Autopilot replacement

[stefan_r]

I have an old (13years) but serviceable autopilot on my 46' motor cruiser made by some Italian jokers who were called Nautiradar and are now called Navicontrol.

Like I say it works but I would like to connect it to my charting system and other bits and bobs....if I want to keep the elements such as steering hydraulics and as much of the wiring as possible how do I work out what I can keep and what I have to throw away from the old system if I want to upgrade to a Raytheon or Foruno system....

Ideal solution is to just change to central control black box bit for something a tad more modern....is it that easy???

The Italians have been absolutely no help whatsoever (another reason for swapping over) - with some common sense I can work out what cable does what (hydraulic command, remote station, gyro input etc)...what more do I need to do??

Cheers
Stefan

mailto: stefan@athito.com

 

[Guest]

You can buy the "Electronic" part of the modern autopilot seperate from the pump etc. Go to a reliable Chandler or speak to your friendly boat yard before you buy just to see that two will actually work but I can see no reason why not.

Think twice before you go connecting your autopilot up to the GPS - I've heard of people getting into terrible straights - turning into bouys and all that sort of stuff. It might encourage you to fall asleep on watch - not good! I never connect my Autohelm Pilot to the Furuno for that reason. Do want to find that your yacht does no longer need YOU?!!!

John