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Let's talk Compasses

7.5K views 36 replies 17 participants last post by  SomaliPirate  
#1 · (Edited)
Never had one, never thought I needed one for inshore fishing until my GPS shit the bed on a cloudy day.

What is everyone using? Ritchie seems to be a popular one. I think I want to go the flush mount route but I don't want to clutter up my side console. Would it behoove me to skip the hard mounted compass and just drop one down in my gear bag? The backlit flush mounted compasses look cool, but they are a couple hundred dollars. The rub with the handheld is if it's not mounted to the boat, it can get left in the truck.

Any good resources on compass use?
 
#4 ·
Nothing in the world wrong with a compass (I have one on my boat) but for back up to your boat GPS have you tried some of the phone apps? I have the Navionics app on an Android phone and it works really good. Sometimes I use that rather than my Garmin and you don't have to be on an internet connection to use it.
 
#5 ·
X2, however, there are places where you will not get good phone signal to use the GPS app on your phone, like the Everglades.

Back in the day, we never had GPS's and we use to run the Glades with knowledge, good memory, intuition and a damn good compass. I don't think a good boat should not have one (backup or not). It's nice to look down and get a quick bearing on where you are heading when your GPS screen is spinning all around in circles.
 
#9 ·
Why not back up your GPS with another portable GPS? To navigate with a compass, you'll need a chart, and you'll also need to know where you are to begin with. With a backup GPS, you'll have all you need, and an inexpensive GPS can be had for about the same as a decent marine compass (which most folks can't really use anyway).
 
#11 ·
Man that's a lot of info. I don't like to go to places I don't at lest have a chart to follow. A gps can only do so much so I use both. As far as my phone if it's not on wi-fi I don't get it
But I don't go exotic so I usually have a signal and can call 800tow:D
 
#14 ·
#16 · (Edited)
Personally, I think every boat should have a compass if even just to pay penance to Neptune.

Having charts isn't a bad idea either even if you don't keep them on the boat. A chart gives you the big picture in detail and a perspective for trip planning.

By the way, I bought a nice small dash-mount compass for my skiff from Lauderdale Speedometer for 38 bucks; not sure of the brand.

Here it is, it's a Ritchie;
http://www.amazon.com/Ritchie-Navigation-X-21BU-Mount-Compass/dp/B001AMLII0
 
#18 ·
As an "old school" guy I won't rig a skiff without a compass - and my go to brand is always Ritchie.... A few hints for that compass - you want a solid fixed mount - and as large as your space will allow (so that you can actually use it for navigation....). It needs to be properly aligned with your hull's centerline (keel) and properly wired so that it's backlit and visible at night and in bad conditions (you won't encounter really bad weather conditions often - but when you do, and you're in a driving rain where your compass is the only thing you can see... -you get the idea....

Years and years ago - long before GPS we'd also make a point of having that compass carefully carded by a pro so that we knew what the deviation was. A really skilled operator could find wrecks by running time and distance on a specific compass course to set up on wrecks that were 15 or 20 miles away - and around 100 feet overall with nothing but a compass, a stopwatch, and a depthfinder....
 
#20 · (Edited)
For people who don't know the difference between a map and a chart, and who think you can just mount a compass on a boat and that it will accurately indicate a heading, a backup GPS is a better answer. Navigation by wet compass takes a little knowledge and some experience. Knowledge and experience that a lot of folks just don't have.

BTW, your cell phone GPS will work out of a service area and a map will most likely be cached for your location. In any case, you'll have heading, speed and time information (so long as the battery lasts).

I've probably done more ocean navigation than most folks, and I'm a minimalist and sort of old school, but I see the reality of the situation, and the reality is that unless there's a nuclear war, the new-fangled GPS thingies are the way to go. (If there's a nuclear war, you don't necessarily want to find land too quickly anyway.)
 
#21 ·
For people who don't know the difference between a map and a chart, and who think you can just mount a compass on a boat and that it will accurately indicate a heading, a backup GPS is a better answer. Navigation by wet compass takes a little knowledge and some experience. Knowledge and experience that a lot of folks just don't have.

BTW, your cell phone GPS will work out of a service area and a map will most likely be cached for your location. In any case, you'll have heading, speed and time information (so long as the battery lasts).

I've probably done more ocean navigation than most folks, and I'm a minimalist and sort of old school, but I see the reality of the situation, and the reality is that unless there's a nuclear war, the new-fangled GPS thingies are the way to go. (If there's a nuclear war, you don't necessarily want to find land too quickly anyway.)

