Autopilots 101

[clayhubler]

Hi fellow brats,
As I finish up repairs on my boat, I am trying to plan out all the systems that I will have on board when done.
I want an autopilot, but I don't really know anything about them. What are the basic components that comprise the system? My boat will have the baystar hydraulic steering. I have a newer garmin echomap chartplotter.

And now the kicker: I have some or maybe all of the components from a Raymarine autopilot that came with my boat when I bought it, which had never been used, and was never installed. That autopilot was for a boat with cable steering, so there is no pump. Hoping I can use some of these components.

Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide!

[thataway]

It is unlikely that a wheel pilot, or a pilot which fit on the steering wheel by Ray Marine will have any components you can use with a more modern setup.

I would suggest the RayMarine Evolution EV150. It costs about $2,000 complete. I have the precursor to this, and it works well enough on my C Dory25. The EV 150 is far better. You will get the hydraulic pump--and probably need an adaptor set for the BayStar steering. There will be the box of "brains" , the head unit: which displays the heading and a 9 point sensor.

What I do not know is if the Echo map will allow integration with the MNEA 2000 of the RayMarine pilot. I believe the RayMarine forum has closed. This was addressed in some of the older threads, and there were works arounds.

I have all Raymarine equipment, so my auto pilot does do auto routing went RayMarine. However, I rarely use auto routing--and I just dial in the heading, or put the boat on track and turn on the pilot to follow that heading. I have a wireless remote, so I basically setter with the remote when on the pilot. For example going around a bend in a river, would require a number of waypoints. (or auto routing). I just click off a few degrees as we turn to keep the. boat in the center of the channel.

The Garmin Pilot which most use is in the $4,000 range. But there is a "compact" unit with s smaller pump in the $1,100 range. I am not sure if it is adequate for your purpose or not. Some feel that the smaller pump will not give adequate steering in both heavy seas, and if trolling at low speeds.

The Simrad 44 is a very well proven auto pilot also. It may have the same limitations, of loss of some functions used when auto routing with the Garmin Echo map.
So--you have a lot of reading to do. Check The Hull Truth electronic forums. Some very good people there on auto pilots