An odd thing happened a couple of days ago. I turned on my Garmin 12XL GPS unit to check it out and discovered that it would no longer retain data when turned off. It acts as if the lithium backup battery is no longer working. I don't know why, unless it had something to do with the immersion test I gave it a few months ago. Fortunately, I was able to drive across town to the Boat/US store where I bought it and exchange it for a new one. The exchange took about five minutes -- not even any paperwork. The moral, if anyone here needs it, is that one should never depend on a GPS unit as one's sole means of navigation. Learn to use a compass and chart, and practice your dead reckoning skills. Also, be aware of the limitations of your compass. I installed a new Ritchie X-10 compass on my wife's Romany Tuesday, and after an hour or more spent trying to compensate it properly, I'm still not certain it is accurate within 10 degrees in some directions. Part of the problem is that I did not replace the mount from the old compass (which was installed by the dealer), and I think that the original screws are slightly magnetic. After our trip this weekend I will replace them with brass screws and try again. Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri May 22 1998 - 08:46:28 PDT
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