NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: The "big" sextant manufactures
From: John Karl
Date: 2007 Oct 28, 09:28 -0700
From: John Karl
Date: 2007 Oct 28, 09:28 -0700
One of my Plaths is a Navistar "look alike". I say "look alike" because it doesn't say Navistar on it, but only C. Plath, Hamburg, Germany, S/N 49066. But someone, who should know, says it is an early Navistar, and is identical to later ones that do say Navistar. I wonder if any List members can date it from its S/N? I put it at about 1968. It came from a sailing cat wrecked on a reef, without a certificate or box; it had a cracked horizon shade, corroded mirror frames, broken lighting system, and scrappy paint. I fixed it all up - now it's in like-new condition. I've not bothered to calibrate the arc (I'd use star-star distances) because (1) my eyes aren't good enough to be effective, and (2) I just wanted it in my collection for the kind of comparisons we've been talking about. My other "Navistar Plath" is a M. Low Navy Mark III, in excellent condition. I've been told that it is a Navistar made by Plath. When I said that the Plath looked like junk, I was basing it on the view through its scope. I believe Plath is no different than all the other manufacturers in this regard. They make a fine mechanical instrument, then put a cheap and poor performing Galilean scope on it - the kind you find on a kid's toy. These Galilean scopes don't compare to a prism scope in terms of FOV, whole-horizon effect, and extraneous light. I don't know why manufacturers don't offer low- power prism scopes - tradition? I have no reason to think that the craftsmanship of the Plath is anything but excellent, However, as I've said before, I've never heard of a guaranteed accuracy, even when using the published arc corrections. And what about a design that has troublesome one-wire lighting, grounded via lubricated surfaces; has ineffective lighting of the micrometer drum; and has the shades blocking the view? So my heresy, blasphemy, and Anti-Christian thoughts are not against Plath craftsmanship, but against some easily-corrected design flaws, and use of Galilean scopes (both common to most all modern sextants). If ye thinkest this still maketh me the blackest of sinners, I confess and pray to the CN Gods to save me from the plague of incorrect 60' carry-overs to degrees; being off one column or row in sight reduction tables; pressing the wrong calculator button in the first decimal place; and bumping the sextant against the companionway when going for a beer, John --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to NavList@fer3.com To , send email to NavList-@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---