EKF variance, can't set auto

I am new to ardupilot and am having issues with my boat. Currently on the boat is experiencing several issues related to the external compass and GPS system that cause toiletbowling and random compass snapping. Disabling EKF functionality seems to have fixed these issues, but now the boat is unable to switch from manual mode to auto mode and does not display an error message in qgroundcontrol. When the boat is first connected, it mentions EKF variance, but to my knowledge the parameters involved in actually enabling and using EKF systems have all been disabled. The goal with this boat is not high accuracy in automatic “flight”, but simplicity and reliability as the boat was designed for an actual child to upload a mission and watch the boat function. Attached is a parameter file that is currently on the boat.