Recomendations for tiller pilot

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scruff

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the subject says it all really - I have just bought a 18ft microtoner - very light ~500kg sailing weight and promices to be quite twitchy.

So to make things even more interesting I plan to sail it singlehanded often, and need recomendations for tiller pilots.

The main requirements as I see them are;

Quick action / fast response time.
waterproof
can cope with a boat which I have been told is capable of planing in the right conditions.
preferably not to thirsty on the old electrickery.

so any sugestions.....?
 
have a third arm attached!
Only a choice of 2 raymarine 1000+ or simrad tp10. AFIK similar spec for operation but Raymarine costs more but can be connected to autopilot and remote control (very expensive )available.
 
I used the simrad one on my last two boats and found it very good, like most of these things it was not too happy in a quartering see, but then few pilots are.

For the money the simrad one was excellent, very easy to use and made my singlehanded trips very easy, even in bad weather.
 
PBO did a head to head test of Simrad and Raymarine. Raymarine came out top in all respects. I have a very old Raymarine which is OK apart from when it started steering round and round in circles recently - as we were off Land's End at the time this was inconvenient. Raymarine overhauled it and it at reasonable cost and it has been reliable ever since.
 
As said either the ST 1000+ or the TP10 will be adequate but if speed of operation is a very important factor look as the other models in the ranges. The ST2000+ goes from lock to lock in 4.5 seconds compared to 8 seconds for the ST1000+ for example. Not so easy to find for the Simrads but from the owners manual for different loads

Hardover time
0 kg
TP10 – 6.9 secs
TP22 – 6.9 secs
TP32 – 4.0 secs
20 kg
TP10 – 8.0 secs
TP22 – 8.0 secs
TP32 – 4.7 secs
40 kg
TP22 – 12.0 secs
TP32 – 6.0 secs

Suggest you look at all the other specs on the websites

http://www.simrad-yachting.com/en/Products/Leisure/Autosteering/Tillerpilots/

http://www.raymarine.co.uk/products/autopilots/tiller-pilots/
 
I have an ST1000+. Its wonderful.

From what I have heard on here then the waterproof requirement wont be met. Many have failed from being left out in the rain. I have a little plastic cover for mine now.

I havent found any sea conditions when mine would be useless, but there are cases where its just all round better to take tiller because it just cant react and anticipate as well as I can /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif and therefore it is painful to watch it trying to keep a straight course as it reacts too late and then overeacts and then reacts and then.....
 
I use a horizontal servo wind vane unless dead downwind in light conditions or motoring on a compass course... For these situations I use an Autopilot ST 2000 and actually have aquired a spare as the damn things are always failing... Mainly due to "water ingress"..
Currently experimenting with the largest surgical glove I could get.. secured over the window and buttons and with the end of the second finger cut off... This should hopefully stop moisture being dragged into the unit vioa the very basic shaft seal..
But the sevo wind vane is the best thing since sliced bread.. Use it almost all the time and virtually forgotten how to helm.
BTW did try a couple of condoms, well 3 actually, but they failed very quickly...
Most offputting, at my age, asking for a packet of the largest they had in stock!!!
/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
Cheers Bob E..
 
I use a Raymarine ST1000 with a remote on a Club 19, the boat is a very light (Balsa sandwich core) and is also capable of planing.
I have a solar panal permanently fixed to the coach roof and even after a full day (up to 12 hours) it recharges the battery for the following weekend.
I do not use it permenently for the full time of the sail but it helps single handed sailing and alows me (with caution) to go to the bow to change a sail or fix something.
I chose the ST1000 as the remote came free and was the best deal at the time, I have the remote by the nav table to eneble me to quickly change coordinates if I so wish.
After reading several stories of water ingress I checked mine and found condensation in the window so i brought it home and gave it a week in the airing cupboard which cleared the problem.
It has never failed me and the only thing that has not been sucsessfull is marrying it up to a GPS.

Hope this helps.
 
[ QUOTE ]
...either the ST 1000+ or the TP10...

FWIW, having used both I would in future pay the extra £50 for the Raymarine unit every time.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't understand why the TP10 is compared to the ST1000 ? The TP 10 actually is comparable to the old AH800 not the 1000. The real competitor to ST1000 (ST1000+ is the NMEA + Seatalk version) is the TP20.

Pricing then looks a little different !

To the original poster - I have a heavy 25ft boat and that is steered well by either of my two Tillerpilots - I have the old AH800 and the next model up AH1000. Both pre-NMEA and sadly with NMEA versions altering the sentence make-up is difficult to connect via interface to Plotter / PC. But both are very good and are now probably in their 20th years ....
Seriously if you don't need NMEA / Plotter / PC connection - then you can get these of Ebay and other sites quite cheap ... my AH1000 was £50 incl. wired remote control out of local Free-ads paper.

Marvelous tools ... If I was going for new model - the ST1000+ would be high on my list.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I don't understand why the TP10 is compared to the ST1000 ?

[/ QUOTE ] Because they are the base units from the two manufacturers and either of which will handle the boat in question but you are probably quite right in saying that the TP22 (not TP20) is the Simrad unit really comparable with the ST1000+.

Which ever both Raymarine and all three Simrad tiller pilots are listed on the websites in my links which will enable a detailed comparison of the specs to be made

Personally I still use a Nautech Autohelm 1000 and that is the original type with the rotary course setting knob that predates any of the the AH800 models.
I'd love a more uptodate model but I think that one will probably outlast me (Possibly already has!)
 
[ QUOTE ]
Personally I still use a Nautech Autohelm 1000 and that is the original type with the rotary course setting knob that predates any of the the AH800 models.
I'd love a more uptodate model but I think that one will probably outlast me (Possibly already has!)

[/ QUOTE ]

Many of the rotary dial ones still going strong. Both my AH800 and AH1000 are the push button next versions - but apparently with similar gubbins inside to last of the dial ones. I'm also told that it was still base for the later models for a short period.
My AH1000 suffered water ingress to the board and my Lab Electronics guy couldn't fix it finally. He'd already rescued it 2x before. Apart from the PIC - he reckoned it was quite a simple affair. So I bought a scrap one that had broken case. Flipped parts over and bingo - all back to GWO again. The 800 has never failed in all the years I have had it.

I have a broken case with all the mechanicals / compass in GWO - just the control board is stuffed. I always wondered if it's possible to salvage the compass part for installation and feed to other instruments, maybe a digital display ?
 
if you want the best you need it to interface with a giro, but i don't think that is possible with a tiller pilot ???

i have a 1000+ on a twitchy trimaran, provided the sails are set up right it copes no prob for at least up to 17knots of boat speed, except for quartering waves that push it off course

mine is interfaced with nmea tactick, works very well by keeping a constant angle to the aparent wind
 
Thanks for all your responses, seems like the Raymarine is possibly the one to go for.

Will keep you posted on developements - once tillerpilot is obtained, I will then have to install electrics to the boat.

the list of jobs for the winter is already pretty long...
 
Forget a ST 1000+ or TP10 for a twitchy micro-tonner!! They will not react quickly enough in gusts. Only a top of the range auto such as the TP30 will have a chance of controlling your boat.
 
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