Intellisteer opinion

Fontanacdory · Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 3:21 pm Post subject: Intellisteer opinion

I want to buy an intellisteer for my 22 with cable steering. I can steer with hand held remote, cost is 739.00 . Just can’t afford an autopilot. Opinions please . Thanks mike. Msjill

thataway · Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 6:27 pm Post subject:

It should work fine. But is not a substitute for an auto pilot....In other words it is just a way of turning the wheel remotely--you can be in the cockpit and trolling with the main motor and steer with the remote. You still have the issue of keeping a proper look out.

Auto pilot steers to a course, or to a waypoint. This does not. It just moves the wheel, which then push pull on the cable and moves the motor.

I would also get a remote engine stop if you fail overboard. FELL Marine Mob+ Wireless Man-Overboard Cutoff Switch. It is $200. Could save your life. Actually it is a good idea for any one who solo boats...!

Trolling motor auto pilot start at about $1300 if you have a kicker you use for trolling--and this is a real auto pilot which steers to a heading.

ssobol · Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 7:56 pm Post subject:

jkidd · Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 10:31 pm Post subject:

Best thing I ever put on my boat buy a good one. Allows me relax and keep watch. I can be at the helm all day and not get tired. I have courses plotted all over yellowstone and Lake Powell hardly have to take the wheel. No crazy Ivans when I reel in a fish.

Hunkydory · Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 11:55 pm Post subject:

My Raymarine S1000 auto pilot installed in 2005 is no where near as nice or capable as Jody’s, but still I, like him, think it the best item I’ve installed on the boat. We made two extended cruises without an pilot before getting one, so I well know the difference. When mine finally gives up, I’ll be replacing with the same or similar to Jody’s.

Jay

hardee · Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 12:56 am Post subject:

garyf · Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 2:13 am Post subject:

OK... nice thread on autopilot-ish stuff... I'm still catching up on my first round of new gadgets, but I have already wondered about an autopilot and I like the arguments "for" them... so it might be in my future at some point.

When I bought my MFD, I checked to make sure that is was compatible with autopilots and so on - but what else might I need to address along the way? I currently have cable steering... would switching to hydraulic be required, or recommended?

Foggy · Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 9:15 am Post subject:

I like an autopilot on a boat.

Like having an extra hand onboard to take the helm, when you are shorthanded,
it frees you up to do something else briefly and still maintain watch.

Many don't realize a well adjusted well functioning autopilot saves fuel ( fuel
economy - a major topic of concern on this website). On a longer voyage, it keeps
the desired course better than most can steer by hand eventually paying for itself.
An autopilot does need periodic adjustments for cross track error from wind
and/or current, but that's really a non-issue. Most importantly, an autopilot never
complains, never tells bad jokes, gets sea sick or drinks beer.

It is doubtful one can do the same with a hand held remote which acts the same
as steering by hand.

Aye.
Grandpa used to say, "If you have to get a gadget, get a good one."

DayBreak · Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 11:24 am Post subject:

I don't have an autopilot system on my boat but I know I need one. Can anyone recommend a quality unit that may not have all the options but can keep a straight course and last for years? I have a Raymarine Axiom chartplotter and SeaStar hydraulic steering.

I once followed a boat 15 miles offshore who must have had an autopilot because the course he took was a perfect straight line on my chartplotter. I find it difficult to keep a straight course of travel by having to focus on so many other factors while at the helm.

Thank you for recommendations.

thataway · Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 11:57 am Post subject:

Of the in-expensive auto pilots the RayMarine is probably the Best Buy. I have an older model, and the EVO 150 is a step up.

The EVO 100 in Wheel pilot can be found for about $1400--maybe a few $ less. on special sale. The EVO 150 is the best for our C Dory with hydraulic steering, and is a couple o f hundred more than the Wheel pilot.

The Wheel pilot will bolt to the steering wheel. It has a clutch, so you can hand steer. I have owned a version many years ago, and it did OK for small light boats. I do believe the hydraulic has more features and is better at keeping courses. But the conversion to hydraulic steering is going to be about $700 with BayStar. There are Chinese clones--no idea how well they work for half the price,

I had auto pilots on all of my sailboat boats even as small as 23'. There I was regularly going to Catalina, and a 5 hour trip at times. Just steer a straight line. (When I was a teenager, I was the designated helms person on my dad's boat. My dad made me steer a straight line, using a box lifeboat compass on the floor of the cockpit--while my mother had me cite Latin conjugation of verbs and quizzed on spelling and meaning of Latin or French vocabulary...

The current c Dory came with an auto pilot--This is the only one with a pilot in the 17 years of owning C Dorys. I will have to admit, I use it a lot, even though 95 % of our boating is rivers or ICW/Bays...

smckean (Tosca) · Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 12:19 pm Post subject:

DayBreak · Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 1:03 pm Post subject:

T.R. Bauer · Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 1:04 pm Post subject:

I wish I had autopilot.

thataway · Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 1:40 pm Post subject:

hardee · Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 5:15 pm Post subject: