Various kayak compasses and mounting options

Author: josh

Category: Equipment, rigging & preparation

Published on Saturday, 26 December 2009 08:39

Written by Josh

I'd fitted my previous fishing kayak (also an Adventure... but not an Adventure Island) with a Ritchie panel mount kayak compass in the only place the seemed to make sense at the time, which was in the front panel towards the bow. It did actually work pretty well there, although my vision of it was obscured with every pedal stroke of the right leg. Not that it ever bothered me at all, but what did bother me about installing this compass was that it means drilling out a fairly large hole of about 5cm across and this isn't something you want to get wrong.

Working at Hobie (as I was at the time) there was a full suite of tools available for me to use, so it was a fairly simple operation. And admittedly, I do like the way the Ritchie compass mounts and it always worked perfectly. Not all kayaks facilitate the ritchie compass being mounted too well, however, which would be my other word of warning to anyone considering using the Ritchie compass. If you've got the right yak, tools and confidence to mount it, by all means go for it - it's a great compass.

Equally reliable, however, is the Suunto kayak compasses. There are two that I'm aware of, both of which could be mounted pretty easily on almost any kayak. The Pioneer model is the one I opted for, and it's designed as a direct hull mount and is supplied with 2 self-tapping screws for the job (although I used thru-bolts instead). The Orca is much the same compass, only with a removable bungee cord mounting system (which would work nicely for many kayaks). Both of them are simpler to install than the Ritchie. I'd hazard a guess that they're equally accurate as well, as the compass business is and always has been Suunto's main game; they've always made good compasses. Although it was a bit of a tight fit, I was able to mount the Pioneer nicely into the Adventure's spare drink bottle holder. I rarely used this spot for drinks anyway as it doesn't serve as a bottle holder as well as the larger and deeper rear one, which is perfect for your typical wide-mouth bottle. So by mounting the compass here it's not in the way, I have clear line of sight vision to it and now I always know which direction I'm pointing (again) which is a nice luxury to have.

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