Hand Bearing Compass Recommendations?

[SEMIJim]

I think "necessary" is a matter of perspective. If you believe that navigating by GPS alone is and always will be sufficient, then no: You probably have no use for a hand bearing compass. But if you believe that being able to perform traditional DR and piloting is important, both of which require the ability to generate the occasional fix, then a hand bearing compass is pretty handy. Perhaps indepensible if your ship's compass is bulkhead-mounted, as is the case on most (?) tiller-operated small sail craft.

Jim

[sailingdog]

Well said SEMIJim...

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Well said SEMIJim...

Thanks

So what do you think, SD: Will I be able to use that Plastimo Iris 50 having to hold it about a foot-and-a-half in front of me? In the pictures on Plastimo's site, it looks like they're holding it just about right up to their faces.

Jim

[sailingdog]

Jim-

best bet is to go to West Marine and try it out.

[sailaway21]

I was going to go GPS shopping but I got thinking about it. The way I figure it, with all the GPS units that Cam has on the s/v Automat, he'll not need nearly half of them once he goes a R/Ving. That's assuming he shells out the $9.87 for a Rand-McNally Road Atlas. I could probably get by just fine with the model he uses in the head. My needs are simple. I just need to know if I'm in s*** or deep s***. All I need to find out is whether that model will work with my existing paper charts or if I need the ones like Cam has, that come on a roll. (lol)

[Maxo]

I have two hand bearing compasses on my boat - a Suunto Commander and a Silva KB20.

I really recommend the Suunto Commander - it is has large numbers, is well damped and stabilised and has a good mount. But most important it has a lock, so once you have taken the bearing you can lock the rose on the bearing for future reference. This is like a mechanical memory. Very very useful.


The Silva is a good and very, very accurate compass, but difficult to use in anger. It can take bearing to an accuracy of half a degree.

Maybe things are different in the US, but I cannot see how a GPS can replace a compass? A compass used properly is indispensable for prudent navigation.

Max, Cape Town, South Africa

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Jim-

best bet is to go to West Marine and try it out.

Thanks for the suggestion, but West Marine's price is high ($107 vs. an average of around $80 on-line), so I'd be unlikely to buy there. And I don't believe in using a store for examining a product when I know I'm not going to buy it there. (I find that often. Even in comparison to some local stores. Which is why I tend not to shop at West Marine.)

Perhaps I'll forgo this item until and unless I run across some other (local) sailors that have one-or-another of them. I guess there are some things that just can't be resolved on-line .

Thanks,
Jim

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by Maxo

I have two hand bearing compasses on my boat - a Suunto Commander and a Silva KB20.

Thanks for the suggestions, Maxo.

There are apparently no local retailers that carry Suunto anything. Suunto says Amazon does, but Amazon says it does not. At least not the Commander. Of the on-line retailers Suunto lists, other than Amazon, I recognize REI (with whom I've yet to do business), and that's about it. Google turns up nothing for the Silva KB20, but it does come up with a KB20 for Suunto.

Originally Posted by Maxo

The Silva is a good and very, very accurate compass, but difficult to use in anger. It can take bearing to an accuracy of half a degree.

"In anger?"

Originally Posted by Maxo

Maybe things are different in the US, but I cannot see how a GPS can replace a compass? A compass used properly is indispensable for prudent navigation.

No, nothing's different. It's simply a matter of personal preference.

Jim

[sailortjk1]

Originally Posted by BarryL

How many of you actually USE your hand bearing compass today?

Barry

I use it occasionaly to entertain our guest's.
Hand it to them and ask them to take a bearing.
I play along and its good for about ten minutes, than it goes back on the nav desk where it sits.

I cruise Lake Michigan, all navigating is done with the Chartplotter.
My favorite thing to do is to set a go to on the plotter and have the auto pilot steer to the go to. Simple. Done.

[Maxo]

Hi Jim

You are right, the KB20 is also Suunto - I was confused - that is what happens when I think about boats whilst I am supposed to be working!

Originally Posted by SEMIJim

There are apparently no local retailers that carry Suunto anything. Suunto says Amazon does, but Amazon says it does not. At least not the Commander.

Jim

Have a look at http://www.suunto.com/suunto/main/pr...=1182183535045

This is a really great compass and very easy to use. In the photo on the above website the compass is still attached to the mount. You lift it off the mount to use it. The red thing iis to lock the rose.

Originally Posted by SEMIJim

"In anger?"


Jim

I meant when things are tough - ie on a small boat with a bit of swell running.

In South Africa a sailing boat over 6 meters (20 feet) needs to have both a steering compass and a hand bearing compass to go to sea.

Regards

Max
Cape Town