Using waypoints / autopilot

On several occasions I have plotted waypoint courses thru the San Juan and Gulf Islands, amongst other places. Once underway I often over-ride the AP and modify the waypoints as I have not yet mastered the technique or secret to plotting a course which is practical. Typically I find my waypoint miles off shore which if followed would result in wasted time and fuel. Zooming in to place each waypoint is a challenge as the big picture is lost. Is there a way to plot waypoints effectively? or does everyone deal with this?

Never used a waypoint.

Have often plotted waypoints....and used them both extensively onboard many vessels using autopilot to do searches/planned patterns...plus helicopters doing precise searches.

What are you plotting them on? They should be within meters of what you want.

Miles off? Maybe a tenth or two. You can try using more waypoints nearer to landmarks, depth contours, or picking the lat/lon off a paper chart. MapTech chart kits have key waypoints already plotted.

Perhaps I was not clear. The autopilot takes me precisely to the waypoint, that is not a problem.
My problem is, for example, if I were to steer a course it would be time and fuel efficient. When I place waypoints on the chartplotter I am never able to place them where I would like to go. Perhaps it just takes practice in waypoint plotting to get the desired route.

I don't use way points. I steer the autopilot two ways:


1. I use the heading projection arrow to line it up where I want to go.


2. For longer legs where the projection arrow is too short, I advance the pointer to where I want to end up. Then I read the bearing from the ship to that point. I then set the autopilot's course to match up with that bearing. As I get closer I go back to #1 to fine tune it.


David

What type of plotter do you have? Many makers offer a companion program you can use on your PC then transfer waypoints to your plotter, as well as from other PC programs like OPNCpn, Coastal Explorer, MacENC.

I take it your plotter has a very small screen.

I use waypoints a lot, for a variety of purposes, but other than open ocean, don't like using the GPS based auto-nav function. I liked lining the course up to the next way point and tweaking the AP as we went along.

If you put a waypoint where it needs to be and you set an autopilot to steer there...... there is no more efficient way.


now...there are plenty of times that it is more work than just dialing in a heading and letting an AP hold a course.


HOW are you setting the waypoints that they aren't exactly where you want them?

psneeld said:

If you put a waypoint where it needs to be and you set an autopilot to steer there...... there is no more efficient way.
?

Click to expand...

My wife much prefers using the increase or decrease in XTE to move the AP wheel in areas of tidal current. Kinda like sailing to hit a mark, drift counts.

When plotting your course zoom in closer then set the waypoint. If you leave the plotter zoomed out, you're wayupoints will be close, but not close enough for precision piloting.

You just need more practice plotting the way points. The boat goes where you tell it to go, you're just not telling it where you really want it to go.

psneeld says;
"If you put a waypoint where it needs to be and you set an autopilot to steer there...... there is no more efficient way."
Only if you're going in a straight line from point A to B.

ksanders said:

When plotting your course zoom in closer then set the waypoint. If you leave the plotter zoomed out, you're waypoints will be close, but not close enough for precision piloting.

Click to expand...

That's the key! Not only will it put the waypoint exactly where you want it but it also allows a much closer inspection of the course for obstacles, shallow water, etc. Always set your waypoint when zoomed in.

BandB said:

You just need more practice plotting the way points. The boat goes where you tell it to go, you're just not telling it where you really want it to go.

Click to expand...

What B said. As you do it more you will get better at it. I will often edit and move my way point as I get close to the spot and fine tune where I want it. You can also just set a waypoint at your current location.

Just don't be like the PO of my boat. He really liked his waypoints! This is his plotter navcard. Can't see the chart for all the waypoints.

I use waypoints a lot. The waypoints around the waters that I cruise frequently are well refined which makes them very useful.

I plot my waypoints/route, then zoom in and add more for turns, check for hazards, and move others to get closer to where I expected to be. I plan routes at home using Coastal Explorer and save the routes on dropbox. My onboard computer is also connected to dropbox so when I turn it on, it loads the latest route file, that is then read by Coastal Explorer. No using flash drives or wifi syncing necessary. I always have a route on my screen. It comes in especially handy when visibility is reduced, sometimes unexpectedly with fog here in the PNW.

Depending on your plotter, I just learned a nice trick that the broker showed me on the sea trial. He spilt his page in half. On the left side is a zoomed in, about 1nm, on the righ side is a panel that is zoomed out to about 12nm.

I have been using this type of chart plotter for a long time but never thought to try it. It is great. Easy to switch back and forth in the active pane. It also makes setting and refining waypoint easy.

manyboats said:

psneeld says;
"If you put a waypoint where it needs to be and you set an autopilot to steer there...... there is no more efficient way."
Only if you're going in a straight line from point A to B.

Click to expand...

You put another waypoint wherever you don't want to continue in that line. So you have point A to B to C to D to E to F to G to H to I to J to K to L to M.

petdoc4u said:

Perhaps I was not clear. The autopilot takes me precisely to the waypoint, that is not a problem.
My problem is, for example, if I were to steer a course it would be time and fuel efficient. When I place waypoints on the chartplotter I am never able to place them where I would like to go. Perhaps it just takes practice in waypoint plotting to get the desired route.

