fluxgate compass

[sail4dale]

Cat34 MK II owners .... where did you locate your fluxgate compass?
And what deviation were you able to achieve?

I've had trouble but by locating it in my wet locker high and near the door I was able to get the deviation down to 10.   But no lower and a few tries  much higher when a lower mount was used.

[Stu Jackson]

A search on "fluxgate compass" has lots of hits.  This is one of them:  http://c34.org/bbs/index.php?topic=526.0

I used the Search button on the header between help and admin, rather than the search box above logout.  I typed in "fluxgate compass" WITH the "s which gets you the string of words.  I suppose a search on "fluxgate compass location" would narrow the search.

It doesn't answer your "deviation" question.  A search on "Catalina Cocktail" might.

I don't have an AP with a remote fluxgate, our four year old ST3000 continues to perform flawlessly, but one of these days...  Drats that they stopped making them!

[rirvine]

My compass (Mk II 1997) is installed in the storage bin under the port settee.  It is mounted on the aft divider between the storage bin and the holding tank area as close to the inboard side and as high up as possible.

Before you start moving stuff around, I would suggest that you check the compass connectors at the rear of the auto pilot control under – actually take them off and put them back on again.  Make sure that the male connector is firmly inserted into the female connector – not just into the cover around the female connector.

Ray

[sail4dale]

good notion re conectors.  I reinstalled the control head entirely.  I just got it back from Raymarine and they said the control head was working OK.   

[BillG]

I originally installed mine under the port settee aft of the holding tank but moved it because of all the wiring that was close by.  It is now installed  under the floorboard of the bilge just aft of the mast. I'm reserving decision on that placement until I fine tune all the settings. This is my first season with it.

[jmnpe]

The easiest way to survey your boat for a good flux gate sensor location is with a small compass. Move it all around in possible mounting locations and look for changes in the compass readout. If there is any wiring close by, make sure you know what it is and where it goes, and then activate the load at the end of the run and see what having it turned on and operating does to your compass reading. This will save you a lot of time and frustration. Also, don't forget about what you may later store near the mounted sensor: that big bag of tools on the other side of a bulkhead will give you fits when you try to use the autopilot!

On a boat the size of a C34 with all of the normal "stuff" we like to have on them, there are not many good spots readily available for flux gate sensor mounting, so you will likely have to find a spot that is just acceptable rather than great.

John

[sail4dale]

I finally mounted it in the closet aft of the chart table but toward the top.  I get a 10 deviation and will settle for that at this time.  Have a weeks cruise to the Channel Islands coming up and that will give it a major test.  If relocating, is is OK to spice the wiring????

[jmnpe]

If is possible to splice the cable to extend it, but you will have to exercise significant care. The cable should be a shielded cable, and it is important to keep it that way. Rather than actually splicing it back together inline with soldering and heat shrink tubing, I would recommend creating a junction point using some of the small gauge, multi-conductor, nylon terminal strips to create a point where you can add additional wiring length. Try to keep the number of terminal strips to a minimum if at all possible. The best approach, if possible/practical is to add the extension cable at the AP unit end since that way you only introduce one terminal strip point. However, since that may be a real PIA if your AP control head/computer is mounted on the binnacle. If that's the case, just exercise care in where and how you add the inline extension terminal points.

Once you add additional length, you may have to recalibrate the compass, but if you move it to a new location you would be doing that anyway.

You will probably find that a 10 degree deviation will calibrate pretty well, although the absolute accuracy would be equal to the ship's compass. You will just have to be careful what you have sitting on top of the wet locker......

If and when the time comes, let me know if you have trouble locating a suitable cable or terminals for the extension project.

John

[Mark G]

The Catalina dealer installed mine on the front side of the mast step in the bilge of my 1991. He did this in 2005 when I bought the boat. I'm not sure on the deviation, but I can tell you that I have motored some 80 miles across Lake Michigan on auto and hit the appointed harbor.

[tonywright]

Mine is installed on the port side of the space under the aft bunk, behind the shaft log, up as high as the board under the bunk will allow. So it is vertical, even though facing starboard (90 degrees off: this is apparently OK since it is corrected when the boat is swung). This seems to be consistent with the directions in the manual to loacte it in the area between midships and the aft third of the boat, as low down as possible, and away from metal such as the engine and keel.  It was installed at the same time as the complete electronics package. Haven't checked the deviation though.

Tony