Today I saw on a really old laser a (3 inch diameter?) circle piece of metal on the deck about half way between the cunningham fairlead, and the cunningham cleat. This was a really old boat. All i remember is that it was build in '75 and had a builder mark/sticker on the bow side of the mast step, not a vanguard mark!
if it has three little "nail heads" it is the mount for a little compass.
I must admit I was one of the dummies who actually used the mount before being taught how not to..
All you needed to do was drill a hole at the front and back of the aluminum base on the compass itself and feed the cunningham line through it. The compass slid back and forth but it read as well sliding around as it read on the metal base.
Alko...There was the incident on my Fireball where the girl caught and bloodied her knee on the empty compass mount ( the compass was at home) and I realized the damn mount was a really dangerous object.
The actual builder of Laser hulls must have bounced aroound a dozen times since 1975. I'm sure the unofficial class historian can tell us who all those builders were and for what years.