Fitting an Autopilot

[oceanfroggie]

1. Great idea, you'll never look back
2. Only get one with a Rate Gyro (steer straight at low speeds)
3. Get it professionally fitted and calibrated

Reason for different systems, is boats have different steering systems, some cable, some chain, some hyadraulic, some linear, etc. IMHO, a good auto pilot is the 1st thing I would fit to a boat. You can interact with the folk in the cockpit beside you, have eye contact, use the head, put the kettle on, put fenders in an out, relax, frees your hands and I can tell you makes long 12hr passages very relaxing. Without an AP it would be hell!

 

[ported0]

so if you had to chose between autopilot or radar what would you pick first?

(budgetary constraints)

 

[muckypup]

I would pick radar. If unexpected heavy fog drops in the autopilot will not be as much use as the radar.

S.

 

[ported0]

good point and similar to my thinking

 

[muckypup]

Would one of these Raymarine Autopilots accept NMEA data direct from my Lowrance plotter or would I need a NMEA->Seatalk converter?

Has anyone connected a Lowrance 3500 to an autopilot? Does it well?

S.

 

[Richard10002]

[ QUOTE ]
Would one of these Raymarine Autopilots accept NMEA data direct from my Lowrance plotter or would I need a NMEA->Seatalk converter?

Has anyone connected a Lowrance 3500 to an autopilot? Does it well?

S.

[/ QUOTE ]

My Autohelm 300 Course Computer, (now Raymarine), has NMEA IN and NMEA OUT so the answer is almost certainly YES.

I havent tried it with my Lowrance as the course computer has a Raymarine GPS aerial plugged into it.

may try it one day... after I've sorted the steering!

 

[oceanfroggie]

[ QUOTE ]
so if you had to chose between autopilot or radar what would you pick first?

[/ QUOTE ]

Depends on where you do most of your boating. But for me AUTOPILOT because it has unshackeled me from being glued to the helm. I can now turn around in my helm swivil seat and interact more fully with crew. Also great on long passages and solo passages. OK so no radar means you've got to watch the weather a little more, but some areas are more prone than others, and most of us choose to boat in nice weather. If I was doing a lot of channel crossing's in marginal weather perhaps I'd prefer the radar. Would not touch AIS unless I lost my paper weight! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[hlb]

No. I strongly disagree with you. You can live without auto pilot. But you may not live without radar.

However an auto pilot does aid navigation by leaving you free to study charts more closely, look at a radar screen/ chart plotter without the boat going round in circles and making a mockery of your findings.

Not sure it's worth having for folks bumming about up the Solent,

Not a good idea to give one to folk like my ex. Who thought it was some sort of god and cruised at 20 knots at a rock face whilst I raced up the ladder and stopped it.

"You said it was on auto pilot". She said. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[kdzylstra]

depending on your chartplotter, you may want to select one that fits with it. I have Furuno and as soon as i added the heading sensor for the autopilot i got radar overlay on the chartplotter, great feature!

 

[qetoo]

I installed an Autohelm ST4000 about 10 years ago. Since my steering was the Teleflex cable type, the bolt-on type with belt drive was the simplest way to go. It works very well. I too had the problem of the boat fish-tailing when steering manually at displacement speed. The autopilot corrected that. Now it goes straight as an arrow. Before I got an autopilot, I didn't think I really needed one, but now I wouldn't be without it. I use it all the time except for docking. The boat is a 32-foot cabin cruiser, about 16,000 lb, deep vee. It will plain and do up to 19 knots, but I do most of my cruising at 7 to 8 knots. I have my Garmin 128 GPS connected to the autopilot and the Garmin can steer the boat; works great. In addition I can switch the autopilot to the laptop computer and it will follow courses from the navigation application.

With hydraulic steering, however, I don't think you can use this type of autopilot. It has to be one specifically designed for hydraulic steering.

 

[muckypup]

A while ago cruising slowly across swansea bay I looked at the trail of where I had been on the chart plotter and it looked like a sine wave! I now either use the belt driven autopilot or pick a landmark, bouy etc and steer to that. I find that easier unless there is no landmarks or I have to steer to a course.

S.