Garmin Boat Heading and Track not lining up.

R

Rebel112r

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 26, 2021
Messages
117
Fluid Motion Model
R-27 (Outboard)
Non-Fluid Motion Model
North Pacific 42(SOLD)
Vessel Name
Rogue
What is procedeure for getting boat icon on display to align with heading?
 
Is the alignment difference due to wind and current? Is it the boat icon might be at an angle ( such as 3 deg difference) to stay to keep the boat on track? Not sure if this is your issue.
 
Did this suddenly start happening? The first step is to go into the menu on the autopilot and run through the Wizards, both dockside and on water. That will most likely correct your issue. It could otherwise be a wrong menu selection regarding the source for the boat heading, or something else like magnetic interference or a bad reactor compass. If you need help navigating the Wizards, you can call the Garmin 800 number and a tech will walk you through all the steps while you're at the boat (M-F only). Let us know if the Wizards help.
 
Rebel112r said:
What is procedeure for getting boat icon on display to align with heading?
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Did this misalignment happen suddenly? If so, look for a magnetic item placed near the heading sensor. It’s happened to me several times. Twice it was a magnetic tip screwdriver inadvertently laid on a seat and the other time it was a camera bag laid on the same seat.

If that’s not the problem and the autopilot is a Garmin, run the Sea Trial Wizard and complete the compass calibration portion. If the auto pilot is handling the boat satisfactorily, it is not necessary to complete the entire Sea Trial Wizard and it is not necessary to run the Dockside Wizard
 
Rebel112r said:
What is procedeure for getting boat icon on display to align with heading?
Click to expand...
It's hard to trouble shoot your issue without more information but I'll share my experience in the interest of helping as I recently had a similar issue. For me, it was at first intermittent, then very consistently 20 degrees off. The misalignment is due to a difference between Course over ground (COG) from GPS vs the compass heading which is a dedicated sensor and indicates your boat icon (at least that is how my boat is configured). There may be interference (aka metal within 6 feet) of that sensor, or it may be misaligned. FWIW, I couldn't find a procedure to calibrate the compass. I will also note that current and wind will naturally impact the boat especially at slower speeds as I go so hard to know how bad your situation is or how consistent over a variety of cruises in different situations.

I recommend first investigating if you have interference. FWIW, I couldn't find the boat compass on my 2017 R31S to validate I didn't have interference.... Considering I had a consistent 20 degree offset (after several cruises this summer), I ended up implementing (what I would call) a band aid solution by manually adjusting the heading offset on my boat (I couldn't find a Garmin support article to link to this idea, just found it in the settings). That solved the problem for me so far ... (only done two cruises since, from Des Moines -> Port of Poulsbo and Des Moines to Gig Harbor with no issues). I have a diesel so I'm cruising at 7-8 knots with wind and current influencing my COG but after my adjustment, the heading, radar, and autopilot are significantly more aligned than they were previously.

Hope that helps. Happy troubleshooting

Best
Jeremy
 
Submariner said:
Your heading sensor needs to be re-calibrated. It's part of the Autopilot configuration.
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Oh this is interesting. I was not aware you could re-calibrate the compass via the Autopilot. I'll dig into this the next time out at my boat.
 
JeremyT said:
Oh this is interesting. I was not aware you could re-calibrate the compass via the Autopilot. I'll dig into this the next time out at my boat.
Click to expand...

The Autopilot has a heading sensor. If it's out of calibration, you'll appear to crab walk on the screen or the chartplotter map will appear rotated slightly and the land on the chart won't align with where radar indicates land is at. If it's only slightly off, it could be wind or current and may be normal.
 
My Garmin system is brand new. The Garmin "Compass" is off compared to the Spirit compass by about 20 degs. My boat cartoon is sideways under 7 mph - then straightens out beyond 7 mph.
I need to find a half hour and an open stretch of water on a wave-less day and perform the Wizard - should fix it and back to about a 7 degs deviation.
That's my story - I think you have the same issue I have.
 
AGLyme said:
My Garmin system is brand new. The Garmin "Compass" is off compared to the Spirit compass by about 20 degs. My boat cartoon is sideways under 7 mph - then straightens out beyond 7 mph.
I need to find a half hour and an open stretch of water on a wave-less day and perform the Wizard - should fix it and back to about a 7 degs deviation.
That's my story - I think you have the same issue I have.
Click to expand...

I've had to calibrate my fixed compass (the compass in water that sits on the dash). There's some screws on the bottom of it to adjust it. There's a compass app for my iPhone that I use to determine which one is accurate. I also have two heading sensors, the Garmin autopilot and the Garmin 24XD GPS receiver/Heading sensor I installed. When I saw that both heading sensors were within a couple degrees of themselves, but my dash compass was over 20 degrees off... I pulled out my iPhone compass and realized the two heading sensors were correct. Not saying this is your issue. Just say'ing, best to trust but verify. 🙂
 
Thanks SubM... PS, I live near Groton... thanks, Andrew
 
AGLyme said:
Thanks SubM... PS, I live near Groton... thanks, Andrew
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Rotten Groton!! Ha! (and New London, CT). Fun times... 😎

My first boat, USS Tinosa, SSN 606 was stationed in New London and I did Submarine school in Groton.
 
I don’t know specifically in Groton but keep compass declination (difference between magnetic and true north) in mind when comparing the magnetic compass and the GPS one. The spirit compass would show magnetic north unless you manually move the bezel. The GPS should show true north. In Seattle, where I am, declination is about 15 degrees east. I think on the east coast it may be almost the same, but west not east. As we rely on all the electronics it’s easy to forget that if we have to go back to charts and magnets everything changes.
 
Jesperjo said:
The spirit compass would show magnetic north unless you manually move the bezel. The GPS should show true north.
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The GPS will show magnetic or true depending how it is configured by the user. Just make sure that all electronics are set to use the same reference, magnetic or true. Personally, I use magnetic.
 
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