Anyone use a NAC -1 autopilot with a raymarine tiller drive?

[Buck Turgidson]

Mulling over upgrading my autopilot from a woefully underpowered ST1000 to something a little well, better.

The obvious choice is an ST2000 or equivalent TP. Cost < £500 no fitting required.

Next would be EV-100 Tiller. Cost £1300 plus some fitting costs

But as I have (will have) a B&G instrument suite I was wondering if there is any merit in sticking with NAVICO and getting a NAC -1 + Triton2 keypad + Raymarine Tillerdrive. I'm guessing around £1500 plus some fitting costs

This last option is only viable if the tiller drive will work with a NAC computer.

Any thoughts from the wise?

Twister weighing in at about 4500kg light.

I have wind vane self steering which is currently getting some TLC but like most it's not great deep downwind and neither is the ST1000. I could do with something that I can trust offshore singlehanded.

 

[Shanty]

Shanty has a similar setup. It uses an Octopus type RS drive (see http://octopusdrives.com/type-rs-drive), driven by a B&G NAC autopilot computer plus a Triton keypad. I'm very pleased with it. It seems to cope regardless of the conditions, and as a bonus, because it uses NMEA 2000, it can pick up and use wind data from a Furuno wind instrument also on the network.

Previously Shanty had an ancient Autohelm tillerpilot which could nearly cope with a flat calm, then an ST2000 which could cope with smooth conditions up to about Force 3, and then a Raymarine inboard autopilot system that completely lost the plot, and would change course by about 90 degrees at random intervals. I'm no longer a fan of Raymarine.

BTW, Shanty is an Albin Ballad, 30foot long, and a similar weight to your Twister

 

[Buck Turgidson]

Shanty has a similar setup. It uses an Octopus type RS drive (see http://octopusdrives.com/type-rs-drive), driven by a B&G NAC autopilot computer plus a Triton keypad. I'm very pleased with it. It seems to cope regardless of the conditions, and as a bonus, because it uses NMEA 2000, it can pick up and use wind data from a Furuno wind instrument also on the network.

Previously Shanty had an ancient Autohelm tillerpilot which could nearly cope with a flat calm, then an ST2000 which could cope with smooth conditions up to about Force 3, and then a Raymarine inboard autopilot system that completely lost the plot, and would change course by about 90 degrees at random intervals. I'm no longer a fan of Raymarine.

BTW, Shanty is an Albin Ballad, 30foot long, and a similar weight to your Twister

Problem for me is I have no rudder stock for the octopus as my rudder is transom hung.

 

[Shanty]

Shanty's tiller was way too high to connect to the Octopus drive, so I built a stub tiller which was at the right height, and incorporated rudder stops. It fits below the standard tiller, and allows hand steering using the standard tiller.

Might be worth thinking whether something similar is possible on your Twister

 

[rowlock]

I bought a Pelagic this year following 2 seasons of misery with an ST2000 and the wireless remote. So far very impressed. It is embarrassingly good particularly in awkward waves and very quick to react. Built by sailors for sailors I'm told. I day sail a Mini 6.50 and so far two inexpensive 20 watt ebay solar panels and a 22ah wheel chair battery have kept up, but it has been a sunny summer.