self driving boats

TiltonBB · 09-19-2019, 08:11 AM

Many years ago, with a group of friends, we rented a 40 foot trawler style boat with a 15 foot beam. The downside was it had a single 120 HP diesel, no thrusters, and top speed was about 6 knots. It was a joy to dock!

The upside was the autopilot. It held the course well and I am sure the units of today are a lot better.

On a smooth clear July day we left Hyannis for Nantucket and knew it would be about 4 hours of slow boating. Once we set the autopilot we were all in the back of the boat playing cards. We only had to look out every 1/2 hour or so, see that there was nothing in our area, or headed our way, for at least five miles (or as far as we could see) and go back to the game. It worked very well, even with the older technology.

09-19-2019, 08:11 AM	#1
TiltonBB Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Gilford, NH and Florida Posts: 3,162 Thanks: 750 Thanked 2,277 Times in 986 Posts	Many years ago, with a group of friends, we rented a 40 foot trawler style boat with a 15 foot beam. The downside was it had a single 120 HP diesel, no thrusters, and top speed was about 6 knots. It was a joy to dock! The upside was the autopilot. It held the course well and I am sure the units of today are a lot better. On a smooth clear July day we left Hyannis for Nantucket and knew it would be about 4 hours of slow boating. Once we set the autopilot we were all in the back of the boat playing cards. We only had to look out every 1/2 hour or so, see that there was nothing in our area, or headed our way, for at least five miles (or as far as we could see) and go back to the game. It worked very well, even with the older technology.