I recently obtained a 70P compass. I am concerned, mainly during long rooftop transport days, about long periods of weather exposure: heat, UV, rain and even 40+ hours (on a long drive to/from destination) of constant wear from the force of moving the compass through the air at 70mph.
So, I would like to have a detachable compass mount - for kayak transport and possibly even for long periods where the boat is stored on its side (putting the compass in an odd orientation).
I’ve sketched out ways to achieve a detachable mount - but am not one for reinventing the wheel when a good solution already exists.
Is anyone familiar with a detachable mounting solution for a 70P compass? Can be a DIY or a commercially available solution.
Thanks for the link. I didn’t see any options there for an easily removable option. If you know of a product that allows that could you please provide a direct link to that?
Or just get a different compass that already has that method for temporarily attaching it?
You might be able to find long bolts that could be attached to the kayak deck, with the heads under the deck, fastened to they do not come off, and then a tube like spacers (to give your fingers clearance) if needed, and then wing nuts so that you could easily attach and detach the compass. But then you will have bolts sticking up above the deck, seems like potentially a problem to me, but that is the only alternative I can come up with at the moment.
I have not read of kayakers complaining that their compass was compromised by the wear and tear of transport…so perhaps this is not something you really need to worry about?
Thanks for the info. I will probably end up going with headed (non-magnetic) screws from the inside and then using some type of knurled hand-tightenable nut ( such that no threads protrude from the top).
I have a DIY solution - but I’ll need to create a couple solid models in CAD and send those off to a 3D printing service. Because of the time to get that done - the screws seem a better option.
I don’t currently have a 70p on any of my kayaks, but I seem to remember they are perfect spheres and the compass unit free floats inside it and is weighted to keep the reading side up, and magnetism to keep it pointing north. Besides these two forces, it spins freely inside its sphere. As such, I don’t think it cares what orientation you store the boat in. We mount them on a horizontal surface, but most boaters actually mount them on vertical surfaces - they work fine either way.
A prior boat of ours had one in it. That boat was stored outside on the roof of a car for weeks at a time. And was driven on multiple road trips for thousands of miles at highway speeds. No problems with the compass. I think they are also designed for use outsides and for use on kayaks that are often transported distances.
The card inside the sphere is not fully floating. If I rotate the compass (in the way that a wave passing under the boat from bow to stern would rotate the compass) it is fully floating in that orientation. If I Edge the boat to 90 degrees the compass is not fully floating in that direction. The card stops rotating in the sphere at some point. For this reason I installed the compass on the boat that doesn’t get stored/transported on its side.