intelligent boat?

Yeah, that's what I wrote, intelligent boat.  Okay, so boats have pretty much all the electricals at one panel, where also are all the electronics, the nav systems, communication, and so forth.  so it's easy to change out the switch panels with modern digital switches.  Dan will want a good fast computer, why not integrate it right into the boat?  I want it to have an autopilot on the tiller, why not tie it right into the computer?  Get modules for the electronics that have computer I/O ports and hook them in.  Give it voice control.  Put the electronic ignition on computer control and use an iphone to drive?  Hey, they've got the google car, match that thing's sensors and control software but in a boat?  Why not?  I can't see it being safe to drive it from it's moorage to the dock instead of having a dinghy, but one could positively sail from inside the cabin with cameras and sensors giving full view to an in-cabin monitor.  Why not?  A lot of the work moving boats from a-b is pretty much just monitoring things anyway.  Set your sail, tie up your tiller, and go about living while your house whips across the waves.  We currently do have the tech and Dan and I have the vision and some skills, we could most certainly build it!  The autodrive stuff, that wouldn't happen right away, but planning for it could.  With the right sensors a boat should know exactly what's in the water around it for a mile.  Using radar, sonar, fish finder style sonar, depth sounders, cameras, and satellite feeds, one should be able to know what's there.  Too bad doppler is still too big and expensive for mounting on a sail boat!  I figure the digital TV antenna could be on a remote control rotor on the mast so we can pull in whatever stations may be around where we're at.  Water lets signals really travel on a clear night.  Equip the boat cpu with a digital tuner and we've got voice activated pvr.  Oh yes, voice activation is in there.  "boatname, please turn up the salon lights and unlock the companionway access." (over the phone)  "boatname, please start the engine and reel in the anchor."  Okay, there may be design issues with automatic anchor lifting.  Most small boats need someone to physically pull the thing onto the deck and short of installing a mini-canada arm device I don't see how to solve that.
A robotic hand on deck would be nifty.  Give it a rail to run along and it could help load all manner of things from the dinghy to the deck.
I guess it'll all come down to time and money as usual.  I wonder just how much we'd get from this place?  I wonder how much I'll get yard saling?  If it's good, it goes on the debt to pay it down and increase our resources later.

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