PLEASE! I am NOT arguing the AP vs WV thing in this post and I am NOT making any remarks about your choice good or bad!!!! You have what works for you and that is great.
What I do have to say is that I bought our Monitor wind vane steering system for the SAME price you said you plan to pay for the L&S drive, and then you STILL need to get the Furuno controller and spare parts.
This is NOT a flame message, I am just surprised at that cost.
Greg