Tiller pilot mounted near outboard motor in a cockpit well - compass issues?

[thinwater]

^^ That is close to the motor. Good post.

Geoff: Take a hiking compass or hand bearing compass and move it around the area on YOUR BOAT. The situation might be different. (Your cell phone compass will not work for this--it's a long answer, but they use multiple sensors to reduce interference and don't actually read the local field.)

 

[GeoffDDDD]

You can check the ob's magnetic field by looking at the deflection using a hand bearing compass and moving it around the ob when running.

Hi MontyMariner,

Thanks for that excellent idea. It'll let me check whether there is magnetic interference *before* I buy a tiller-pilot.

And I can try it with the motor NOT running as well. With the flywheel in different positions. Like Chris_Burns did.
Though I'll need to remove the motor top cover to turn the flywheel by hand, as the motor has no manual start - only electric.

- Geoff

 

[GeoffDDDD]

Some brief info on magnetic shielding (thank you www.abschirmungen.eu)

The most common alloys are Supra 50, Supra 36 and µmetal are the most common alloys and are chosen based on the intensity of the magnetic field. If the magnetic field is too high for the material chosen it will saturate and become ineffective. In this case you can use a multi layer shield with a combination of the above alloys. Alloys should also have a very low remanence to prevent them becoming permanently magnetised.