Tiller Pilot Raymarine EV-100 vs Pelagic

I have a Raymarine Evolution 100 Tiller fitted to my Westerly Fulmar. Recently I completed a trip from Chatham to the Isles of Scilly and back - singlehanded all the way. Other than hand steering for berthing/anchoring, I only hand steered for about 20 miles out of about 1000 miles. The Evolution coped with motoring in flat calm, beating in very lumpy seas in up to force 7 and quartering seas again up to force 7. Far superior to the old Autohelm 2000. I trusted the Evolution 100 in all weathers and can confidently recommend it. When I made this choice 18 months ago I certainly did my research and found all in one units like the TP32 had less sensitive control mechanisms and less powerful rams. For such a heavy boat as the Nich 31, the Evolution 100 would be my suggestion.
 
Georgio said:
Try increasing what it calls the "hard-over" time. I had to increase mine (which I found counter intuitive) to increase the speed of response on the tiller. I *think* this works in a similar way to rudder gain on previous generation pilots. It's worth a try.
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Just want to check what you have typed again please.
You say " increasing what it calls the "hard-over" time."
Does that make it slower to go from side to side & not quicker?
Thanks
 
I have an issue with the Ev100, if I get hit by a random bad gust and she rounds up the tiller goes hard over and won't come back so I have to quickly grab the tiller and lift off the pilot arm, then I hit the standby. I know it's the wrong way I should hit standby first but a few times I dinnt have time. The TP then reads "no data" and won't communicate. Last time I left it switched off for a week and it worked, last week I went to use it and it did the same.
I sail conservatively now {was getting used to new boat) but the TP after a week still says no data and the led flashes 7 times red which means no data connection. I've checked the cables. I'm thinking it needs a reset but there's nothing in the manual.
 
Due to it being an American pilot & a bit of a faff to import over here, I don't think you'll find too many people on the forum with a Pelagic.

I bought one in 2017, and I've been super happy with it, its a little more noisy than the Raymarine tiller pilot, but its a far more sturdy piece of kit, its got a proper IP65 rated linear actuator.
Course holding is fantastic, really night & day compared to the old style on tiller pilots.

I can't compare it directly to the EV-100 because I've never used one, but there are lots of favourable reviews on the US forums.
The only downside is connectivity, it will take NMEA0183 & sail to apparent wind, but its not NMEA2K compatible (you need a converter) & it won't steer to true wind. That said if your instrument network goes down the autopilot will still work as all the gyros & the compass are built in.

Edit: Okay just realised how old this thread is!
IMG_20180725_090521.jpg
 
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I have an EV autopilot, but it drives an type 2 rotary drive, so these comments are more about the INS (inertial navigation system) which drives whatever flavour of actuator you have.
I find the wind pilot works really well steering the boat to windward, providing the wind isn't shifting too quickly, and in general copes well steering from the wind vane. it's better to change from apparent wind, when going to windward to true wind when off the wind, but that not easy to do in my raymarine setup.
Steering to a waypoint, is generally poor, the wake looks like the person steering has just drunk half a bottle of whisky. The autopilot doesn't know it's off course, until it off course, so it's always correcting itself.
Steering to a compass heading is generally quite good.
The caveat of course is that the boat need to be well balance and not overcanvased.
The autopilot is supposed to learn the characteristics of the boat, but I don't see much evidence of that.
 
Ian, do you have the rudder reference unit fitted? I noticed a huge difference when I added one after using a Evo 100 for two years. Also the flying saucer gyro compass widget needs to be mounted in the middle of the boat. Great if it can be on the centre line of the yacht but also centre fore and aft makes a difference. I had to move mine from under the cockpit comings forward to the front of the heads.

Pete
 
I have a Pelagic system on my 34'.
Having used a number of other's like the ST2000 and TP32.
I've worn out two ST2000's and 1 x TP32.
Even when they were working they couldn't handle my boat above 20knts especially when sailing downwind.
The pelagic handled my boat without a hickup for 12 hours with the spinnaker up from Roompot back to Southwold in a SE wind from 15 to 22knts apparent.
The Pelagic actuator is far, far more robust and has what feels like at least twice the torque.
The nine axis rate compass really helps keeping a good course and does not over react like the ST2000.
The remote control has been a game changer when sailing short or single handed, casually knocking it out of gear as you enter a lock, set up fenders and warps and steer up to the wall whilst you stand on the side deck.
Plus with its reasonable range is a great safety addition if you were unlucky enough to fall over board.

Overall I've been really pleased with its performance and its certainly the best value for money solution I've seen.
 
The EV100 sensor core has a 3 axis digital accelerameter, a 3 axis digital compass and a 3 axis digital angular sensor, which is far more advanced than the old ST2000. The ram is also much more powerful. I have found my EV100 tiller autopilot far superior to the old Autohelm 200 that was previously on my Wesetrly Fulmar. I cannot comment how it perfoms when it is connected to the chart plotter or wind instruments as I like to keep all my instruments not connected to each other.
 
Pete7 said:
Ian, do you have the rudder reference unit fitted? I noticed a huge difference when I added one after using a Evo 100 for two years. Also the flying saucer gyro compass widget needs to be mounted in the middle of the boat. Great if it can be on the centre line of the yacht but also centre fore and aft makes a difference. I had to move mine from under the cockpit comings forward to the front of the heads.

Pete
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Yes, there is a rudder reference unit fitted and working, or at least I can see the rudder angle of the i70p display, so I assume that it is working.
The sensor unit is amidships, both fore and aft and on the centre line of the boat. It's actually in the space between the headlining and the deck head in the saloon. I put it there because the Southerly has about 6.5 tons of cast steel in the centre of the boat in the form of the lifting keel and the grounding plate. This was about as far away from big lumps of steel as I could get it.
 
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the linear drive used by pelagic is $40 direct from china. Part number HB-DJ809-12-250-453-58. link .

I have no idea what's in the control box but it's way too ugly to go on my boat :-)
 
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