Marine technicians lament: the electronic autonomy is not working and somehow its my fault

Autonomous systems are part of modern boats, like it or not. Some boaters will stay away from them like the plague, seen as the complete antithesis of everything representative of boating, the escapism, feeling of control without electronics beeping and telling what to do all the time. Autonomy has been part of other parts of our day to day life for a long time, aviation and the automotive sector are just two examples. Both have something in common with boats, there is still a need to have a human at the helm, in case the systems should fail or simply wanting to take manual control.

Useful stuff

I am firmly in the middle ground on this, I would not pay extra to have autonomous systems on my own boat, I like to be able to control things just the way I like them, plus, I am more fond of older boats and somehow for me incorporating too many modernity's just does not feel right.

In playing devils advocate, there are some systems that are genuinely useful, autorouting for example, where are we starting? where are we finishing? the plotter with its chart card work out the route far faster than I can, furthermore, it can integrated to work with autopilot, get to our start point, engage autopilot and it will follow the route previously worked out, it does this with fiendish accuracy, I am free at any point to take over, then if I want go back to auto.

Some other examples include cruise control, controlled by GPS, the electronics allowing you to control speeds at 0.1 knots at a time, more accurate than I will ever be adjusting the throttle by hand, modern surf and wakeboard boats that can control launch profiles, wave forms, speeds and ballast, I have tried a few of these, I have to admit they work like magic, the programming and sensors all working in harmony, turning what can be tricky into something easy.

Can live without

Now, how about some systems that are automated but, perhaps unnecessarily so, I am talking about trim and tabs. These are the systems that control the angle fore and aft (trim of outdrives or outboards), then side to side (trim tabs, common to all drive systems). Why are these more of a hinderance? let me give you a scenario that I have been through;

Telephone call comes in, message sent to the service department, "boat X, trim is not working", okay, contact client and find out it is the automated part that does not seem to be working, no problem, it does not stop the boat from being used (we´ll get to that), boat added to the work list, but flagged as low priority. Fast forward to the next day, a scathing email was received, "what sort of service is this", "I cannot use my boat", I am fairly certain lawyers were mentioned.

A telephone call to an angry customer is never a pleasant experience, but, during said conversation, it was deduced that the systems were not stuck and worked correctly in their manual mode (this part had already been confirmed by a tech from the local dealer), the boat could be used and enjoyed, the customer was having none of it, they had paid to have these extra systems and they wanted them working pronto and we were expected to leap into action.

I called the local dealer to speak about the problem, they did not have time or the software to make full diagnosis, they just confirmed everything went up and down correctly when you pushed the buttons, just the automatic button did not do anything, it was flashing an error code, during our brief chat, as they had met the client on board as they had no keys for the boat, they informed me of a hugely important piece of information, the boat works fine and can be used as intended, its the owner who cannot use the boat as they are unable to navigate without the assistance of the automatic systems.

I know of similar instances where owners were left unable to use their boats because the joystick for docking did not work or the bow thruster did not work, not so much automated systems but added "helps", they should not stop an owner using their boat, I do understand that when the thruster packs up, on a larger boat, it can be a handful when the wind is blowing, but is not really a cause for concern on a 25 footer.

Summary

I am not sure what exactly would be the right conclusion, the inability to use your boat because of one non critical system seems wrong, perhaps a few lessons on manual control of these systems would be a good start. Some more management of boatowner expectations? How about just saying no to these types of extras, cutting the cord, sticking two fingers up at technology? Like the film quote (paraphrased) "We don't need no stinkin´ (insert automated electronic system here)"

Why is it my fault? Well, when something electronic is not working that is ruining the day, week or life of a boat owner, somehow it is always the fault of the technician and I had better get it fixed quickly.

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