Deviant compass

[dogon dory]

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[UncleRichie]

Hi,
I had the same problem ,the windshield wiper motor is on the botom of the windshield right in front of the compass . I turned the motor over so the magnets are farther away from the compass and moved the compass sideways by making a small mount out of oak and moving the compass over one hole its still close to center of the steering wheel so as to be easly read.
Richard

[Sea Wolf]

Dan-

Sounds like Uncle Ritchie has BTDT. My first reaction was to suggest you make a mount out of large diameter white PVC pipe to raise it up above the motor's immediate magnetic field. You might try this raised position if his solution doesn 't work in your case. Good Luck! Joe.

[Bob Cat]

Dan-

We had a problem that developed after some work had been done but had gone unnoticed until we started to practice some old time/distance/speed exercises. It was as much as 20degrees off. We couldn't find the offending magnetic field, so we swung the compass using the GPS and brought it back nearer to reality. Now we verify the deviation table every 3 months.

Scaley

[Chuck S]

I mounted our compass as far forward as I could get it to keep it away from electrical magnetic fields. Not a problem for us as we're used to sailboat compases mounted on the aft end of cabin, quite a distance from the tiller.

Compass needs to be checked for deviation with all your electrical devices running. Switch them on one at a time and note which, if any, cause movement. If more than one causes movement you'll need to record both sets of data. Windshield wiper motors on our 16 Cruiser are at the top of the window.



-- Chuck

[Guts]

You can swing the campus using a sun campus as I have done. I had a Marine Instruments & Repair person do this. But they can only move so far, I think sixty degrees is more than they can swing. I think they can use magnets also but only in extreme cases. I used a campus that had a metal housing around it as the instrument repair man suggested, like this one.

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&classNum=149&subdeptNum=137&storeNum=14&productId=17381

Guts

[Sneaks]

I wanted my chart plotter directly in front of the wheel since that's my primary navigation tool. Kinda experimented with locations and came up with what was best for me. As you can see, it's closer to where I would stand and run the boat, yet close enough to glance over and see that all is well with my chartplotter course while relaxing in the chair . Slight deviation adjustment needed there. I even chose to double-stick tape mount it in case that spot didn't work out. It's almost over the cabin wire loom so drilling a small hole for the compass light wiring wasn't traumatic.

[Sea Wolf]

Dan-

Lots of good suggestions!

Another option might be to return the conventional compass to the source and buy a flux-gate electronic compass instead that has a remotely mounted sensor that could be placed away from the offending electronics, but with the display right where you want it. Joe.

[CAVU]

Dan,
I have the same problem and I am planning on moving the windshield wiper to the upper right corner. I think the geometry would be exactly the same on the sweep angle etc. Only drawback would be patching the hole-may be able to fill it with a SS bolt/washer combo that wouldn't look too bad. Food for thought.

[dogon dory]

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[C-WEED]

Dan, would it be possible to make a magnetic shield? Perhaps a small box out of wood that covers the wiper motor might do the trick.

[rogerbum]

[dogon dory]

Sorry, Folks - Post Deleted By Author