I'm new at all this, but by the looks of your feet, it seems you're doing it right! I just have a big ol red Ritchie compass to the right of the companion way. Today when I was messing about, I went inside to get out of the rain for a second and was wishing I had a compass with me. Jazz On Thu, Mar 3, 2016 at 7:10 PM, David Grah via montgomery_boats < montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> wrote:
I thought I would share the compass solution I selected for my Montgomery 15. Last summer we spend a few days navigating in and out of fog on a unfamiliar lake with plenty of rocks and islands to run into, a chart with not much detail, and not many GPS points to navigate by. I used a very simple compass intended, I think for kayaks (a Ritchie Navigation SportAbout Hand Bearing Compass http://www.westmarine.com/buy/ritchie-navigation--sportabout-hand-bearing-co...). It worked but only if kept level and, since there were no handy level surfaces nearby, I had to hold it to use it and that complicated my navigational process. Last fall I queired this group for suggestions on better options and got a lot of good ideas. The ones that appealed to me the most were a Richie V-57.2 Explorer Compass https://www.ritchienavigation.com/research-compasses/compass-by-series/explo... mounted on a drop board and Plastimo compass http://www.westmarine.com/buy/plastimo--iris-100-universal-compass--254666 mounted somewhere (but also with the ability to take it off and take sightings with it). I ordered both but ended up using the Plastimo mounted with bungie on the back of the sliding hatch. I've only tried it once but am happy with it. I am keeping the Richie because it is a really nice compass and I will probably use for something it at some point.
I like that I mounted the Plastimo in a good spot to easily look at while navigating while at the tiller and like that I can also take it off and lay it on the cockpit bench behind me and navigate looking backward while I am leaning against the back of the cabin (I know it is sort of bad to do this, but still enjoy relaxing like that). I secure the compass with a thin elastic cord through two holes in the hatch and routed around plastic screws and nuts I added to the compass. It stays put and isn't bothered if you bump it going in and out of the cabin. See (hopefully) attached photos. David GrahBishop CaliforniaMontgomery 15 - Sky