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Hello Paul - not sure if your reply was directed to me or Alex, but I definitely agree that trying to get a Coutinho sextant aligned is quite a challenge.  I have gotten some very good shots with my Tamaya Coutinho on fairly bright objects (think Sun, Moon, Jupiter, Venus, Sirius) by using time averaging and freehanding the sextant but I do get reasonably good LOPs even with a single quick shot - not biscuit toss distance like I get with averaging but good enough for "this patch of ocean."

One trick I use is to put one of the legs onto a tripod.  This takes out your upper body sway.

The electrics on mine were non-salvageable so I created bubble and scale illumination using LEDs and battery power to take night time shots.

I also did make new mirrors for mine - the original ones were fine for the Sun and Moon but a bit hopeless for less bright objects.

I am quite intrigued by the thought that the Tamaya was used on submarines.  I had never heard that but would think that the conning tower height is higher than a small boat's weather deck.

I also have played with the Plath single bubble attachment and found that I struggled with it more than with the Countinho double-bubble.  I have no idea why as the single-bubble should be easier.

-- Art