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Jeff Jeff is offline
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First recorded activity by BoatBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 1,301
Default First time on Autopilot

The fluxgate on my old boat was mounted under the sole near the center
of the boat. Whenever I walked through there with my Rockport
boatshoes (which have an iron shank) the boat would spin.

My current pocket knife is by Boye. It has no ferrous parts at all -
the blade is cobalt, and the clips are titanium.


* Roger Long wrote, On 5/18/2007 1:02 PM:
Ah, light dawns on Marblehead!

Yesterday, whenever I sat down to look closely at the GPS and fine tune the
course, the boat would wander off five degrees or so. I was telling myself:

"It hasn't been through the calibration routine yet."

"It's going to hunt until I fiddle with the settings."

"It just seems like it's wandering more because I'm looking closely."

Etc., Etc.

I just realize that the Buck knife on my hip must have been about three
inches from the built in flux gate compass just under the fiberglass cockpit
seat!

--
Roger Long