I always had an interest in determining location using a sextant but never had the time until now. I found a used Davis MK25 sextant and am getting my feet wet. It is a plastic sextant which seems to be commonly used as a learning or teaching tool. Purchased a book and am gradually getting some idea of what is required. Am starting with the apparent local noon shot to determine lat and long. I am kind of hindered by my inland location so am using an artificial horizon. It is really interesting. I was rather astonished at what is considered acceptable accuracy. It seems that 3 or 4 miles is considered is an acceptable result. I had never thought it through but I can see that in an open ocean in a moving vessel that accuracy would work. I understand that an experienced user can do better than that. All in all it is fun to try.
Using a sextant
- Thread starter oldcodger
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