For me, a nav station needs a few things to make it work. First it needs ready access to the cockpit. If you are both skipper and navigator, you want to be able to go smoothly from one to the other. If you have a navagator on board, you want to be able to speak to them from the helm, and not through some electronic gizmo.
You need to be able to strap yourself in, or be able to stay put with a minimum of fuss and bother. Hard to plot a course if you are flailing around just trying to stay at the chart table. You need enough room for your active
charts and plenty of storage for your chart inventory.
It should be a place that is out of the direct elements, someplace that does not get soaked when greenies roll aft.
As far as it''s orientation is concerned, that is a matter of personal taste, or tolerance. You don''t want to get queezey at the nav station. To see if one works better for you than the other, try sitting below reading a book, sitting facing forward, and then facing outboard. Try and stay put for a half hour or so. Some sailors respond differently to the two motions these put on the middle ear.
I am not effected by either, but my personal preference is facing forward, at the foot of the companionway, to starboard. I like a curved bench seat with a stout strap on through bolted pad-eyes. There are the "fighting chair"
seats on swivels and poles, but they move too much for my taste.
For what it is worth, I like having a repeater for the sailing instruments along with my
GPS and a below deck
compass at the station.
Linear Mode
