Best Compass On DPV?

[Oldbear]

I have a couple of Seadoos that work great for what I do. I would like to mount a compass on it and I am looking for an appropriate compass and mount. Others here who use the same DPV attach an old Suunto S7 to the nose. I would prefer a larger compass. I saw the Sentry Dasboard and in concept it looks pretty good. But it cost more than my DPV. I like its compass and I was thinking about a simple bottom timer.

Any suggestions on a marine grade compass that I can take underwater to approximately 40m?

 

[tbone1004]

http://www.amazon.com/Seattle-Sport...8&qid=1464440491&sr=8-1&keywords=deck+compass

http://www.amazon.com/Brunton-F-58K...8&qid=1464440491&sr=8-2&keywords=deck+compass

 

[Jon Nellis]

The Sea Rover compass from Seattle Sports is what you saw in front of the Sentry. It's not part of the Sentry and it is a great compass.

You just need to clip the plastic hardware off of the webbing loop (LEAVE THE LOOPS) on each side of the rubber base and then run a couple bungee loops, so they pass through the webbing loops and encircle the scooter.

Watch out for compass deflection when the scooter is running. Current running through the wires along with the arcing from motor brushes creates magnetic fields that can easily affect a compass. Brushless motors do not have the arcing problem, but if the wires from the battery are run close to the compass, it will still affect the reading.

Cheers,
Jon

 

[Oldbear]

Thanks Tbone & Jon...

It looks like I will go with the Burton as the Seattle Sports is not sent to APOs.

 

[Pullmyfinger]

OldBear,

I use the Seattle Sport one that is linked in tbone's post.
Try a different listing on Amazon; I ordered mine from there, and they shipped to my FPO address.

Cheers,
Mitch

 

[Oldbear]

Cool...the mount looked better and it is one that i really wanted. I will look tomorrow.

 

[Ouvea]

I affixed a Suunto SK8 to the nose carry handle with bungees. Since the motor of my Submerge Viper creates a magnetic distortion, when in operation, I wanted to make sure that it would not affect the compass by placing the unit as far forward as possible on my DPV.

It's also quite a bit smaller than the Seattle Sports compass, which I have used before. Absolutely nothing wrong with the Seattle Sports compass and it works very nicely. Just wanted something with a smaller profile.

 

[Oldbear]

Ouvea,

Thank you for the suggestion. I was looking for a larger compass (something my old eyes can see). Something along the lines of a marine navigation compass instead of a handheld compass.

There is a group of DPV divers on our island, primarily due to availability, who mostly use Seadoos. While I do consider them very much a $600 toy vs. a dive tool they fit our needs and wants very well. A couple of the divers have affixed Suunto SK7s on their nose cones and they work nicely. I too considered this as I have about 10 handheld compass that I could use. I like the Suunto's compass card and did consider it myself. But really wanted something much larger and easier to see.

I really liked Jon's Dashboard design for it functionality...this I will consider when I return to the states and upgrade to a serious DPV. I also like the concept of military style navigation boards (see below). So I am looking for a larger marine style compass that I can affix a depth guage and time to and mount this on the Seedoo's cone.

~Oldbear~

 

[Oldbear]

I found the Seattle Sport Compass on Leisure Pro's site; they support APO orders.

 

[Father]

I found the Seattle Sport Compass on Leisure Pro's site; they support APO orders.

Check out Bob and Scott's next time you see them out at the shack. Their compasses are mounted very well to the latch.
For something more like a dashboard you could probably need to start with a strap that wraps around the whole scooter and then attach the dash to the strap.
You could probably fabricate something like this,

I don't know how much real estate you have to work with on the Explorer X but the thing you need to worry about is the plastic housing. If the strap is too loose you're instrument(s) will move around. Too tight, you could potentially warp the housing enough to cause it to flood.