T&T: AutoPilot usage

[Elliott Bray]

On occasion I watch some threads develop along lines I don't quite agree
with.
Sometimes I can not resist 'sharing' my view(s). 
(I won't get into the '...only TRUE cruising boat...' discussion here)

I have a desktop computer with a 17" Samsung monitor and a Delorme USB GPS
running Nobeltec connected to a Simrad/Robertson handheld AP.
I have used this navigation system from the Chesapeake down to Wilmington,
NC and then up on the Loop through the Trent-Severn down to Mississippi at
the start of the TennTom. Then back up the rivers to Lake Michigan and back
to the Straits of Mackinac. Total running time almost exactly 1,000 hours. 

I can't say for sure, but I expect the AP has steered the boat, either in
Auto mode (course heading controlled by the dial, or Nav mode (following
instructions from the computer-It asks for approval on any course change of
more than 10 deg.) for more than 95% of the time.

Like any tool, there are limitations to what you can expect it to do. 
Yes, a large steel structure (barge, breakwater, low bridge, etc.) will
effect the fluxgate compass and when I get close to one I take the wheel.
Yes, the charts and the GPS may not agree on where the water is. I don't go
into Nav mode there but steer with the thumb wheel.
Yes, someone should be on the bridge in control all the time.


But, there are lots of things that could break on a boat and ruin your day.
I 'hire' the AP/Nav System to steer the boat. It gives me a definite answer
to where I am and how to get to where I want to be next. (Yes, the answer
could be off but that is where I have to judge). 


Just like I have to trust my ground tackle, I have to trust my navigation
system - and in the words of some guy, "...and Verify."



 YMMV

****************
Elliott Bray
M/V Letitia - Gulfstar 44 MC
Cruising Lake Michigan
www.loopcruiser.com
****************