I am living my honey moon with my P&H Cetus LV. made some light modifications to the seat and removed the back band for a foam support. Now it’s time for a compass. In my other boats, I have always gone with Bruton. Little thought behind this purchase. But is there another brand of compass that compares with the Brunton 70P In-Dash Marine Compass made for a flush deck mounts? (I have seen the Bruton selling on line for as little as $90!)
Any 70P compass…
There are several names but they are all made by the same company.
Bruton rules, I guess…
“There are several names but they are all made by the same company”
Hum…not entirely surprising. Well then, I guess a Bruton for under $90 is in my future.
Thanks for the info. It points me in the right direction. (pun intended!)
Brunton, not Bruton
Just in case someone is googling.
Ritchie
Makes a nice kayak compass which is less $ than the 70P.
http://www.ritchienavigation.com/catalog/product.jsp?op=pgroup&pgid=A8782BCD-2614-11DA-9D5E-F92021DD9C88
2nd. that
The Ritchie is an excellent compass, but the xp-99 or the s-59 would be a better choice than the bulkhead mount pictured.
Bill H.
for molded in recess
– Last Updated: Oct-29-10 9:37 AM EST –
The s-59 and xp-99 are for deck mounting.
The first one mentioned (and the 70-P) are the right ones for mounting in the compass recess that many manufacturers build into the deck of their kayaks. Those are bulkhead-mount applications.
I know the Brunton can be mounted at any angle. Can someone confirm that the Richie v-527 also fits the kayak recesses, and that it is ok mounted at such a low angle?
recesses
Not all sea kayaks have recesses.
Bill H.
angle
According to Ritchie that compass can be used up to a 45 degree angle, so should fit a recess if you have one.
Bill H.
and the ones that do
put it on the other side of the front hatch where the numbers are unreadable.
That depends
For me, it’s just far enough away that I CAN read it with single-vision glasses if it’s on the far side of the forward hatch. YMMV
I don’t like paddling with my progressives on - too many air strokes in rougher water.
Ritchie
Never could figure out how to mount a bulkhead compass on a kayak. To me a bulkhead is vertical and even 45 degrees isn’t going to work.
The square base won’t work/fit in a molded recess.
If anyone has done this let me know.
The Ritchie V-527 Kayaker
is a ‘slope’ mount compass, not a vertical or ‘bulkhead’ mount. The base is round. Follow the link above to the mounting template.
Base
The base looks squared off. I know the Valley recess is more of a sphere.
Recess
The 70P is very simple to mount in a recess. Takes about 5 minutes. Just plop it in and insert 4 screws.
I can’t vouch for the Richie 527. It appears to be roughly the same size, but not sure about that cylindrical backside.
It looks like…
…you would have to cut out the domed part of the recess in order to install it. Too bad, as it looks like a nice compass and it would be great to have an alternative to the 70P.
the Richie
fits the WS recess w/o issue. I found it did not work as well as a Brunton tho. it seemed to get stuck when the boat was turned up on edge.
steve
Richie 527 Rotatable
I just got my Richie 527 compass and plan to mount it into my Tempest 170 recess. Just to clarify it is by default set for a vertical bulkhead installation. However, if you reef on the outer casing courter clockwise it will loosen and then you can rotate the entire compass it into the horizontal position where it will work properly. I just sent Richie a suggestion that they put that into their manual - it is an undocumented feature.