self driving boats

[Dave R]

Originally Posted by thinkxingu

I'm intrigued by auto-pilot on a consumer level boat. How does it adjust for chop? Obstacles? Or does it just adjust steering and the driver needs to be alert and adjust for those things? If the latter, I think I might become complacent from the break and lose track...

Sent from my SM-G950U using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

It has to be connected to a flux gate heading compass for a heading, and if you want to follow a route, a GPS too. If the boat gets off course or off heading, it applies opposite rudder to compensate. Mine supposedly has a self-learning algorithm that adjusts the gain of the adjustments based on the reaction time of the boat and it apparently does this all the time so that in rougher water, it will make more aggressive corrections. Following seas and quartering seas seem to challenge it more than head seas or beam seas, but it does a better job of holding a course than I can do.

What I have found is that I can concentrate more on keeping watch as I am not making constant course corrections AND I don't get nearly as fatigued as I used to get on long passages. I think it has made me safer. This year, I did double digit five-hour to ten-hour passages (50 to 120 nautical miles each) on my "new" boat and that's something I would have never done in my old boat. That said, I routinely covered those distances in my old boat, but at three times the speed, so 1/3 the time and a lot less fatigue.

I'm not sure I'd bother installing auto-pilot on a Winni boat unless I was using it to cross the length of the lake routinely at <11 knots.