Tiller pilot

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jonathankent

jonathankent

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I have read a few articles regarding the use of a tiller pilot for singlehanding, so.... what would the forum recommend for me? My yacht is only 19' so I wouldn't have thought it would have required too much power. I have 1 85Ah battery charged by 25w solar panel. I only use the boat at weekends, and maybe in the summer in the evening after work. I haven't got a wind system, but do have a GPS for tracking a route/waypoint.

So, what model would the panel recommend I have a look at?
What are the benefits of it?

Cheers guys.
 
I think there are only 2 choices for that size boat. Raymarine or Simrad. The basic Simrad is the TP10 it steers to a set course, self tacks and course alteration can be made in 1 degree or 10 degree changes. There is no GPS input available. It is cheaper than the Raymarine. The Raymarine has the same functions but has GPS input and a digital readout of course direction. I have a TP10 on a 26ft boat but feel I could do with one a bit more powerful and a faster lock to lock time. It should be ok for a 19 footer. Having said that if I was to purchase another it would be the Raymarine as I had a bit of trouble with the TP10 requiring a new drive belt after 2 years use.
 
As for power consumption....

If you get the boat well balanced, the tiller pilot uses really very little power... they only chew up amps when they are constantly fighting weather/lee helm, or in a large following sea with regaular large course changes required...

I had a Raymarine, and was very pleased with it.... steered nicely to both compass and wind instruments....
 
No doubt about it indispensible if single handed. Either the Simrad TP10 (about £200) or the Raymarine ST 1000 (about £250). I do not have specs to hand but if one is significantly faster than the other go for the faster one.

As I have had an Autohelm for the largest part of 30 yrs I am biassed towards the ST 1000, being its successor. The best bit of kit I have ever bought. No problems with power supply and I only have a 45Ah leisure battery and a 5 watt solar panel.

I do find I need to sail a bit freer and make sure the boat is well balanced for best results but even then it does a better job than me. The modern "digital" ones should perform better the old "analogue" ones, in fact I would in, some respects, be happy if the old one packed up so that I could justify replacing it with a modern one. Definitely would not be without one.
 
I've just done a quick Google on the two models suggested.

Simrad TP10 £195
Raymarine ST1000 £240

They both have a lock-to-lock of 8 seconds
The Simrad has more thrust than the Raymarine one
Raymarine take the GPS input, whereas Simrad won't (thanks Spyro)
They both have an autotack facility

I do like Raymarine products... haven't been able to afford them for other things (depth, log, etc), but for this they look a lot more realistically priced with the alternatives.

What direction do they install - they are long and narrow, but what direction is this on the boat? i.e. long facing into the centre of the boat or in line with the boat? I assume they face into the centre of the boat. How much space do they actually require? I have never seen one so have no idea of space required. I have a very narrow beam, 6'3" at best, but reduces towards the stern down to <4'
 
This is my only concern.... 18" long

How far along the tiller do they normally go? If nearer the base, not so much a problem, but nearer the end then the reduced space for full lock. I don't think I have 18" near the end when hard over, i.e. when tacking. I suppose the nearer the end the finer the steering. I think I will have to measure the boat properly first and see how it would fit in.
 
If you go to the raymarine site you can download the manual on both the st1000 and st 2000, i have the st2000, which i inherited with the boat, it has been fixed 3 times, when it worked it was ok. i also have an old navico tp1600, and it has never failed to work, it has struggled in heavy weather, but just keeps going, the simrad has decent workings but the after sales can be a little dubious, where the raymarine has an excellent service network.

i personally would go for the raymarine, as it can be fixed with little hassle, but if you get a good one then it could last for years without any fault...

although i have had problems with mine, when it worked it worked very well...
and i wouldn't hestitate on getting a new one. (still saving those pennies).
 
We have a ST1000 - on a 30'er ... works well - autotack is a little slow in light winds, but otherwise it is superb - when I plug it in!
I haven't bothered with the GPS input as it will just keep to a track - what I am doing is sorting the interface out to the wind instrument.
If I get down to the boat tomorrow I'll take some photos of our setup (with tape measure!)
 
I fitted an ST2000 on my 30 footer during this Australian winter and echo all positive remarks above. Like you, i was anxious about whether it would fit and whether the installation would be complicated. However, the installation manual was very good and you can access that from the raymarine website as well. They make a range of adaptors and other widgety things to allow variable mounting, eg on coamings etc as well as cockpit seats. If you haven't used one before they seem amazing as you walk around your boat while it does all the helming, in my case better than me (not distracted by view, eating bags of crisps etc)
 
Just looking through their webiste at the same time.... finding dimensions actually.

Found what I was looking for....

prod_dimen_st1000_2000.jpg


now I will download the manuals/brochures

Cheers guys
 
[ QUOTE ]
If I get down to the boat tomorrow I'll take some photos of our setup (with tape measure!)

[/ QUOTE ]
Brilliant.... a pic on a brochure doesn't give any indication of scale, and although I have found the dimensions, seeing it in reality is easier to grasp /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
I had a tp10 for 3 years then added a st1000 2 years ago as it had the remote option and with the idea of keeping the tp10 as spare.

The ST1000 has suffered from water ingress and the remote now does not work nor 3 elements of the LCD display. It has been serviced under waranty due to complete failure the first year and I know of two other st1000 that have also failed due to water ingress. The problem seems to be that the rubber cover over the screen and the buttons is only glued to the underside of the top cover and with use it becomes detatched.

The tp10 is watertight and in my experience much more robust than the st1000.
 
Also available are extensions for the pushrod, different brackets for lowering or raising the tiller pivot point. You can also be very inventive where the unit is mounted. I've seen them fixed on to seats and cockpit sides and blocks of wood to fit in with mounting dimensions.
 
I have looked at the Simrad TP22, the next one up in the Simrad range. Its designed for boats larger than mine, so with more power/thrust, but can't do any harm? This one is the same price as the Raymarine ST1000+. Now both do almost the same job, i.e. can connect to wind vane or GPS.

So, price the same, and spec the same, so which one would be best? I am still tending to swing towards Raymarine, but just purely because I know the brand better and some of you have posted of the quality and service of Raymarine, albeit some when it works. Which would you guys buy?

Is this the sort of thing you would buy secondhand, or best to buy new?
 
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