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I'd like to branch this topic and ask about the older "full monty"
Plath bubble horizon.  I have one and I've got some questions about
it.

First, the rubber around the eyepiece (call it an eyecup, I guess) is
basically on its way out (dried out and crumbling along a part of the
edge) - can anyone recommend a reasonable (good fit and costs less
than a new sextant ;-) ) replacement?  Second, except with the solar
filter over the objective, the bubble is simply too dim to be seen
when shining a bright LED flashlight down through the opening for the
bulb.  Even then, the image is very dim.  Advice on living with the
bubble horizon, in general, is welcome (anyone got a PDF of the
instructions?).  (The battery compartment in my Plath still needs
help, thanks to a less than attentive prior owner - hence the test
with a flashlight)

I bought the unit as part of a sextant sold on eBay some time ago
(well over 5 years ago at least).  In retrospect, this may have been
something of a con job gone wrong as the sextant may well have been
the Soviet SNO/CHO clone, sold as a Plath (what did I know?), but the
bubble horizon is a for-real Plath horizon, bought for peanuts (I sold
the sextant and the buyer didn't gripe - no hurt, no foul, I guess).


On Jul 3, 5:24 pm, Ken Gebhart  wrote:
> Joel,
>
> About five years before C. Plath went out of production (say 6 years
> ago?), they came out with abubblechamber which did not have the
> adjusting mechanism. As I recall, it had an internal battery, and did
> not rely on the batteries in the sextant handle.  I also seem to
> recall that the light had no adjustable rheostat either.  I asked
> them why they omitted these desirable features.  They replied that
> they were made to milspec, and that's what the specs said.  They were
> very expensive too, about $1700.  I believe this is the unit you have.
>
> Their previous adjustable bubbles were very nice, and dated nearly
> back to WWII.  I don't know when they were discontinued.
>
> Ken Gebhart
>[...]

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