Garmin autopilot question

What MFD do you have?
You can recalculate the course in the menu of your MFD as far i remember,
at least when i set a course, end AP navigation but course pink line is still active.
Then there is somewhere a recalculate button and hitting it it recalculate the course straight to the existing arrival and does not go back to the original pink line.
Chris

It really depends how for off the original course you get. IF you avoid another boat or obstacle, the system can get you back of course without the dramatic turn you are describing. There is a setting somewhere in the system that helps you to program how aggressive the course corrections are, but I can’t remember where it is, and my boat is still wrapped so I can’t look at it. IIRC it’s a pain to find, but the milder setting does help. IF you are talking about getting significantly off course, then it might be better to cancel your route and reestablish hit from your current coordinates to avoid having to go back and intersect your original course line at it’s closest point (Which is what the autopilot will try to do.

I'm not able to look at mine for a few months but..
If you are "Navigating to a waypoint" and Engaging the autopilot in that mode, then you need to "Restart Navigation"(I think thats the phrase they use)
That will recalculate the course as a strait line from where you are. Otherwise its trying to steer back to the line created when you first hit Engage.

I wish I could look at it but..
There is an Icon on the screen when you are "Navigating" that is a quick way to Stop Navigation.

When you are Navigating to a waypoint, the AP tries to keep you on course within the allowed crosstrack error. There is a setting for that.
The AP will do a lot of steering to keep you in the crosstrack lane
This is all on the MFD, not the GHC.



I tend to not Engage the AP to navigate to a waypoint. I punch in my waypoint, say no to ENGAGE, see the bearing, and steer to it and hit Heading Hold on the GHC.
Because I steered to the heading first, I'm already pointed in the right direction. I can punch the throttles and not get spun around by the AP.

Doing it using Heading Hold, the AP only tries to keep a heading, not a track. Much less steering. But you will get off course to your waypoint if it is far away. You can see the bearing to the waypoint on the MFD and adjust the AP using the GHC to the new bearing once in awhile.


My biggest problem with the AP is forgetting to go to Standby when I come out of gear.

Hit restart go to in navigation option and then reengage the autopilot