An electronic control system is provided to permit one-person loading and
unloading of a vessel from a trailer. The control moves the vessel using
bow, stern and fore/aft thrusters that are supplied by the boat
manufacturer. Operator inputs to the system controller of the instant
invention consist of one or more multi-axis joysticks and a multi-axis
foot pedal that are mounted onboard the vessel and a hand-held remote
control that permits owner control of the vessel while standing on shore.
For one-person unloading and loading of the vessel from and to a trailer,
the owner may, using the remote control, drive the vessel off of the
trailer to a remote location in the water, park and have the vessel
maintain its position with respect to GPS satellites, and call for the
vessel to return to the launch point using location data that was
previously recorded by the system control.