Compass placement

[jpullin]

Will placing my compass on the console, between my VHF and my fishfinder, cause adverse compass readings?

 

[fishmen111]

Re: Compass placement

Shouldn't. Magnetic interference is usually the culprit. Speakers, generators and such.

 

[External Combustion]

Re: Compass placement

It depends on the current draw of both of the electronics. The current will produce a magnetic effect, but it may not be enough to bother with. Swing your boat through a compass rose with and without the items on and find out.

If it does you might be able to reroute your power cables to cancel the effect.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Compass placement

The short answer is yes.

The installation manuals my equipment state the following minimum safe distances:

Icom 502 VHF - 39"
Garmin 4208 GPS -30"
Furuno 582L FF - 30"

All my equipment is mounted in the ?safe? zone except the GPS (roughly 15?)which affects the compass if the GPS is on.

I don?t worry about it because I generally navigate using GPS and I can always turn off the GPS if I need the compass for some reason.