Hopefully, reading this you will already have used your TIMEZERO software to plan routes safely and also had it in navigation mode hooked up to your on-board GPS and AIS to ensure that your journey is as safe as possible. You may have an autopilot system on your boat which you use to manually enter the checkpoint coordinates that you made when creating the route inside your TZ Navigator. This way you ensure that you stay on course as much as possible. However, imagine if it were possible to save yourself the time and effort of entering these checkpoints by connecting your marine navigation software to the autopilot. Of course this is possible but it isn’t as obvious as it may seem. This is because each autopilot has different input requirements. In general we know that they need at least two types of information:

• Cross Track Error
• Bearing

Other types of information will vary. There are also information that you should not send to your autopilot otherwise it may cause an error. This is why we recommend reading your autopilot user manual in detail and contacting the manufacturer to ensure that you know what your autopilot manual requires. We also recommend getting in touch with one of local TIMEZERO dealers who are well-versed in on-board installations.

Download this brief mini-guide on connecting TIMEZERO to an autopilot: