The Offshore Voyaging Reference Site

Chart Plotters And Autopilots, Never The Twain Should Meet

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On Morgan’s Cloud we don’t hand steer much: approaching and leaving a wharf, anchoring and hauling the anchor, transiting an intricate channel, or in the presence of a lot of other boat traffic; that’s about it. We find that by using our autopilot we are left with more time and focus to navigate, keep a good lookout, and sail the boat. We also find that having a plotter has the same benefits.

But we don’t have the two electronic wonders interfaced to allow the plotter to instruct the autopilot on what course it should steer; we do that manually. Here’s why:


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