Garmin 5212 "Guide To" using Autopilot

[baz]

Yesterday I was trying out and experimenting with my Garmin 5212 + Autopilot on our way from Edmonds to Port Ludlow and back. BTW -- I had a Garmin G2 Vision card for the Puget Sound inserted.

I chose Port Ludlow as my destination and then selected "Guide To" and after a short course calculation the Garmin asked to engage the Autopilot, which I did.

All was well and the boat started steering via the Autopilot.

Along the way I had to put the Autopilot in "Standby" mode to navigate around a tug towing a huge barge. After having done this I engaged the Autopilot again thinking it would resume auto navigation to my selected destination. However, it did not do this!!!!!

I found that I needed to reprogram the Garmin 5212 and reset the destination -> "Guide To" -> Engage Autopilot to have the boat auto navigate again.

Am I missing something here?
Should the Autopilot have resumed its auto navigation when taking it out of "Standby" and re-engaing it ?
Is there a problem with my Garmin 5212 + G2 Vision card + Autopilot ?

Another question... Our Autopilot has the Shadow Drive feature. Rather than manually placing the Autopilot in Standby mode to maneuver around the tug+barge could I have simply taken control of the steering with the Shadow Drive automatically disengaging the Autopilot, and then after the tug+barge was no longer a threat to me let go of the steering and allow the Autopilot to automatically regain control and continue steering toward the destination ? I know this works if I'm using the Autopilot to follow a specific heading rather than Guiding To a destination.

Thanks for any feedback in advance. 🙂

BTW - The auto navigation is a wonderful feature and allows the Captain to relax and enjoy the surroundings. 😉

Yesterday was glorious weather with light winds and a choppy sea at times. I had all 4 wipers going at times to clear the spray off the glass. The R25 handled beautifully and gave one confidence it could take the seas and swells. My wife Gill, daughter Tanya and her daughter Camille were on board. Stroller stowed securely in cockpit leaving plenty of room to sit outside and enjoy the ride. Tanya's husband Morgan had taken off on Friday along with two fellas for the weekend sailing in their 27' from Seattle up to Port Townsend and back. They had stopped over at Port Ludlow Saturday so we decided to pay them a surprise visit. 😉

Here are a few pics.

Tanya + Camille

Camille + Tanya

Tanya and Camille enjoying the ride in cockpit. Not easy to find a life jacket for a 4 month old baby girl !!!

Morgan, Tanya and Andy at dock alongside our R25 at Port Ludlow. The Port was kind enough to allow us to dock just east of the fuel station for a few hours as all their slips were fully occupied. My daughter somehow twisted the Port's official arm.... 😉

Camille enjoyed the ride in forward cabin. The rocking and thumping motion kept her asleep without issues. She's getting her sea legs early on in life. 😀

 

[captain's cat]

Nice looking bunch!!

As soon as you put it on "standby", it quit going to where you had it set.

The shadow drive would have let it resume its course to your destination after you got done steering around the obstruction.

Charlie

 

[sportner]

There is nothing wrong with your autopilot, mine works the same way. I think the only way to maintain your "guide to" destination is to use your shadow drive. Personally, I just re-enter the navigation "guide to" and continue on. You are right, it is an amazing tool and makes your journey much more enjoyable. There may be others that can add their knowledge with the autopilot, all help is appreciated.

 

[baz]

There is nothing wrong with your autopilot, mine works the same way. I think the only way to maintain your "guide to" destination is to use your shadow drive. Personally, I just re-enter the navigation "guide to" and continue on. You are right, it is an amazing tool and makes your journey much more enjoyable. There may be others that can add their knowledge with the autopilot, all help is appreciated.

Well, I will certainly try the 'shadow drive' feature to see if that actually works in this situation. Thanks Charlie and Sportner for your feedback. 🙂

 

[Zuma]

Camille looks snug as a bug in a rug in the v-berth. Cute pics!

 

[kim&tim]

Once you have put your auto pilot on standby and manually altered your original course, click on the navigation icon and you will see that one of the options is to "recalculate". By pressing on this it will re-plot your course without having to re-enter your original destination.It will then ask you if you want to engage your auto-pilot.
Hope you find this helpful.

Tim

 

[yuukis]

If you have to go to "standby" or use shadow drive and want to return to your "Guided route", click the middle button on your auto drive, which is MENU, and the top option is "selected route"(or something like that), click the middle button again, which is "select" and it returns you to your route. So, basically, to get back to your route, push the middle button twice on the auto pilot and it steers you back to your course.
Charlie

 

[baz]

Tim & Charlie:

Thanks for the additional info. I will try these methods out on Thursday on my way to Port Townsend from Edmonds. 🙂

 

[baz]

Camille looks snug as a bug in a rug in the v-berth. Cute pics!

Yes our new memory foam mattress got a good workout. 😉 My wife Gill also likes the mattress as it adds quite a bit more softness for the body etc. I used an electric carving knife to shape it which was like cutting through butter. As I was cutting it on our dock another boater came up and said -- "I wish I had cut my mattress out the same way as I butchered mine and it looks awful." 😀 😉 The electric knife method was a tip I picked up from this forum and it worked marvelously. :idea: