NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Davis M3 -- (Davis M20) -- Astra IIIb
From: Joe Shields
Date: 2001 Apr 21, 15:04 EDT
From: Joe Shields
Date: 2001 Apr 21, 15:04 EDT
I learned Celestial with a Davis Mark 3. On land using an artificial horizon or at the lake using a short-dip correction I'm consistently within +/- 1nm on Sun shots. My question is... is there anything to be gained by moving up to one of the better Davis sextants (which financially I could do now... at least for a used one) or should I keep saving my money for an Astra IIIb? -- Joe (small lake sailor/ blue water sailor wannabe) > ---------- > From: Dan Hogan[SMTP:dhhogan@XXX.XXX] > Reply To: dhhogan@XXX.XXX > Sent: Saturday, April 21, 2001 12:58 PM > To: NAVIGATION-L@XXX.XXX > Subject: Re: Any happy/unhappy Astra IIIB owners here? > > I started out navigating with a Davis plastic sextant in 1963(?) or there > abouts. I used it on trips to/from Hawaii, Baja, and up/down the coast. > For a > small boat it kept an accuracy of 4 Nmi+/-. Used it up to 1984, when I > left > it laying on a plastic cushion on the way to Santa Catalina Island one > summer > day, it tried to turn into a ball. Then I bought a used Huson, I used it > until I got talked into exchanging it for a Freiberger. > > IMO a top of the line sextant is required only if you are going try > Lunars. > Otherwise, for *PRACTICAL* small boat navigation, most modern sextants > will > work admirably. > > Consider these errors: > Your eyesight > Boat motion > Your plotting error > Your method of sight reduction > Any time error > And, any errors in the charts > > > > > Dan Hogan WA6PBY > Catalina 27 "GACHA" > dhhogan@XXX.XXX > Navigation-L List Owner > http://www.wa6pby.com >