I was out cruising before some of the items you mentioned were around. No, not toilets. We never liked the bucket and chuck it system. But our first few years cruising we used the Sextant, DR, Handbearings compasses and a good amount of caution. No, we didn't often use a lead line but we had one aboard when we began our cruising.

Electronic chart error! Bad AP wiring! I figure you would say any of those would be the error of the user and not of the manufacturer. considered From your earlier post I picked up that there is no blame for manufacturers, only the end user. Hell, unless the skipper programed the electonics, most everything else is human error in some shape or form. My guess is you installed your autopilot, you did the wiring and if anything then goes wrong it's "human error". Of course if the AP craps out then it would be a different "human error".

I would say just having an integrated system makes human error(s) easier, more seductive. GPS makes navigation so easy people move from office to boat to "cruiser" in the blink of an eye. An integrated system seduces individuals into thinking that the programers have fixed it all and they can just put in a few waypoints and Bam! they have a route.

I'm not making any attempt to second guess the skipper who ended up on the rocks that started this post. I am saying that most errors on a boat can be traced to something the captain did or didn't do. Be that as it may, we're still out here discovering our errors.

Ciao