Possible new area to explore - Pilotable Shipping
Marcel found the Jellaire Autopilot that works fairly well on "pilotable" boats. Mostly the problem with boating at RTMM is that we didn't have an autopilot ... and steering a boat for 5 hours can get a little boring. With the "new" autopilot, we've been able to make flight plans from SPB to SPB with Plan G that SOME of the boats track perfectly. Some boats do not track, they chase the needle, others work just like an airplane. For me, the Deltasim Boats (Smitt Rotterdam) is very reliable (payware). Problems we are encountering is no reverse on boats (braking), etc.
Marcel has also met (email) Chuck Backus who seems to be expert in making pilotable boats. Chuck has indicated he might help us out. We are going to invite him to join us here and maybe through this discussion we can really turn the RTMM "The Moorings" into a 5 star site.
(Personally, I am really enjoying boating with the new autopilot ... it is a very relaxing way to "sim." Turn it on, set the autopilot, then sit back with a good book and Pandora and ENJOY THE CRUISE just as you would in real life. The scenery in the RTMM area is breathtaking down on the water ... it gives you a whole new perspective or our area. Also the navigation is fun ... you can't fly over a group of islands, you have to navigate "through" them. And you lose the three dimensional viewpoint, knowing what is "over there beyond that hill" ... it becomes a realistic TWO dimensional world.)