460 Fluxgate

Asureyez

Asureyez

New Member
Apr 22, 2007
1,535
Ft. Lauderdale, Fl.
Boat Info
Sea Ray 460 Sundancer Hardtop 2001 - SOLD
Engines
Cummins 450 Diesels
Hi Celepop:

Any idea where they hid the fluxgate compass on a 2000 build 460DA?
 
On mine it is under the floor panel in the center of the salon. Bob
 
THe location will vary depending upon what electronics are in the boat, but generally, they are as low as possible on the boat's centerline about midships to minimize motion while under way.
 
I drag my Raymarine fluxgate 100 feet behind the boat on a trolling rig... works about the same there as it does mounted on the boat.
 
Four Suns said:
I drag my Raymarine fluxgate 100 feet behind the boat on a trolling rig... works about the same there as it does mounted on the boat.
Click to expand...


That only works for certain serial numbers....:grin:
 
Chad,
The Raymarine fluxgate on my boat is mounted just outside the helm storage compartment/"glove box".
How did I learn this?
After replacing the magnetic switch in my cockpit door, I threw the old piece in the "glove box". Hilarity ensued when I hit the AP out on the Potomac and the boat promptly began a graceful, arcing turn north towards Canada.
Troubled, I dutifully read my Raymarine AP Owner's Manual and did the "turn the boat in a slow circle to calibrate your AP" drill on three separate occasions.
I then tore the boat apart down the centerline storage areas looking for the ^%$#@!@#$%%^ fluxgate. Finally, I called Sea Ray, and they informed me that despite the fact that Raymarine recommends mounting the fluxgate centerline and amidships, low in the hull, the fluxgate in my 03 420 Dancer was "just outside the glove box."
So--six screws later, out comes the "glove box" and there lay the fluxgate compass, screwed into the bulkhead. I took it apart, applied the extensive engineering knowledge one can only gain from four years in a liberal arts program at the University of Georgia, swore at the fluxgate, reassembled it, and as I was reassembling the whole damned thing the magnet fell out of the "glove box."
Realizing the havoc that magnets play with compasses, (my first 10 years in the Army were pre-GPS) I threw the old magnetic switch piece in my spare parts bin (about 5' from the "glove box")
Let me tell you, that was one cool mod.
No more problems.
You may want to call Sea Ray and ask the fluxgate placement question before you torture yourself like I did. Or maybe Rusty is trolling the board and can answer where your fluxgate is.
The whole story of my AP woes made for a fairly entertaining series of posts at SRO.
Ahhhh..SRO...gone but not forgotten.

regards
Skip
 
Geez... I've never been dumb enough to put a magnet next to a compass... My son did... but not me. He put a refrigerator magnet next to my helm compass for a few days. It's now anywhere from 10 degrees to 40 degrees off depending on which direction I'm pointing. If I average it with the Raymarine fluxgate reading and divide by the barometer reading multiplied by the square root of the apparent wind angle, I get close enough.
 
Chad,

Are you asking about your 2002 460DA? Mine's the same year and model as yours and it's under the center salon hatch.

James
 
center floor hatch on an "03 also, starboard side. Make sure you don't store anything metal right next to it!
 
Four Suns said:
I drag my Raymarine fluxgate 100 feet behind the boat on a trolling rig... works about the same there as it does mounted on the boat.
Click to expand...
Gary,
You said in an earlier thread that you changed to the KVH autocomp 1000. How do you like it? Also where did you find your raymarine fluxgate as I was thinking about changing over. I only wanna do the circle deal one time.
And what did you use to attach it to the stern so you could drag it.
I had my boat out saturday and low and behold the little boat on the chartplotter is still turned 30 degrees to port while it moves straight. I guess it didn't magically fix itself by sitting.
Jack
 
My Raymarine fluxgate was mounted in the starboard tall cockpit locker (high up inside of it) by the sliding glass door. It was neither mounted down low or on the center line as there is no place to do that and avoid machinery.

My KVH is mounted under the seating in front of the helm on the bridge. Although not low... it works fine.
 
Okay, I have not found it anywhere in the saloon floor holds. In that long center line hold there is stored the spare props, the vacuum cleaner & hose w/tools and the grey water sump box. Behind the sump box is a 2000 GPH rule bilge pump and thats it folks.

