Before reading on, please take a moment to fill out this week’s survey so we can share your knowledge and experiences with the Cruising Compass family. Thanks.
Do you have air conditioning on your boat?
Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply to last week’s survey on swinging our compasses. We got a large and fun response. First, 44% do swing their compass from time to time and 77% do it themselves with0ut a professional.
Asked how often you swing your compass, we had many good answers:
“About every five years or whenever we change hemispheres.”
“On my steel boat at the start of every season and draw the deviation curve. This was before GPS and the compass was my primary nav aid.”
“Every couple of years depending on whether or not new equipment has been installed that might affect the compass.”
“I check it every couple of years. I usually don’t recalibrate for small deviation changes; just make a mental note and carry on.”
Asked why readers didn’t swing their compass, we had wonderful answers.
Many said in the age of GPS it was not neccesary, Just as many said they were too lazy to bothered. Many said they rarely use the compass as a primary nav tool with GPS-chartplotter doing the navigation. Many said that they rarely used their compass for navigation, with this reader summing it up, “Can’t remember the last time I used my compass at all.”
