Lighted Compass

My husband Paul helped me devise a light for a compass to use in the Watertribe Everglades Challenge 2005. During the 2004 Challenge, I thought my built in compass would be fine, however, it sits so far up the bow that I couldn't see it at night with my headlamp. I needed a lighted compass, and one with a red light would help prevent night blindness.



We used a portable compass from Suunto that bungees over the deck in front of the cockpit, and found a small red waterproof LED light with a clip on the back (internet search).








The underside of the compass had a small depression in the clear plastic base that is just big enough for the diameter of the light. You may have to smooth away some rough edges in the plastic (seams from the mold) with a sharp knife.

The light clips onto the bungee that runs under the compass. It may not be a perfect flat fit onto the deck, but the compass casing is rubber and will give to let you have a good fit on the boat (or on the top of a deck bag).

We ordered the light ($12) at :

http://www.avshop.com/prodinfo.asp?number=6512

ADDITIONAL WARNING TO NOTE: I'VE GOTTEN A FEW COMMENTS ABOUT THIS THAT ARE WORTH MENTIONING. THERE IS SOME CONCERN ABOUT COMPASS VARIATION BROUGHT ON BY THE BATTERY AND THE METALLIC COMPONENTS IN THE LED. ONE PERSON MENTIONS HAVING TRIED THIS SYSTEM AND HAVING A PROBLEM.

I used this system in the EC'05 race and did not have any problems. I was able verify the compass reading with my GPS, and there were times I could do visual checks of my direction since there were landmarks I could use. However, there is no room for error so I will do much more testing before suing this in the Ultimate Challenge, and will report back on the blog my testing results. I've tried many other ways to get a nice lighted compass, and this worked the best, so hopefully my testing will be complete and I'll have good results.

Thanks for the comments.