L9X25

I just installed a Ritchie S-87W compass on my 98 Velocity 24. I chose the S-87 because it was a surface mount and I wanted to keep the compass as far away from the helm pump (and everything else metal) as possible. Before installing it I checked to see if anything was influencing the compass at the intended install point and everything seemed fine. I permanently attached it and went out. The compass remained at the same heading (330) for the majority of the day, regardless of the direction the boat was traveling! It was free to move or spin but acts as if something on the boat is influencing it terribly now. I checked all of the mounting screws (all stainless) and none of them had any influence on the compass. It must just be a coincidence that the item influencing the compass was exactly in line with where I installed it. It prefers to read 330 for what that is worth.

Anybody have similar experiences and possible solutions??

Thanks

L9X25

Got the problem resolved ... the compass was being affected by stereo speakers that were pretty far away. From my experiences, you cannot have ANY speakers anywhere near the compass without causing significant error. One speaker was nearly 3ft away and directly below the compass and was causing errors that the internal compensation system could not correct.

Now, where to relocate those speakers...