Scooter Navigation

[Nemrod]

My Tekna came with a Tekna depth guage and compass console that mounts on the upper portion of the shroud. It seems to work OK but I somehow doubt that I would trust a compass very much sitting a few inches from a 1/3 horsepower electric motor. N

 

[Gary D.]

My Tekna came with a Tekna depth guage and compass console that mounts on the upper portion of the shroud. It seems to work OK but I somehow doubt that I would trust a compass very much sitting a few inches from a 1/3 horsepower electric motor. N

As long as you mount it out of the magnetic field your fine. We rely on it a lot and have never had a problem. Set the compass on the scooter and hit the trigger. If the needle moves move the compass. If it doesn't move your in good shape.

I have done near zero vis runs of over a hundred yards over and over again on a tight grid search. The furthest I was off at the end of a run was within 6' cutting the light current at a 45 deg. angle. That one was in the area of an old muill site where the bottom was littered with saw blades, chains and cables.

So before you discount it working try it first. Even my own DPV's, one with twin 17# thruters and the other with twin 40# thrusters work fine when you find the sweet spot outside of the magnetic field.

Try it.

Gary D.

 

[jpedwards]

There is no way to 'make a correction' short of removing the influence of the magnet.

Ship navigators have has this problem solved for generations. From the point of view of the compass, a steel ship is nothing but a giant magnet, yet they cross vast distances just fine.

very brief explanation of variation and deviation

Granted, it takes practice to get it right and it's probably too much to think about whilst you're scooting around.

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

I just heard the other day from the chief of the dive team at work that they bought a scooter (Dacor, maybe?) that had an optional compass mount. When they tried it out they ended up running in circles...

If I recall correctly, they solved the problem by extending the mount so that the compass was farther from the scooter, out of the magnetic field.

If you like, I can try to get more exact details when I get back to work after the weekend.

Hi. Sorry I took so long to follow up on this one. The scooter in question was a Dacor, but thier particular solution may not be helpful you you. Due to the compass problem and 'other issues' with the Dacor, they basically built a wooden tow board that they were attempting to tow behind the scooter (with extended controls), but as you can imagine, that didn't work out too well. Their final fix was to order two farallons

 

[Mr.X]

Hi. Sorry I took so long to follow up on this one. The scooter in question was a Dacor, but thier particular solution may not be helpful you you. Due to the compass problem and 'other issues' with the Dacor, they basically built a wooden tow board that they were attempting to tow behind the scooter (with extended controls), but as you can imagine, that didn't work out too well. Their final fix was to order two farallons

I definitely like that kind of a fix where you need to buy more equipment!!! It's a logical explanation and won't get you in trouble with the missus (one hopes). :05:

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

I definitely like that kind of a fix where you need to buy more equipment!!! It's a logical explanation and won't get you in trouble with the missus (one hopes). :05:

Better than that!

Not only did they not have to worry about the missus, and got someone else to pay for them!

(I'm talking about the dive team where I work, a Navy and Coast Guard contractor. Unfortunately I can't borrow them for personal use.)

 

[Mambo Dave]

I'm curious about the DIY scooter for so little money. Sounds like a neat project. Any scooter user have links?