No one really loves a compression post, as is evident from how heavily it's advertised when a design doesn't have one. So if you're stuck with one, it ought to look good.

We made a new compression post from laminated doug fir, with three coats of varnish. The fore edge has a groove in it for the wiring Skookum has to run up (solar panel wiring and VHF).

The top base is mahogany. It's got a routed square hole in it that a plug in the top of the post fits into. There's a hole drilled in it, then a groove cut across the very top. The wiring goes up the groove in the post, through the hole in the top pieces, then turns out the groove cut in it and on to the roof. That keeps it under the ceiling and out of sight.

The base is oak. The post inserts in the top, then levers into the bottom base. A cleat secures it in the bottom base.

What the post truly needs, obviously, is a kerosene lantern mounted on it. Which I'd get to enjoy for about a half hour before asphyxiation.