Well a couple of bits here where people do not know how to do things:-
I find the dog-house system at each reporting point to be a bit convoluted though. Drawing it shrouds detail on the chart that I don't want to be obscured.
. If it shrouds detail then you are drawing it too close to track! An inch or so away is 10 miles on a half mil - if you need detail that far out there is something wrong!
Planned altitude should be above MSA - if you are below MSA then you should have eyes out VFR anyway...
Why should it be above MSA? This is VFR nav, you might have a 3000' mast 5 miles off track, but does not mean you cannot plan to fly at 2,500, yes eyes should be outside, but to navigate you still need to look inside at times, can be at a GPS or a map, but if a map you want to have it marked so you can look down and see the important info at a glance, and this is where the doghouse can help. MSA needs to be marked down and known, but this is to climb to if you cannot keep VFR, not necessarily what you plan to.