What Is This?

Hi,

It looks like a magnetic compass. This is used to show which direction you are heading.

Hi,

It looks like it uses a mirror to show the heading the right way up.

They are also sometimes used as the autopilot compass.

One system I sailed with was a Segatron unit - not sure they are still going but it was reliable and simple to use.

They are mounted where the person who runs the boat wants in most cases at build/install

Hi,

Saw it once only on a tug boat, the optical light was black and the degrees were florescent so at night is "greenish" like a radar screen, nice and soft on the eye.

Actually I am looking for something similar, when my Yacht was built the owner was fairly tall and the dash mounted 8 " compass was a little too far forward for me to read in comfort from the helm seat, what I need is an overhead mirror system that I can attach to the underside of the overhead instrument rack that will let me read the compass in comfort, the small prism at the front of the compass was lost quite a while ago, any ideas or clues would be much appreciated.

K1W1

What need in the market does this type of compass fill over the standard flush/ surface mounted compass?

Lest I start a thread creep, but in this age of plotters and related electronic data, how many really use their compass?

When I made a trip down the West coast to Mexico, my chartnav system became a bit unstable, I wanted to steer by compass course until everything stabilized, was a bit of an aggravation due to difficult reading as previous post.
Backup is critical when in offshore waters.

Before the days of GPS and chartplotters, we used to use No.1 eyeball navigation, a chart and a compass. In the South Pacific you may only get one fix in 14 hours from the SatNav.

Sailing through the Torres Straits in Northern Australia at night, in a 220 footer at 12 knots, was not for the fainthearted. You needed every piece of equipment available. Those compasses are there for a very good reason.

Hi,

The vessel I am on currently has the dash filled with all things electronic.

We have a dual Gyro Compass setup.

The Magnetic Compass is mounted in the overhead and has a mirror to make the numbers look the right way for the helmsman or woman.

There is a repeater of this at the Emergency Steering Station should the brown stuff have really hit the fan.

Fish, Don't forget about a well known Englishman who got from the Pacific to Singapore 200 some years ago in an open boat with very few if any navigational aids or instruments.

There was another one who went from Antarctica to South Georgia with very little too.

Thinking about it, most of the boats I've worked on have had overhead compasses mounted well away from electronics and other interferences to the magnets.

When this thread came up, I honestly thought it was a joke one.

Sorry.