Is it worth networking a tiller pilot on a sailing boat?

Refueler said:
You are joking of course ?

To get anywhere from Ventspils involves night passages .... maybe have a look through some of my posts where I actually upload videos etc ??
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How do you maintain trim on your sails if you can't see them? I am just surprised that you don't use the ability to maintain a course relative to wind direction such that your sails stay trimmed
 
geem said:
I find the ability to link my autopilot with the wind instrument invaluable. It's almost exclusively the only way we use the autopilot when sailing. Under engine is a different matter but sailing, I can't imagine using the autopilot any other way.
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Interesting. We've never got round to connecting the AP to the wind instrument. Both are STNG so would it just be a case of linking them up?
We've got this far without it, but it would certainly take a bit of stress out of downwind sailing in switchy conditions.
 
Sea Change said:
Interesting. We've never got round to connecting the AP to the wind instrument. Both are STNG so would it just be a case of linking them up?
We've got this far without it, but it would certainly take a bit of stress out of downwind sailing in switchy conditions.
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They just both need to be on the network and they will exchange data.
We just sailed from Falmouth none stop to Madeira. Spent most days with the spinnaker up. We can just set it up and steer by the wind and forget it's up. It's a very useful tool
 
Simon F said:
Hello One and All,

I'm mulling over replacing the busted Simrad tiller pilot on my 32ft sailing boat with something similar or identical and I notice the existing plug has nmea connections available as well as power. The boat has a raymarine wind instrument and a chartplotter and ais so presumably I could send nmea to the tiller pilot somehow but I'm interested to know whether people who have done this find it useful? I can see how it would be valuable on a motor boat to steer a course,
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But of course if the weather isn't playing ball you sometimes are sailing a motorboat. I've probably used our AP most when its pouring with rain an little wind but I need to get somewhere. I can then hide in the shelter of the sprayhood rather than standing at the helm.
Simon F said:
and if you wish to sail to wind on a sailboat it could presumably do that too,
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it can which is handy for hoising/lowering sails (you may actually be motoring but any to stay head to wind)
Simon F said:
but in terms of sailing to a bearing, which is typically what I do coastal sailing, would I see an improvement in the tiller pilot's capabilities for knowing the wind strength, cog etc, or is that the province of more sophisticated systems?
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not directly from connecting it - but it might let you open up sail to the wind. I don't know if the area you sail suffers from wind shifts etc, but its quite handy to tell it to stick to a point of sail whilst you eat some lunch and not have to worry that by having picked a compass bearing the wind shifts and suddently the genoa is backing or the boom gybing just as you've got a bown of soup in your lap!
 
If it is not too much hassle then do it, you don't have to use it all the time. Two occasions when I do find it useful is when under motor and in fog The under motor convenience has been mentioned, likewise in fog if you are on a defined course with way points then it is just one less thing to monitor, it calls when it wants attention.
A remote control is more useful than it at first sounds too.
 
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Having had such bad experiences with my Raymarine AV 100 I would never connect an autopilot to any other system .i have had 7 autopilots, or repairs, to autopilots. Steer to wind is not a problem as once the wind gets up under sail I switch to my Aries which , unlike my AV 100, can be relied upon not to try and kill me. I would always be worried that autopilot failure might bring the whole lot down as an in opportune moment
 
I have had 4 simrad auto pilots,the TP10, for me, to intergrate is to create another hazard, ie, the boat changing coarse
and a accidental gybe just as someone stands up to watch some dolphins,just an example.
So i just keep it simple
 
Sounds to me like an accident waiting to happen. No one watching where they are going relying on tech to help you collide with another boat or buoy. A boat suddenly changing coarse to go from one way point to another sends shivers down my spine. Perhaps on an ocean passage but not in local waters.
 
shanemax said:
Sounds to me like an accident waiting to happen. No one watching where they are going relying on tech to help you collide with another boat or buoy. A boat suddenly changing coarse to go from one way point to another sends shivers down my spine. Perhaps on an ocean passage but not in local waters.
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er.. when linked to a plotter the autopilot will not change course unless there is human approval (you have to press a button), otherwise it will hold the original course.
 
We can have ‘sail to wind” but never use it. I’m quite sure we would if we were mid ocean. But even crossing Lyme Bay, the emptiest coastal stretch of the south coast, you are almost certain to be more concerned about collision avoidance than any other consideration at night. Though we don’t have much trouble trimming at night, sound, feel, instruments and a certain amount of visibility combined. OK, it won’t be as perfect as daytime. But unless you’re racing, going a bit slower at night isn’t such a bad idea.
 
I do have a fully networked autopilot but while I can conceive of using sail to wind, I’ve never used that or goto waypoint. The latter is something I have no use for due to the way I enjoy navigating.

Sailing to a wind angle doesn’t auto-trim: it doesn’t account for wind strength or sea state. Given there should be someone on watch anyway, there’s a human to do that trim who can also tweak course if a wind shift is big enough to otherwise suggest the tack/gybe you might not want to do at that point. That gives the opportunity for a log entry rather than having to keep an eye on actual course sailed and guess an average at the end of the log period.

One good thing about networking is having “pilot” data displayable on other instruments. My pilot head has always been on the cockpit side near the helm (easily reachable but not so conveniently viewable). After just having installed an i70s above the companionway I can now display rudder angle when manoeuvring in tight spots. Not relevant for tiller steered boats but something I might find useful with wheel steering.
 
RivalRedwing said:
er.. when linked to a plotter the autopilot will not change course unless there is human approval (you have to press a button), otherwise it will hold the original course.
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Not the case with most modern plotters. But, someone should be on watch at all times, so not a problem.
 
PaulRainbow said:
Not the case with most modern plotters. But, someone should be on watch at all times, so not a problem.
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Are there really plotters that will change course to next waypoint without user approval ? I thought it was Industry Agreed that Plotter would not alter course to next waypoint without user intervention after reaching preceding waypoint ?
 
geem said:
Spent most days with the spinnaker up. We can just set it up and steer by the wind and forget it's up. It's a very useful tool
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We have a self-steering wind vane that we use on most of the passages. But in light conditions, or in the narrow fairways that you find the Baltic, a tiller pilot is very useful.

Wind mode is super useful when flying the Parasailor. With that setup, we sometimes fly the spinnaker day and night.

One thing to note when connecting one of these old tiller pilots to your boat sensors is that they can be easy to overwhelm. Ours was steering all over the place until we added a filter to let only certain sentences through. Here's the allowlist that works for us:
ALK APB S82 S85 S86 S9E SA1 SA2 MWV S10 S11 VTG S53 S52 S99 STA
(ST4000+ connected to our NMEA2000 bus via a N2K-to-Seatalk1 converter)
 
Refueler said:
If I have a choice of :

1. Remote (wired or wireless)

or

2. Networked to plotter / wind ....

??

Number 1 will always win.
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No2 for me. It wins hands down. You don't need to constantly adjust once you sail to wind angle. Just let the boat do its thing and sail. The difference maybe that I am sailing in open water and long distances where a slight deviation from the rhum line is irrelevant. I would never dream of steering by the compass in open waters
 
littledancersadhu said:
I have had 4 simrad auto pilots,the TP10, for me, to intergrate is to create another hazard, ie, the boat changing coarse
and a accidental gybe just as someone stands up to watch some dolphins,just an example.
So i just keep it simple
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You can set a limit for how far you are allowed to deviate. It's a wind shift alarm. You won't get an accidental gybe because it steers to the wind. That is the point. You are at risk of an accidental gybe steering to the compass but if thr boat adjusts it's course as the wind shift, you can't accidentally gybe
 
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