Southcoasting Navigators no longer offer a compass repair service, but can supply and fit new magnetic compasses, if required.

Compass fluid.

A broad generalisation would put compass fluid into two camps:

Firstly, grain alcohol – such as gin.

Secondly, oil based – such as white spirit.

However, if these two are mixed the dome will become cloudy and impossible to read. So, a test must be made by extracting a small amount and mixing before topping up.

My recommendation is always to have a compass fully overhauled as the loss of fluid is rarely the sole problem.

I would suggest that B Cooke of Hull or Phoenix Navigation of Aberdeen are good instrument repairers. Both can be found by a Google search.