Compass on New Design 38DA

[osd9]

My friend has a 2006 38DA. He has had his share of "new" boat issues, most of which have been corrected, but a few which manage to linger....both Sea Ray and Marine Max have been contacted.

Anyway, here is one that I just don't get.....His dash mounted compass, from day one, was suspect of not providing the correct heading. After many "talks" with MM techs, and 3 trys at fixing/spinning the compass, their FINAL answer is "...the salon mounted stero speaker is causing the compass to give eroneous headings.....so here is a piece of paper with what we THINK are the corrected headings..." Now if that ain't a line of Bull....I don't know what is.....how about moving the speaker!!!!!! and making the compass work...imagine being stuck in fog and looking for the piece of paper to know which way your heading....

Anyway, any other 06 38DA owners out there with a similar problem.....I gotta guess that ALL 06 38DAs have the same problem....some just may not know it yet....

later,

 

[Four Suns]

Another solution might be a new compass. The first year I had this boat, one of my sons bought a small lighthouse refridgerator magnet and put it next to my compass where it stayed for a few weeks. I could never get the compass calibrated after that... There are instructions in his bag of manuals to calibrate the thing and he should try that first though.

 

[osd9]

Gary:

Appreciate your response, but MM Techs had the boat in the shop 3 TIMES and the "piece of paper" with corrected readings was their SOLUTION....You would think that they would "FIX" the problem....kind of like..."dock it hurts when I do this....so...don't do that"...reaction from MM.

later,

 

[yachtjim]

Tell them to put a KVH Azimuth 1000 custom in there instead. It is a digital compass that will probably work better with the nearby speaker. Other than that they should be able to find a compass that is not affected as much as the on that is in there. Or, like you said, move the speaker.

 

[osd9]

Yachtjim:

I made the EXACT same suggestion back in June......I put a KVH on my 98 330DA to make my Raymarine overlay work on an RL70CRC back in 2002.

For now, MM likes the "PIECE OF PAPER" solution....I guess because they think it is cheaper and they are not considering the tech hours involved....and the bad customer relation issue here. OR...maybe now they realize that ALL new desing 38DAs have a problem and they have to fix them ALL....

later,

 

[WFYB]

Some compass error is normal and expected. That is why you have a correction card. The reality is few of us use our compass to navigate anymore. Paper charts and a compass have for the most part been replaced by a gps. My observations indicate few actually know how to navigate with paper anymore. If the error is not too great I would forget it. Keep the card, you will need it if you ever have to navigate the old fashioned way.

 

[osd9]

Jon:

You are right that some correction is normal....but in this case, imagine that the correction is due to a speaker magnet......that is NOT normal....I don't remember exactly, but I remember being out on his boat and knowing that we headed in the general direction of due north....and his compass read closer east by southeast.......

later,

 

[osd9]

OH..and back to my original question....any other 2006 38DA owners out there....with the same compass issue?

thanks,

 

[Sea Ray 300]

Jim and Dom are right.

The KVH Azimuth 1000 is the only way to go.
I put one in my last boat, and without hesitation installed one in this boat without ever having been in the water.

There is just too much chance for error on a power boat with a magnetic compass. Too much metal, speakers, refrigerators, microwave ovens, tools, etc., not to mention the mass of the engine(s).
And they can bounce like crazy in rough seas, which is why I bought my first KVH, plus the fact that the factory compass was 15 degrees off.

The KVH is auto correcting, and dead on within 1/2 degree, and can be dampered to your liking.