fluxgate compass

[tyce]

i have inherited one of these on my boat without a normal magnetic backup.
what is the point of them are they reliable and any better than a normal compass, i am not convinced i would set off anywhere with just one of them without a backup

 

[trouville]

I agree! Ive twice had a compass lose its liquid!

Once very slowly, and in 2005 all at once! Without a back up theres always the GPS but indeed i think you should have a back up, a small "main" steering compass and a handheld with those and a back up GPS theseday for short offshore crusing your coverd!
Compasses dont cost all that much now either!

 

[peteandthira]

Tyce

They are about as reliable as your boat's power supply. I am amazed there is a boat without a "standard" compass at the helm, and I would make sure you have one.

 

[tyce]

pops

my thoughts exactly, why the previous owner paid all that money out i will never know

 

[FWB]

Well I dont have a steering compass. Seems rather 19th Century to me. I use the data from the fluxgate and can steer the boat to one degree. Better than that it reads True. Who needs magnetic in the 21st Century?
I have a handbearing compass which can be cockpit mounted if the electrics should fail. It hasnt been used so far.

 

[peteandthira]

dylan

But you DO have a magnetic compass as a backup. That's all I was saying really, doesn't necessarily have to be a foot acoss with lights in it...

Pops

 

[oldsaltoz]

G'day tyce,

Some years back we were delivering a Holland 30 with a fluxgate compass and found that as battery power dropped, the compass heading shifted further north.

No warnings or alarms, just kept swinging further north. Lucky I was in familiar waters and picked up the problem early, this could have been a disaster.

I was later informed it had been fitted because the boat was raced a lot when new, well I suspect it lost on days then power was a bit low.

Avagoodweekend......

 

[trouville]

A fluxgate compass is something most have never tried. They were very expensive and in the 80s you found handbareing ones which turn up s/h today.They use almost no power at all so unlike the spammers posting id say your lucky to have one!

Depending where you sail it will be benifical in keeping true not magnetic!That is a real advantage!!

Perhaps if the posters kept to sailing avitars and not war planes we would be safe.

 

[gjeffery]

"use the data from the fluxgate and can steer the boat to one degree. Better than that it reads True. Who needs magnetic in the 21st Century? "

I am rather confused by this. Fluxgate compasses are magnetic. I know that some can be made to compute out the effects of (constant) deviation - but there is still a need to compensate for variation.

How does your fluxgate compass eliminate these variables?

 

[FWB]

You put in the local variation. Not much here in the UK but very useful in other parts of the world .

 

[tyce]

yes mine has a dial to put in the local variation as well.
i think i will buy a cheap backup compass that can be easily mounted in an emergency, and enjoy the benefits of the fluxgate

 

[peteandthira]

tyce

I don't know what make of fluxgate you have, but if it's Raymarine you can increase its accuracy and reliability a hundredfold by adding their gyro compass unit to it. Much more stable - it works by the gyro giving you a much better reference which updates itself every now and again from the fluxgate to keep it in "check".

It depends on your budget though - I think they are about 500 drinking vouchers. In my case, it was money well spent because we aren't very interested in standing at the helm for ages. It turned our autopilot into a very reliable chap indeed having originally been scarily dodgy.

Pops

 

[FWB]

[ QUOTE ]

i think i will buy a cheap backup compass that can be easily mounted in an emergency, and enjoy the benefits of the fluxgate

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes that's exactly my set up.