Raymarine St4000+ Worth Upgrading.

[robbieg]

Currently we have an ST 4000+ wheel drive autopilot with Gyro input and a rudder reference unit on a 34ft lightish displacement sailing boat. Works relatively well in most conditions but struggles in large following seas where a lot of anticipation is needed to helm. The drive unit rarely gets overpowered since the helm is pretty light even in large seas compared to many boats but the instructions it gets from the controller seem to be behind the curve-trying to correct after a wave has picked the boat up rather than anticipating.

The ST4000 control unit has a paddy every couple of years and needs to go back to Raymarine for repair which is where it is now.

This has got me thinking.Since I sail short handed a good autopilot is important and I have been wondering about "upgrading" to the new Raymarine SPX Smartpilot which seems to have lots of smart new software ("autolearn and auto calibration) to learn the boat characteristics etc and improve its steering ability.

What I am wondering is whether the new pilots will do a better job downwind than my current ST4000+ bearing in mind that it already has gyro & rudder info fed in. If anyone has got one of the newer Raymarine autopilots I would be interested in how it performs-particularly in following seas. Basically if its not likely to be a material improvement I might as well soldier on with my current set up-if it could offer an good improvement downwind I might open the wallet for the new kit. Thoughts ladies and gentlemen please. Thanks.

 

[Richard10002]

In these credit crunch times I would ask myself "How often do you meet these large following seas?" and "How often do I need to leave the wheel unattended when I do?" and "How much would I lose by heading up to a broad reach while the wheel is unattended?"

If it's a lot, and others tell you that the new box can deal with it, then go for it.

However, I could guess that you have a bit of a yearning for a new toy? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[dehlerdave]

I have a Dehler 34 like you and went through this thought process a couple of years ago as I had the 4000+ and water kept getting in which made it do stange things.
I also sail single handed a lot. I went for the successor to the 4000+ which I think is the WP1(model name might be wrong but it is the type of thing you are talking about, it has evolved into SPX).
The system consists of a Mk 2 drive unit, 6002 control head, rudder reference unit and a course computer into which I have fed gyro course heading data from a smart heading sensor. This set up allows 9 different gain settings, you set it up under engine and it does the auto learn bit. I find that under engine I set the gain to 2 and under sail I need to increase the gain to 3 or 4.
It will cope with the large following seas very well, I came back from the Scilly in just those conditions last year in a SW 5 - 7 gusting 8 and the auto pilot coped fine. If you find its starting to struggle then up the gain a notch or 2 and it regains control. It is nothing like the old 4000+, it is much more sophisticated and drives the Dehler very well
It also allows me to fly my kite single handed and copes with that also.
Providing you get the gyro upgrade then you will not be dissappointed.