Pedestal compass & electronics

[OS2Dude]

Our 1985 Catalina 30 has an old (Aqua Marine?) pedestal compass and it no longer works. The card is always at an angle and it does not spin very well. I have taken it apart several times, and a few of the clips that hold the card to the rest are damaged and it easily comes off the pivot point.

I recently added a pedestal guard mounted Simrad NSS Evo2 9" chart-reader along with replacing the old original instruments in the pods with Garmin NMEA 2000 GMI 10 displays. All the cables run up the pedestal, and those for the EVO2 come out under the base of the compass and up to the chart-reader. (The pods come out under the pod arms and into the pods.) The pedestal guard is only 1" and most cable ends could not fit through, besides the original pod cables where located in the pedestal already.

QUESTION: Is it worth having the compass repaired or replacing it ($500+) with the electronics there? Will the Depth, NMEA 2000, NEMA 0183 and Power cables that plug into the display cause a lot of deviation since they run up outside the back of the compass housing? Can it be compensated for? (We are on a lake at this time.)

 

[Charlie98117]

I just recently added a chart plotter, autopilot and MFD and mounted them at the pedestal. All the installation instructions for the electronics all say to mount them 36" away from a magnetic compass but then go on to say that may not always be possible and at a minimum hold 12". To test my location I hooked up the chart plotter before mounting the nav pod on the pedestal guard and held it close to the compass. I couldn't see any compass movement until I got fairly close and found the affect also depended on the orientation of the chart plotter.

I also realized all the cables I needed wouldn't fit in the 1" pedestal guard so I replaced it with the newer 1-1/4" size. They come with some extra length that you are supposed to cut off to get the height you need so I was able to make the installation a bit taller than I could have with my old pedestal guard. That helped increase the distance to the compass. Came out nice, I like having everything at the helm.

 

[capta]

First and foremost, you should have a functioning and fairly accurate compass aboard the boat . Perhaps you could get a bulkhead mounted one to put forward by the companionway, instead of at the pedestal. They are cheaper and every bit as accurate.
Our electronics are mounted in pods around the compass. Over the years I have made note of the inaccuracies from the electronics, so should they fail, I'd be OK using the compass.
No compass is 100% accurate, which is why you might find an old deviation card lying around your boat. You will notice on it that any errors are listed and need to be taken into account when using the instrument. Therefore, if you reinstall your compass at the wheel, you can make your own deviation card from your gps. It might be accurate enough to sail through the breakwater in the fog, but it should get you to it.

 

[JamesG161]

Surely you jest? Naval Academy just reinstituted celestial navigation courses!
I wonder what Christopher Columbus et al. would say.

First and foremost, you should have a functioning and fairly accurate compass aboard the boat .

Right on point Capta!
Jim...

 

[capta]

Naval Academy just reinstituted celestial navigation courses!Jim...

I wonder what that says about their faith in the GPS system?

 

[Charlie98117]

I wonder what that says about their faith in the GPS system?

It says they realize the threat of an EMP weapon or cyber hacking that would render all those electronic devices useless. Good for them, setting up to use the human brain as a redundant backup.

 

[Stu Jackson]

WADR to other posts, the OP sails on Lake Lanier. It would be prudent to have an operating compass on board, for sure, but if he doesn't want to shell out $500 for a new Ritchie, he may not have this on the top of his priority list.

 

[woodster]

A good depth sounder and a hand held compass would do just fine for there and a chart of the lake

 

[Scott T-Bird]

WADR to other posts, the OP sails on Lake Lanier. It would be prudent to have an operating compass on board, for sure, but if he doesn't want to shell out $500 for a new Ritchie, he may not have this on the top of his priority list.

Yes, I would concur. A compass looks nice and nautical, but for lake sailing, it is hardly a useful instrument. I replaced mine when we first bought our boat because I thought a boat just has to have a compass. Little did I know that I would only look at it out of curiosity, and to occasionally compare bearings for tacking angles through the wind. For navigation, I looked for the North Star far more often during clear nights (it's hard to pick it out in NJ where the little dipper barely glimmers).