Auto Pilot Malfunction

[Dog Islander]

I took a nice Mother's Day cruise with on a calm, sunny day here in the PNW. Late in the trip I was cruising at 3600 RPM and all of a sudden my auto pilot lost control and the vessel turned to port, but not drastically. It was a bit of a surprise though. I heard, as did my wife, a sound emminating from the vicinity of the auto pilot. As I recall it was a high pitched squeak or squeal. I immediately turned the auto pilot off and took manual control of the helm (not in that order). After I returned to open water I Re-engaged the auto pilot with no issues all the way back to port. I did think the helm felt stiffer but that could be my imagination working. I'll check the hydraulic level once I figure that out but thought I'd run the issue out to the group to hear what my future holds for me. Thanks.

 

[knotflying]

There a few possibilities, one being air in the line. And then there is the proverbial temporary gremlin. Also accidentally hitting a reverse course button can do it. Your best bet may be to see if it happens again and take a moment to look at the screen and your problem may pop out at you, if it is an erroneous push of the wrong button. The symptom you describe has happened to me and that was the problem, fat finger! If you can't figure it out at the next occurrence a phone call to Garmin may help by speaking to support. There are several initial checks that they can bring you through while on the boat so that they can rule out underlying issues.