Plevier
Well-Known Member
Are you aware of its causing any problems - have you checked if it affects the compass?
Chartplotter distance from compass
- Thread starter Plevier
- Start date
Are you aware of its causing any problems - have you checked if it affects the compass?
Steve C Cronin
N/A
Yep too busy playing Space invaders
WOW! How do you do that exactly?
testmonkey
Well-Known Member
chartplotter on instrument pod at helm is a very practical solution. In majority of installations minimum distance to compass cannot be met and resulting in increased deviation, which may also change whether plotter is on or off. Is that really a problem for safe navigation? It will be easy to check COG and adjust bearing and course to the next waypoint. There will always be the option to install a second compass e.g. to a bulkhead. Some insurance companies recommend chartplotter at helm station as it is seen to actually increases safety, especially for the less skilled navigators...
Steve C Cronin
N/A
I have a Standard Horizon CP180 VERY close (<3") to the steering compass. It replaced a CP150 which was killed by a thunderstorm, mounted in the same place. Now last year virtually on the last day of the warranty, the 180 stopped working. SH's UK agents promptly dispatched a brand new replacement up to their latest specification. Sadly however, although the previous two had little or no effect on the compass, this latest replacement has an effect which cannot b e properly removed with the corrector magnets so will need to be re-sited. Moving it around manually, it appears to offer satisfactory results when just above the steering console (d= 10") so I'm going to put it on top of the handrail which runs around the instrument panel. An emergency compass currently sited there has been adjusted to give nil deviation all around 360 so indications are good. The 32" distance, I would suggest, is at the recommendation of the company's lawyers!
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prv
Well-Known Member
Not sure about space invaders, but you can play Tetris on some B&G gear if you know the secret combination of buttons to press. I used to share a flat with one of their software developers, who sneaked it in as an "easter egg". He knows it made it into the final product because he found one fitted on a boat he was racing on, pressed the magic sequence, and up came the game. The owner was a bit bemused
Pete
maby
Well-Known Member
Only very superficially - I have pointed the boat at a few clearly identifiable landmarks and compared the bearing calculated by the plotter with that shown on the compass. The error seems to be no more than five degrees on most headings - probably unacceptable for instrument navigation on long blue water passages, but ok for the short coastal hops we usually make.
Steve C Cronin
N/A
Even so, if you know the deviation at, say, every point or even every ten degrees, you can make up a deviation card and STILL sail the oceans of the world in confidence!
lustyd
Well-Known Member
But if you don't then that 5 degrees could be the difference between Florida and Brazil!
johnphilip
Well-Known Member
Wheelpilot?
If you want to know if there is any effect, try a simplified swinging of the compass turning the plotter on and off with the boat stationary but on different headings.
What about the effect of a wheelpilot? I would imagine the magnetic effect of a DC electric motor close at hand would be greater.
I agree, although we sometimes use the compass, I check against the plotter's every few minutes anyway so it does not matter what the compass reads as long as you stick to the reading that keeps you on course.
If you want to know if there is any effect, try a simplified swinging of the compass turning the plotter on and off with the boat stationary but on different headings.
What about the effect of a wheelpilot? I would imagine the magnetic effect of a DC electric motor close at hand would be greater.
Steve C Cronin
N/A
In the old days, before RYA Yachtmaster's, small boats had Radar or even VHF and when "Q" flags were mandatory around europe, everyone had a deviation card!
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maby
Well-Known Member
Definitely! I fitted a wheelpilot on our boat and there are two orientations that you can fit - one keeps the motor unit down low and the other brings it up high. On our binacle, the latter would have been easier to fit but when I tried it before drilling holes, it seemed to produce a deviation of about forty degrees!
Vara
Well-Known Member
CP300i, no discernible influence on compass.
prv
Well-Known Member
Those must be very old days indeed! Napoleonic wars, I guess, and only then because we'd be blowing bits off the French rather than showing them our paperwork
It's nowadays that Q flags aren't required. EU, donchaknow
Quite. KS came with one, that seemed accurate enough. Haven't found one on the new boat, will have to do a swing at some point.
Pete
Steve C Cronin
N/A
Those must be very old days indeed! Napoleonic wars, I guess, and only then because we'd be blowing bits off the French rather than showing them our paperwork
It's nowadays that Q flags aren't required. EU, donchaknow
Quite. KS came with one, that seemed accurate enough. Haven't found one on the new boat, will have to do a swing at some point.
Pete
Post now edited to clear up your confusion.