[scooble]

> So even if your chart spans several hundreds of miles, the latitude scale remains constant across that distance regardless of the distortions of the projection.

I don't believe that is correct. The latitude scale of a Mercator projection chart will not be constant because the projection introduces some distortion. So 1NM at the top of the chart will not be the same distance as 1NM at the bottom of the chart. For this reason, you should always place your dividers roughly in the area you are going to be sailing in.

As I recall from my Yachtmaster course, the difference is not usually that great for day to day stuff, but for planning long passages on small scale charts it could be a significant error.