Anyone using an auto pilot?

C

crowleykirk

New member
Just curious as to how many Brats are using an auto pilot. And where. And why?

We're looking at the Garmin Reactor 40 Hydraulic Corepac for possibly later once everything opens up in Canada and beyond and if we use the boat in Southern CA sometime in the future and or Florida. I think the SJI, we have so many logs in the water may not be practical but for larger bodies of water or unknown waters could be a huge benefit. And of course fog, which we'll try to avoid at all cost when possible.

Thoughts?

:smiled
 
I live in the San Juans, and naturally boat here all the time. I find my auto pilot extremely useful in these waters (and therefore in any other non-river waters). Much has already been said about this (including the whys) in many other threads on this forum. A little searching should find them.
 
We've had autopilots on all our boats. Journey On has a Raymarine unit which has worked very well. Hydraulic steering, so we had to plumb it in parallel to the wheel. The hydraulic pump just whines away under the sink, wonderful.

An autopilot has two main advantages. First it allows one to scan ahead for junk in the water without worrying about steering, which can be a full time job. This is good for the SJI, to see for logs in the water, etc. Second, steering for long stretches is boring and my attention wanders. An autopilot never gets bored or tired; ours always steers a straight course.

Where our autopilot could be better is downwind. When the boat is going down the swells the aft end gets shoved around. At some point, such as coming back from Santa Cruz Island in the afternoon, I have to hand steer and watch the throttle.

We love our autopilot. I don't know what boat you have, but do investigate autopilots.

Boris
 
Had a Garmin GHC 10 on my CD 26. It was an extra hand at the helm allowing me
to roam about underway at will. It never complained, swore or talked too much. It
always did what I asked, never questioned 'why?'. I personally admired it more
than some land lubbers I've had aboard.

It also saved fuel. Steering by hand, even old salts wander off course. Simply put,
less zigzagging saves fuel which saves money. Those dollars can then be used for
more essentials; beer, jerky, charity, but never cigarettes.

If you like yourself, do yourself a favor and get a good autopilot.

Aye.
 
So my son can sleep in my arms while I’m at the helm on rough days, so we can land tyee a 30 lb salmon with just two guys on the boat, for dock to dock auto routing on Lowrance, to have a rear helm using a second Lowrance Hds, so I can get traps ready while someone watches for debris in the water and finally hopefully in 2022 so I can enjoy going 6 knots while being with my family up the inside passage!
 
I do not have an autopilot but may get one. I once followed a larger boat off-shore because of heavy seas and knew the captain had autopilot. He maintained a perfect straight line course heading for about 15 nautical miles. I can hold a pretty good straight line course but not in fog because of no land or cloud based visual bearing and having to rely upon the compass solely. If I had an autopilot, there would be more time to look for and avoid crab pot buoys by not focusing so much time on the compass. :)
 
I had put a cheap Ray Marine on my 22, and I think the pump was too small for my system. It couldn't hold a heading in chop if it had too... I ended up replacing it with Garmin's Reacto 40 and smart pump, and love it. I installed it before taking the boat on the Inside Passage of SE Alaska, and think I would have been worn out if I didn't have it. Most all our travel was at displacement speeds and it was nice having the autopilot drive the boat. Even now on local lakes and rivers, many times I'll just engage the autopilot if I want to pay more attention to something else. BTW, I do a lot of solo trips, such as the Alaska one, so it's nice being able to let the AP drive while I make lunch or want to stretch and not have to just sit in front of the helm. BTW, I sold the 22 when I bought the 25, and transferred the autopilot over. Colby
 
At 35MPH, an AP would be a waste of money and time crossing any 'big' water (which Eileen perhaps rightfully defines as 'when I can't see any land anywhere) from Lake Ontario, Oneida, Potomac on Chesapeake, Chesapeake bay, Charleston bay, Santee Cooper, Gulf Islands, Santee river, St Lawrence river, Lake Champlain, etc.

You don't need to pay $4000-$5,000 for an AP on a TC255 going 35-40 MPH.
Try first without it to see if you think you Need it!

Your Mileage may vary!

John
 
There are plenty of pilots which are not 3 to 4 thousand dollars. For example the RayMarine EV150 is about $1,400. I have the S 1000 RayMarine and it works fine for all of the times I have used it.

Prior to my C Dorys almost every boat had a very good auto pilot. Crossing ocean, it is almost essential, unless you are racing and have crew which will do 1/2 to an hour time at the helm...

I had rationalized that most of the time I was using the C Dory on waters which required constant attention and changes in routing (ICW, and Rivers mostly). However now thet I have it on the C Dory25, I love it--and should have gotten one far sooner.

The best use is in long runs across open water, but it us useful in all other situations.
The Garmin pilots have a good reputation. However I still don't trust chart plotter auto routing, so I put in my own waypoints...
 
Singlehanding, 98% of the time. The AP allows standup breaks, straight line steering, point to point cruise (and still avoiding logs), no circles in the fog, and I would not be without it again.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
Thanks for the greta reply. Many more of you have AP's than I thought.
I was basically talked out of it for SJI's and was also told the cheaper units are pretty bad. I won't disclose by whom:-) Not aBrat though.

I will try our 23 out without this year but will most defiantly add one for next season.

Really, really appreciate the responses. Super informative.

Now, how do you go about justifying this with the first mate:-0

Kirk
 
It might be considered one of "the cheaper units" but my experience with the EV 150 over the last couple of years has been great.
 