Then we'll be like Kevin Costner in WaterWorld!

 
#23 ·
I have a handheld Garmin GPS and carry many fresh spare batteries, but I began boating and sailing before GPS was available to the public and wouldn’t think of going into complicated, unfamiliar or ‘big’ water particularly if there is a chance of fog, without a good chart and a compass. Many years ago, my wife and I had plans to be sailing liveaboards for several years, and I still have a Davis Master Sextant which, unfortunately, I never got a chance to use in that regard. Impractical today, but I still keep it for sentimental reasons.


Anyway, even with today’s technology I believe in redundant backups, and, in addition to a GPS, a compass and chart are good insurance. With basic familiarity they can get someone oriented at least in the right general direction, and actual location can likely be refined nearer to safety (thinking of the story of Flight 19 in 1945 – it was said “if they had just turned West…”).
 
#24 ·
If your GPS fails, which would you rather have, a wet compass or another working GPS? If you answered "wet compass", then why do you have a GPS in the first place? If you have the budget for both a wet compass and a backup GPS, get both, but if you're a little tight for boating gear, get a backup GPS. BTW, make sure your compass is properly swung and that you have a correction card and that you know the difference between deviation and variation and how to apply them.

To be clear: unless you know your position to begin with, navigating by compass is not much better than navigating by the sun. If you don't know your position and you're in fog, a good horn will be more helpful than a wet compass and a chart,
 
#28 ·
If you feel the need to carry a compass aboard your skiff, a hand bearing compass will be the most useful. With it and a chart and a little knowledge, you can fix your position. It's also portable and less affected by adjacent electronics and masses of ferrous metal because it is not fixed to the console. It can also be used to steer a heading. Because it's portable you can easily carry it from boat to boat. Here's a good one:
Image

NIce, and I used one for years, but today, I'd still spend my money on a backup GPS
 
#29 · (Edited)
I also have a hand bearing compass on board to complement my fixed mount compass (the hand bearing one has additional capabilities that a fixed compass doesn't have -but that's another story...). I also do keep a second gps aboard (nothing like grinding day after day to show you a few things that you wished you didn't learn.....). The day your electronics fail you is probably going to be in bad weather - and when you're running,,, a hand bearing isn't very useful (particularly in the kind of limited visibility you can get when you're in whiteout conditions -another of those "ask me how I know" moments). I also have a pair of military goggles that have been the only way I could see either gps or compass when things get bad.... Not something any microskiff operator wants to think about - but if you spend enough time on the water it's certain to happen and those goggles allow us to be able to run in really, really bad weather when I have to....

The main reason I advocate having a compass aboard is for those who go off exploring with their gps/chartplotter up into areas that they couldn't get out of without that gps..... In many places that wouldn't be a problem - back in the Everglades it could have a very bad outcome...

For many years I wasn't very careful about being able to operate in bad conditions but when my son went into the Coast Guard he actually taught me a thing or two....
 
#30 ·
I don't disagree with you at all, however I am just going to guess that 90% of the fisherman wouldn't actually know how to use a chart and a compass (TVMDC). If your electronics fail in bad weather, deep in the everglades, out of sight of land or any place else with no visual references, a compass and a chart is just not going to help most people. I suppose most could navigate in a general East, West, North or South direction, but they probably aren't going to be able take a compass and chart get back with zero visibility.
 
#31 ·
X2, however, there are places where you will not get good phone signal to use the GPS app on your phone, like the Everglades.

Back in the day, we never had GPS's and we use to run the Glades with knowledge, good memory, intuition and a damn good compass. I don't think a good boat should not have one (backup or not). It's nice to look down and get a quick bearing on where you are heading when your GPS screen is spinning all around in circles.
I ran from chokoloskee to flamingo on my iPad. No service. They have an internal GPS.

I have a 20$ backpacking compass in my o chit kit.
 
#32 ·
I could not agree more !

You can get back in the mangroves and be 100 feet from where you need to be ...BUT you have to "go back out and around" like 6 miles to actually get there and if it is getting dark and you are low on fuel and a storm is coming it gets real "INTERESTING" !!!

"The main reason I advocate having a compass aboard is for those who go off exploring with their gps/chartplotter up into areas that they couldn't get out of without that gps..... In many places that wouldn't be a problem - back in the Everglades it could have a very bad outcome..."