Bubble in my Sestrel

lesweeks

lesweeks

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I remember reading some previous posts where some suggested that Baby Oil is a good replacement for what ever the liquid is inside a Sestrel compass. I've got a big bubble and a cloudy dome! Any wise ones out there with some sound advice?
 
Cloudy dome....not healthy..... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif When my Sestrel developed a bubble - quite suddenly - it was because the diaphragm below had stretched and was about to fail. A complete service and it came back with the card cleaned, refilled and looking like new.
 
I tried to fix one once.
The proper fluid was Isoproponol (available from chemists)
Even with that I failed. But the compass only cost me a £5 so it was a learning exercise.
If it is your proper compass and you really want a good job and you are not 90% certain of what you are doing, probably best not to contemplate DIY. (Because it is a compass after all)

As Goldie says, the cloudy dome is a real problem. I couldn't clean mine up at all.
 
There is alot of unsound advice around about fluids for topping up compasses. Pick the wrong one and it could be terminal. It is interesting to learn that isopropyl alcohol (AKA propan-2-ol ) is the correct fluid for a Sestrel.

Normally I would say that the only sound advice that can be given is to contact a compass repairer. Eg Sirs Navigation or BPSC marine already mentioned as Barry Philips I think
 
STOP!!!DO NOT USE ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL I did this to top up an alcohol filled sestrel and it crazed the plastic dome til it failed.
Many of the sestrels are filled with an oil based fluid I topped up a sestrel with white spirit and this was ok. as for the alcohol I think it is often an ethanol and water mix. Vodka has been suggested before, I would take out the filler plug and smell the contents. It should be obvious if you have oil or alcohol base. Talk to SIRS they repair sestrels.
regards
john
 
Dead right Sandeel. I added Isopropyl to my compass and got an instant reaction that appeared to create nailvarnish remover, which attacked the card. I quickly emptied it and flushed, then filled with baby oil. The final bubble dispersal took a day or two, but it works. It is "damper" than before,but lives in the Med and works well. May get too sluggish in the Arctic!
 
The dome can be polished with t-cut or similar, if its a plastic dome gone cloudy due to UV. In severe cases try autosol to start with. Duraglit wadding is also good.
cheers,
Chris
 
Oops, sorry.

That would be why mine turned out so badly then. Now if only I could remember who had told me to use isopropanol I could educate them too.
 
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