind would be a pain; for very occasional use, as in a knockabout, it would be OK to just get you home or whatever. But forget trying to actually steer a good course with it behind you--it's hard enough with a traditional installation.

Just be careful what you store in the locker beneath! No anchors...

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Mon May 17, 2004 5:57 pm

Just be careful what you store in the locker beneath! No anchors...

Speaking from experience? A pair of binoculars did it for me. It was a long night getting home once I realized my error! :-)

It is a bit overkill definitely but how about mounting it within sight of a berth so you could check the heading without getting out of bed? Could be useful if you are on a passage and are not too sure of your helmsman. Also good to check for tidal swings.

-Britton