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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: C. Plath Sextant - St. Augustine Lighthouse Museum
From: Denis Vannier
Date: 2024 Dec 30, 15:52 -0800
From: Denis Vannier
Date: 2024 Dec 30, 15:52 -0800
Frank,
Similarly, the current French CPI sextants (https://www.cpi-meca.com/marine) and the German Freiberger models (https://fpm.de/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&view=category&virtuemart_category_id=2&Itemid=264&lang=en) don't have a vernier on their micrometer drums either. I've never had any issue estimating the tenths of minutes on my own Freiberger "Yacht" sextant, and I've had very good accuracy with it, including for lunars. Like you, I don't think there's much benefit to a vernier. In fact, I find I'm usually slower reading the vernier on my other sextant than I am in estimating the tenths on my Freiberger...
Denis
