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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: C.Plath Yachtsman Sextant
From: Stephen N.G. Davies
Date: 2017 Mar 13, 09:21 +0800
From: Stephen N.G. Davies
Date: 2017 Mar 13, 09:21 +0800
Thanks all for those replies - and to Bill Morris for the low down on the Freiberger. I don’t think my yottigation ever tested for high accuracy. Mine was used on 33’ and 30’ yachts racing offshore which bounce around in the mildest chop, so hardly ideal platforms for precision observations. Landfalls after 600 miles were always good to within <5 miles, so good enough, and if that’s what the sextant was designed for, then it did the job.
S
Dr Stephen Davies
c/o Department of Real Estate and Construction
EH103, Eliot Hall
University of Hong Kong
Office: (852) 2219 4089
Mobile: (852) 6683 3754
stephen.davies79@gmail.com
daiwaisi@hku.hk
c/o Department of Real Estate and Construction
EH103, Eliot Hall
University of Hong Kong
Office: (852) 2219 4089
Mobile: (852) 6683 3754
stephen.davies79@gmail.com
daiwaisi@hku.hk
On 13 Mar 2017, at 7:28 AM, Bill Morris <NoReply_Morris@fer3.com> wrote:Stephen, I reviewed the Freiberger yacht sextant's structure here: https://sextantbook.com/?s=Freiberger+yacht+sextant. There are one or two maintenance issues and the horizon shades are at risk when returning it to its case. There is nothing to choose between the fields of view, but I have a preference for half silvered horizon mirrors, as in the Plath instrument, rather than the full silvered mirrors of the Freiberger, for reasons explained in the blog post. I haven't calibrated my Plath yacht sextant (it came to me without its box) but I am prepared to bet that Mr Plath would not have let it out of the factory with the errors that the Freiberger has, though for yachting use they probably don't much matter.
Bill Morris
Pukenui
New Zealand
