44N70W

I use a Brunton 85 surface mount compass on my Impex Outer Island. Having spent a fair amount of time staring at the thing in fog, I appreciate the large compass card and the large magnification of the lens. Mine is mounted with stainless steel bolts and stainless lock nuts with nylon inserts. Take a magnet with you when you go to the hardware store; some stainless is magnetic. Double check the bolts and washers by running them around the compass to insure that they have no effect on it. Cut the bolts off flush with the ends of the nuts and file them smooth so they do not snag dry bags. I put silicon sealant on both sides of the bolt holes and all around the mounting plate. It doesn't leak. I mounted mine aft of the forward hatch so it would not interfere with sliding my paddles under the bungees forward of the hatch. The deck was not perfectly flat, but it was close enough that tensioning the bolts pulled the deck up tight under the mounting plate.

I ordered my Impex Outer Island custom with the forward bulkhead moved aft 13.5". My inseam is 28". This adds a significant amount of storage space in a low volume boat. I also had them leave out the skeg box. With these two modifications I have enough storage space for tripping. With an earlier boat I considered filling in the space with polystyrene foam. My thought was to make cut outs in the first two inches of foam to store my repair kit, first aid kit, mylar emergency blanket, things that I would only need to access on very rare occasions, but where they would always be there. They would have to be sealed very carefully. I figured I would put a loop of nylon ribbon sticking out of the top of the outer foam layer so that layer could be pulled out easily. The outer surface of foam could be reinforced with a layer of fiberglass cloth and resin for better wear. I never did it, just thought about it.