On the 460 01 Dancer there is no glove box, just an electronics access door just under the helm wheel and also a breaker panel acess door at the sole on the STB cockpit liner. The Fluxgate is NOWHERE to be found in these areas, nor is it in the other cockpit panel accesses. There is a manufacturers garbage collector pit under the aft salon couch/bunk which can be accessed for cleaning by sliding out the bed and blindly thrusting a vacumm nozzel back there, but I see no fluxgate on the bottom of the hull which is visiable there.

So, the flux gate is very well hidden, and I'm fearful it was installed in a void during construction now unreachable post assembly.

The boat is a Sept 2000 lay up of the 2001 DA if that helps our Sea Ray advisors.
 
Chad....did you try removing the panel that the Radar/charlplotter screen is mounted in?....it may be behind there.
 
One more thought......did you locate the AP control computer? If so, you may able to 'follow' the wire to fluxgate, or least get the general direction that the wire is headed. The boat does have auto pilot....right????
 
Chad, mine is in FRONT of the Beam Vac system mounted to the starboard stringer on the inboard side, and you need to really bend over and look with a Flashlight to find it! If they changed where they installed it in an '01, try the small bildge behind the aft sofa/bed-that's at least low-a bit close to the mains and lot's of wiring for me though. Good Luck!
 
osd9 said:
One more thought......did you locate the AP control computer? If so, you may able to 'follow' the wire to fluxgate, or least get the general direction that the wire is headed. The boat does have auto pilot....right????
Click to expand...


Yes I have a AP, RayPilot (Raytheon) vintage model system. The reason I'm hunting down the components is I want to do a mod and change out the Course Computer to a more modern Gyro system. The plan is to swap out the Raypiklot Course Computer with The Raymarine Pathfinder Smart Heading System Model E12102.

This new unit I'm told is a course computer/gyro in one unit will upgrade to my RL80CRC but will require a different mounting (verticle) than the old one (flat) and is larger than the existing course computer. I'm wanting to plan this mod to the last detail before I take it on. I have read that the old fluxgate will stay in the system with the new gyro/course computer so I want to find it, note it's part no. and inspect it's wiring.

If anyone has upgraded the old Raypilot system to a E12102 I can use all the tips you've got on that as well.

Thanks for the help guys and do please keep those cards and letters coming!


 
I just located mine purely by accident today. It was in the under floor compartment where the grey water sea chest is mounted against the forward wall.
My boat is different model but close to the same year so you may look in that area again. This is in the hallway connecting the staterooms.
I would like to change mine but I don't know if you can just cut the wires and resplice to a new fluxgate or not.
Anyone know?
Jack
 
Petep said:
Chad, mine is in FRONT of the Beam Vac system mounted to the starboard stringer on the inboard side, and you need to really bend over and look with a Flashlight to find it! If they changed where they installed it in an '01, try the small bildge behind the aft sofa/bed-that's at least low-a bit close to the mains and lot's of wiring for me though. Good Luck!
Click to expand...


With this wonderful information that has been provided by the 'club' I must assure you that ANYTHING after 2000 (and probably before) was a PD&E (prod.dev.&eng) product that had EVERYTHING to do with owners/dealers being able to access wiring, etc. Hope you have limited halts in your endeavors and this club can/will help whenever possible.

Please let us know of your 'hang ups' or your progress:)))):smt038:smt021
 
Petep said:
Chad, mine is in FRONT of the Beam Vac system mounted to the starboard stringer on the inboard side, and you need to really bend over and look with a Flashlight to find it! If they changed where they installed it in an '01, try the small bildge behind the aft sofa/bed-that's at least low-a bit close to the mains and lot's of wiring for me though. Good Luck!
Click to expand...


Found It! screwed to a verticle plywood panel along the Port Stringer under the deck in the main saloon. It was midway between hatch access boards and I had to get down in the hold to find it up under the deck! And yes the puck is screwed with its base verticle to deck, WTF, can this be right?

I've always seen these pucks mounted with their base as horizontal as possible, this puppy is mounted verticle? Okay now to find an installation manual for a Ray PUCK!

Anyoen have a Fluxgate manual out there?
 
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