Just my .02
For whatever it's worth. I am very familiar with the channel coming out of the back bay. No way would I ever depend on an auto pilot to make the run outta there. Mostly the autopilot is best at maintaining a straight course. There are all kinds of connections to allow you to navigate a course, from the chartplotter, and if everything is working fine, your good. Just keep in mind that every connection you make to it, is another possible error. I have a friend who has all the bells and whistles. Auto pilot is tied in to the chart plotter, and wind instruments and the radar. It works very good, most of the time. But just one little glitch and the whole mess goes to hell. I know that many on this board will disagree, but I have an ST6000, which is set up stand alone. I use it for maintaining a straight course, and for tacking. Nothing more. When ever in the ICW, it is only used to allow me to go down inside, to get a drink or use the head. Just too much traffic and too much shallow water in our area to trust it very long. Offshore I use it to maintain a course, but pretty much never leave the cockpit.