In 2003 with our CD22 on our first SE Alaska & Yukon River cruise, we had cable steering without a auto pilot & had no clue on the advantages of having one. In 2004 after our SE Alaska cruise from Prince Rupert BC, I ended up with tendinitis in one elbow & cubical tunnel in the other, possibly exasperated by the constant steering changes, especially those while crossing the Dixon in somewhat rough seas. This got me into the search for a auto pilot. In 2005, I first tried the Raymarine cable steer Sport Pilot & found it worthless. Next I changed out the cable steering to hydraulic & installed a Raymarine S1000 auto pilot run by a Garmin Chartplotter. This served me fairly well & made wonderful improvement to our 2007, 2010, & 2012 extended SE Alaska cruises. During these cruises in some of the more extreme conditions the .5 liter pump couldn’t control the boat & after the 2012 three month cruise, the pump was wearing out & having even more problems holding course with much adjustment of the auto pilot settings, which can become complicated anyway with the S1000. In 2014 Raymarine was working on their new EV auto pilots & I contacted & purchased a 1 liter pump from that supply company in the UK. It turned out to be a major disappointment as the S1000 controller couldn’t correctly run the pump no matter the setting adjustments made. I contacted Raymarine & they graciously exchanged that pump for a new S1000 with all new fittings & hoses for no extra charge along with checking out my S1000 controller & saying it was still good. With these changes, I decided to also replace the complete hydraulic steering system including helm & cylinder. This again brought the auto pilot back to satisfactory, but still not able to perform in some conditions. We made the 2015, 2016 & 2018 extended SE Alaska cruises with the auto pilot again being a great help. During the last couple of years it’s performance had began to deteriorate again, so I started the search for the best option for a replacement. With the addition of the new motors, which had NMEA 2000 capability, I needed to also upgrade my electronic chart. I looked extensively into the comparisons of chart plotters & autopilots, especially Garmin & Raymarine. I have been using the Garmin GPS systems since they first came out & liked their quality & ease of use & with viewing Jody’s “Voyager” & Bill’s “Mystery Girl” Garmin ChartPlotter & auto pilot combos in action, knew they are a great combo. Still I dug deeper & found major improvements with the Raymarine auto pilots & chart plotters have been made making them just slightly less worthy, but the price a considerable difference. I found the price of chart plotters similar, but a $2000 dollar difference in comparable auto pilot assembly’s. I settled on a Raymarine Axiom 9 inch plotter & EV150 autopilot with 1 liter pump all tied together to motors & remote control by the combo NMEA 2000-Seatalk network. During my recent Lake Powell cruise there were 50 mph wind gust & the pilot controlled flawlessly. The 1 liter pump maintains the power needed to make the necessary steering changes & the compass & controller give very precise heading controls. The rotary control knob allows excellent steering with just the knob & with the remote control can do the same from anywhere on the boat. I’m extremely pleased with the auto pilot, chart plotter & new NMEA 2000 network.

One of the major differences between the S1000 & the EV150 is the set up for different conditions & boat types with the setting often needing changes for my use & somewhat complicated to do. The EV 150 has just three different easy to choose settings, which are Liesure, Cruise & Performance. I found the performance setting perfect for our CD22, whether at displacement or on plane speeds.

Jay
 
The only people that hate auto pilots don't own one and "god dam it" they never will .

Every tool has a time and place and every tool can be missed used. That is no the fault of the tool. I love using an auto pilot while fishing but was dam near t boned by another guy using his auto pilot while fishing AND Not paying attention. But I have been dam near ran over by far more fisherman that let go of the wheel to set a hook or grab a net and their boat starts to turn While they are not paying attention.

For fog at low speed, rough days, fishing , or long hauls I would love to have auto pilot again.
 
Agree with Tom's (& others') post completely.

Can't believe I did my first round trip to Alaska without auto pilot. Until I did a 2,000 mile trip without it, I thought it was some kind of "frill." It is a great benefit under many conditions. However, I would put it in the potential life-saver category in the few times I was forced to travel in heavy fog or darkness. Trying to hold a course in a small outboard boat at slow speed in the fog or dark using manual steering, with a compass or even with a GPS/charplotter, is WAY harder than you might think. At five mph without visible reference points, even a 2 mph cross current will quickly have you going in circles trying to maintain a heading. Steering like that takes attention and concentration that is much better put to use watching and listening and perhaps shining a handheld spotlight out the window.

As Tom notes, there are idiots who misuse autopilots. They are NOT meant for "hands-free" boating at cruising speeds while taking a potty break, having a cocktail, or catching up on social media.

What an auto pilot allows more than anything else in my book is to let you see what you should try to avoid running into.
 
I can see an autopilot working ok at speed. However, a C-Dory is quite affected by wind and waves due to the flat bottom, light weight, and high windage. At slower speeds, can an autopilot really keep up?
 
I was under the impression that AP was maybe not a common thing on a C-Dory, boy was I wrong.

And I did do a search and read some of that info as well. Was curious as to whom might be using the Garmin system in particular.

We'll probably do this season without it as we still have a canvas back, AIS and digital gauge to install. But, the AP is a must for sure next season. Already talked the wife into it:-) Thanks to all these comments:-)

Lots of you have gone to Alaska on your C-Dory's. That's something I really want to do in a few years. Be awesome to get a flotilla going.

Thanks again,

Kirk
 
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