Compass Suggestions?

[Appleton68]

I have a Typhoon Weekender & will be purchasing a new compass with the intent of installing it on the bottom board of the companionway. Any recommendations on brand & size? TY

[Sea Hunt]

Greg:

I know you said you wanted to install a compass on the bottom hatch board.

However, have you looked at the Plastimo Compass Iris 50 I think this is their website:

http://www.plastimousa.com/compass_iris.htm#50

I sail local Biscayne Bay waters and find this compass to be more than sufficiently accurate for the day sailing I do. Numbers are clear and legible (even with my tired old eyes ) and the card can be illuminated at night by briefly sticking it under a flashlight. I have not done this on the water, only in a dark room.

Also, when I go on another boat I can take the Iris 50 with me.

I was out today sailing with a friend. Winds were N to NE at 0-2 kts. Not a typo . My trusty Plastimo Iris 50 was able to tell me with absolute certainty that my relative bearing to various landmarks did not change in almost two hours of sailing

We finally allowed common sense to rule, started the O/B and slowly motored back to the mooring.

[John Vigor]

Greg, I mounted a Silva 70 UNE on the inside of my lower hatchboard when I had a Santana 22. When I needed to use it, I simply turned the hatch board around. It's a superb compass from a manufacturer of solid reputation that can be mounted flat or upright. It comes with its own mount that you need only screw onto the board, and it's quickly removable from the mount to take bearings at any time. It has self-contained night lighting, so you can use it as your main steering compass day and night.

I kept it when I sold the Santana, and it's now my standby steering and bearing compass on my CD 27. I mounted it down below, next to a bunk, where I can keep an eye on the boat's heading.

This is what it looks like:

http://www.mailspeedmarine.com/hand-bea ... 7495.bhtml

Cheers,

John V.
http://www.johnvigor.com/blog.html

[John Vigor]

Greg, I just tried to find a Silva 70 UNE online, and it seems they're no longer available. Silva seems to have been taken over in the USA by Johnson, who market Silva compasses as Brunton and Nexus, but the 70 UN and UNE (with lighting) are apparently not marketed in the States any more. They're freely available in Britain and the rest of Europe, as well as in Australia and New Zealand, so I don't know why you can't get them here. The only hope is Craig's list or eBay, I guess. Sorry for the bum steer.

John V.

[tartansailor]

Ritchie BN 202
[img]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j19/t ... 0_0022.jpg[/img]