Click to expand...

Place your point generally with your plotter zoomed out then zoom in to place it more precisely.

When using an electronic plotter you need to zoom in and out along your intended route to make sure your plotted route doesn't take you through some kind of hazard that may not show up on all zoom levels.

manyboats said:

psneeld says;
"If you put a waypoint where it needs to be and you set an autopilot to steer there...... there is no more efficient way."
Only if you're going in a straight line from point A to B.

Click to expand...

Duh.....for never using them, you need to commentl?

OP.....just ask around for someone familiar with your chart plotter setup....I am sure they migh t help.

manyboats said:

psneeld says;
"If you put a waypoint where it needs to be and you set an autopilot to steer there...... there is no more efficient way."
Only if you're going in a straight line from point A to B.

Click to expand...

Ah, Eric, you are always going in a straight line between one way point and the next.

Capt.Bill11 said:

Ah, Eric, you are always going in a straight line between one way point and the next.

Click to expand...

The way point is a series of straight lines of course. But the shortest distance between two points that require numerous course changes is a curved line. Following waypoints if not excessive in number will be a greater distance than an ideal curved line route ... what I do not using way points. Not for that reason though.

manyboats said:

The way point is a series of straight lines of course. But the shortest distance between two points that require numerous course changes is a curved line. Following waypoints if not excessive in number will be a greater distance than an ideal curved line route ... what I do not using way points. Not for that reason though.

Click to expand...

There are systems that can curve the routes.

Now, I'm sure you're convinced though that you can do the perfect curve. You can't even do a straight line as well as an autopilot can. Perhaps some of the time you'll save some minor distance in your route but at a lot of effort expended. Not an issue perhaps if you don't cruise long distances, but then your savings will be minuscule. As to your statement that you achieve "an ideal curved line route", dream on. Neither you nor anyone else here is capable of doing that.

You abhor all technology that you have no experience with. That's fine for you, but misleading to others trying to make choices.

BanB,
I'm out to enjoy myself.
Perfection not needed.
"Systems that can curve the routes" .... that does sound interesting.

manyboats said:

BanB,
I'm out to enjoy myself.
Perfection not needed.
"Systems that can curve the routes" .... that does sound interesting.

Click to expand...

But you just claimed you could achieve perfection. That was your argument against waypoints.

I quote: Following waypoints if not excessive in number will be a greater distance than an ideal curved line route ... what I do not using way points.

I find entering WPs on MFDs tedious compared to using Coastal Explorer on a laptop. I build the course there on a 15" screen with a mouse and fast panning and zooming, and start the route. Then tell the AP to accept steering instructions. Under way I might nudge a WP a bit, but the AP doesn't have to know - it doesn't care about WPs.


Keith

The only curved line that is shorter than a straight line in navigation is a great circle route.

I doubt many here run that many great circle routes, if at all.

Unless one is talking cutting a corner, and then depending on the course change, you can plot way points close enough to the turn radius that the boats turn is essentially "cutting the corner"......thus really no less efficient than a hand judged turn accomplishing the same thing.

Now it may just be what the OP is having an issue with. If his chart doesn't zoom in enough for a small radius of way points rounding an island , that one way point that forms an acute angle is way out of the way and hand steering is sort of the answer whether by wheel or making the turn with the autopilot.

So petdoc4u, yes you need to zoom in closer with a different chart or live with the "cutting corners" by hand.

I plot all my routes on the computer. I take some time in doing that so as to get the shortest and safest route. I never move the boat without the route in the plotter. If alternate routes are a possibility, I plot on the computer and up load to the plotter in advance.

Only one time have I had to plot a route on the plotter. We were in the Bahamas and were anchored off of Great Sale Cay in the Abacos. The winds were from the south and being anchored on the south side of the Cay it was a bumpy anchorage. So I reviewed our location on the plotter and found a cove on the western side of the Cay that offered some protection from the south wind. I plotted a route to the cove avoiding a shoal area on the way.

It was a much quieter anchorage. I wasn't the only who thought so as there were 6-7 other boats already there.

Brings to my mind the number one thing that I emphasize to most as beneficial regardless of chart systems. That is larger monitors/screens. The problems people are having in waypoints and the reason many find computers and other resources more useful, is the lack of space and inability to zoom in to detail and maintain all they need on the screen. It can be the nicest plotter software in the world but if you handicap it with a small screen you never get the full benefit.

I'd love to have room for a large screen on my chartplotter, but I live with a 7" screen. As many have said, plot a few waypoints while zoomed out, then zoom in and adjust, often adding a few more to mark the route through trickier places. Often more than one zoom in and out. It's an iterative process, but to me worth the effort.

Having waypoints that I'm sure will mark a safe course (even though I don't always follow them exactly), and the chartplotter set to show "course up" so that it more or less matches what the radar shows, and what I see through the windshield, reduces confusion.