I was driving to the hardware store this morning, thinking about some kayaking trips I'd like to make and realizing that I really should have a good compass on my boats and not wanting to get compasses for all 3 boats and not wanting to mount compasses on the wood decks (in spite of some of the very nice compass installations I've seen here), and how big a compass has to be to read it clearly once it's spaced away by the distance of a long cockpit and several rows of deck bungees and not really liking the idea of a temporary, removable compass mount and the difficulty of using a hand-held compass on the water in rough conditions and ... and ... and ...

Has anyone thought about the idea of a hat-mounted compass with a "heads-up" display on the visor?. What about chip-based technology rather than the traditional floating magnet compass? The mounting position would, for most of us, eliminate the possibility of being too close to large metallic objects in the kayak. I'll bet that I can put my hat on plus or minus less degrees than the accuracy with which I can paddle a kayak, especially since you can calibrate the hat with a traditional compass.

You could take bearings without needing to turn the boat; all you would need to do is turn your head to look at the object. To maintain a course you'd align your nose with the bow of the kayak.