Compass light

The light bulb in the danforth compass of Moonshine has gone west. It is the old screw in type and I have not been able to find a replacement. I should perhaps change it out for an LED bulb in any case.

Does anyone know where to get a replacement bulb if I decide to keep it?
Any suggestions about what LED bulb to use if I decide to go that route?

BTW my compass is tired looking. Yellow letters, old plastic looking mount. I wonder what it would cost to get it renewed and if it is worth it.

SeaRogue said:

The light bulb in the danforth compass of Moonshine has gone west. It is the old screw in type and I have not been able to find a replacement. I should perhaps change it out for an LED bulb in any case.

Does anyone know where to get a replacement bulb if I decide to keep it?
Any suggestions about what LED bulb to use if I decide to go that route?

BTW my compass is tired looking. Yellow letters, old plastic looking mount. I wonder what it would cost to get it renewed and if it is worth it.

Click to expand...

I previously blogged here about the rebuild of our boat's compass. Cost was roughly 1/2 to 1/3 that of a new one. It was upgraded to new LED lighting.
You might want research this service. Ours looks and works like new.

Loren

rebuild

Loren,

Your compass looks great. I have a danforth instead of a richie. I will check to see if the danforth folks could rebuild mine as well. I will put that on my list of things to do on the boat. It is a long list.

Thanks for pointing me to the blog.

compass light source

I will answer my own question so that the answer will be here in case others need it. After reading Lorens blog I googled for compass repair stations and discovered that viking instruments in Maine has obtained the rights to danforth and has a repair station that works on many different types of compasses as well.

They will rebuild a Danforth like mine for $260 and return it looking like new including the bakelite base and hood. If you want to go with an LED light it will cost an additional $26. You can order bulbs and other parts from their website www.vikingcompass.com

Compass repair is a dying art

As part of the restoration of my E26, I had my Ritchie compass overhauled by George Winther in Mystic, CT. He was local to me, but I found the quality of work and his prices to be exceptionally good. A quick google search should find his contact info. Unfortunately, many of the people who overhaul marine compasses are retiring and closing shop because they cannot find interested parties to take over the work. That and the increasing reliance of today's navigators on digital displays and buttons.

John A.
E26 - Pickle; Niantic, CT

I was looking at servicing my Ritchie compass (mainly to get the large air bubble out). I went to Captain's Nautical (link below), which has a full repair shop for compasses, cameras, telescopes, etc... They quoted me about $230 for a complete overhaul (i.e. make it like-new). In my eyes, the compass looked to be in good condition still, and I mainly just wanted the air bubble gone. So, he looked at the diaphragm, said it looked ok, and offered to sell me a small bottle of fluid for $5. I bought the $5 bottle of fluid, topped off the compass, and it seems to have worked.

http://www.captainsnautical.com/

Mark

For later readers, here's more on bubbles in compasses, diaphragm replacement, and so on:

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/entry.php?122-Ritchie-Diaphragm-Replacement