Larry wrote:

The autopilot doesn't do the navigating.

That's not what the manual for the ST1000 says. The GPS can tell it the
bearing, distance, and track error. The ST1000 has a logic circuit to
resolve this into a new heading.

No chartplotter on my simple boat. Not enough room and power for all that
fancy stuff.

I'll only be using this under power as well. See other reply.

Enjoyed the rest of your post though.

--
Roger Long