I wonder about this from time to time. Our boat has a binnacle-mounted compass. It has what is almost certainly just a glare hood that covers approximately the forward 1/3. No real mystery there. It is hinged (like an eyelid, kind of). I always assumed this was just to allow for adjustment for different lighting/glare situations. There are two things that make me scratch my head, a bit, though.
First, the hinge is loose and seems loose by design. That is, it does not seem that it is meant to stay in place in any position other than the resting forward position. It moves quite easily and gravity readily drops it down into that position. I do not believe the hinge just needs to be tightened, though that is possible, I guess.
Second, the hinge is designed to prevent raising the hood more than about 30-ish degrees. The shape of the hinge's recess prevents that, by design.
My best guess is that the hood is designed so that, if glare was hitting it just the wrong way, you could flip up the hood, read the compass, and flip it back down. That seems like a silly feature, though, when you could just as easily shield it with your hand if you needed to be holding the hood in place anyway. But, it is my best guess. And, the angle restriction might be that the design assumes there is no reason to move the hood any farther aft, because you couldn't read the compass if you were able to flip it all the way toward you.
This picture is kind of tiny, but you can see what I am talking about. Anyone know for sure, why it is designed like this?
First, the hinge is loose and seems loose by design. That is, it does not seem that it is meant to stay in place in any position other than the resting forward position. It moves quite easily and gravity readily drops it down into that position. I do not believe the hinge just needs to be tightened, though that is possible, I guess.
Second, the hinge is designed to prevent raising the hood more than about 30-ish degrees. The shape of the hinge's recess prevents that, by design.
My best guess is that the hood is designed so that, if glare was hitting it just the wrong way, you could flip up the hood, read the compass, and flip it back down. That seems like a silly feature, though, when you could just as easily shield it with your hand if you needed to be holding the hood in place anyway. But, it is my best guess. And, the angle restriction might be that the design assumes there is no reason to move the hood any farther aft, because you couldn't read the compass if you were able to flip it all the way toward you.
This picture is kind of tiny, but you can see what I am talking about. Anyone know for sure, why it is designed like this?
