No batteries required. Some are backlit though for night travel.
OS looks like the fish I catch you can just use for bait.  

DB your navigation style is mine exactly. Or should I say usually. This trip I would like to employ a compass and follow a bearing. Learn a new skill where it's not crucial that I be without error. With my usual map reading and occasional GPS usage as a backup I want to get a "feel" for following a route by using a compass bearing.

I hadn't thought about it spinning as per the cheap clip ons I used to use. We'll see, this is a kayakers compass and other boaters use a compass so I suspect the dag-gone thing better work. (Or else my boys will meet with theirs.......sometimes things gets messy )

It is removable but I have no intention of removing it and will take steps to insure that it doesn't want to find a new home without me. I will have a separate compass (probably a silva ranger) to keep on me. And of course a trail of gorp left behind to help me find my way back to the boat.  

Wow, that was fast. Just got my booklet UTM; using your GPS with the UTM map coordinate system booklet.

handy little grid tool was included but unfortunately it is for 1;24,000 scale.
I will order the right one.

I am liking getting the same info from several differing sources. They all intersect and it is helping. Yes, I know it is sort of basic but you know what they say about old dogs. Anyway, this is a cool company if your into maps and such.
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MT,

I have a Kayak compass that I used on a few trips. Mine came with a bungee strap/hook rig so you could mount with the using the deck rigging found on most kayaks.

Since the canoe doesn't have that option, I did a little out of the box rigging and just secured it across my day pack and propped the day pack against my portage packs.

I checked the heading against my Brunton Orienteering compass to make sure nothing in packs was affecting the kayak compass.

 I liked it a lot. I didn't see it bobbing around, it's dampened and obviously your just occasionally checking it and lining  up on a distant point to reach and re-orient yourself.

On big plus in my book, is that unlike a hand held compass or GPS, you don't have to stop paddling to check your course.

Depending on conditions, especially solo, stopping forward momentum can be a real bad thing

PS, Good luck on your medical problem. Getting the extra weight off will serve you well, whatever choice you make.

The rest of us deeply appreciate you for single-handedly keeping the economy going...

Man I'm with you Suncatcher,
I'm actually starting NOW to get ready for my August trip and have been doing fine. My wife was saying something or other about "big strong arms" the other day in church . That comment got her a free dinner  (yea I know I'm getting played like a fiddle).  Now if I can just stop shoveling the groceries in and stuffing my face I should be fine.

I too have been thinking of going lighter. I have evaluated almost every piece of gear I own. Of course one has to decide durability as well as weight. One big change on this trip will be freeze dried food for dinner. I have 4 #10 tins of Mountain house. I will eat them one at a time and will HOPEFULLY add fish with each dinner meal. Two of the selections I can boil chunks of fish and mix them right into the meal. Each Tin weighs about 1lb. Thats good right? 21 day trip and dinners are coming in at 4lbs plus maybe some oil and a little breading. The other advantage is I don't have to worry about some bruin sneaking off with my grub. I have had them hit the freeze dried stuff before and they don't like it......they love snickers bars and oatmeal w/brown sugar and raisins though . Anyway, it might be an option for you to consider.

Your advice to ease up a tad is probably one I should take to heart. I have noticed on long trips there is a certain amount of drive to get a good portion of the route behind you. Plus I like to paddle near shore so that adds to my distance. I get bored way out on the water and instead like the feeling of the land slipping past plus there is so much more to see both on land and in the water. The plan is to get up very early and be on the water right as the sun is coming up and ease around until a couple of hours before dark. Rinse and repeat .

Have you tried Alleve? Stuff works wonders for me. Amazing really. If I've had a tough day I'll take one before bed. A couple of times I've taken two and have awoke in the night both times with unbelievable pain in my injured knee. Not sure what that's about.

Al