Auto pilot Choices

B

breausaw

New member
Getting serious about installing an Auto pilot and would like feedback and recommendations from anyone who has installed their own.; have Teleflex Baystar hydraulic steering and Garmin 172c GPS chart plotter.


Thanks,
 
I can only comment on auto pilots in general, because they don't make the one on Journey On anymore. And we don't have a cute name for the device. It's entering it's 6th year.

We use Journey On for cruising (no racing?) and the autopilot is the single most important electronics we've put on. It allows you to pay attention to where you're going, relax and have a beer and even steers a better course than you.

It died last year and hand steering wasn't fun. Raytheon did fix it for ~$100, and all is well now. I do have to hand steer in a strong following sea, but then I didn't get the one with rate gyros.

The only hard thing about installing it was bleeding the hydraulic system. had to pay to have that done.

Had them on all our sailboats, and wouldn't be without one.

Boris
 
We have the Raymarine Smart Pilot wireless system. On it's third year works very well. We use Coastal Explorer now on a laptop and i just use the hand held remote to steer the boat on the course shown on the laptop. Hit the waypoint and use the right and left turn buttons to steer to the new heading and the next waypoint. Need to take over the wheel? just hit the standby button and when you are ready to go back on pilot just hit pilot. Good simple solution works down to 3 mph. It has not even needed replacement batteries yet. Three year warranty. Some have complained about the hydaulic pump noise. I never hear our pump as it is mounted in the rear of the storage area under the sink. First ever auto pilot but will never have a boat with out one again. Really nice to have when dealing with a sea hitting the boat on the front or rear quarter. Steers straighter than I ever could.
D.D.
 
Just got back from maiden cruise on Sea-Cruz. It has the same Raymarine autopilot and I loved it. Amazing to watch the pilot steer the motor correcting for every swell without ever missing a beat. Watching the motor, you can see how tiring it would be to stay so alert and make so many hundreds of corrections. This is a job for a computer. The seas were a short period 7 seconds with nearly 6 feet and watching the wake, the pilot was steering a very straight course. A must have toy.

Ron
 
If you have garmin chart plotter then go with a garmin auto pilot. I had a raymarine on my 22 and miss it a lot but would like to have a better one on the 27 when i save up enough. It all depend on what you are going to do with it. if just cruising then any of them will work but if your going to troll a lot then get the best one you can. One that will troll slow. will troll backwards against the current or wind for bottom fishing. one that has trolling patterns, zigg zag and search patterns. Their is one that will even follow the depth you set. its all a matter or what you need to do with it.
 
We have a Garmin 4208 multi function chart plotter and run a Raymarine auto pilot. Reason being the Garmin auto pilot is a fine unit but also costs 2000 dollars my the than the Raymarine 1000s wireless model to purchase. Thats why we went with the Raymine we have no need to run an auto pilot while going in reverse. :lol: The 2k went towards other options that we really thought we needed more than a top of the line auto pilot.
D.D.
 
Thanks for all the feedback, the wife say’s we can’t afford one right now..read..if you want one it’s your nickel; so I put another Grand on the old card.

We put anywhere from 100 to 160 miles on the boat most 2 and 3 day weekends. Travel to our chosen destination is usually 30-50 miles, from reading your comments the auto pilot will make those runs way more relaxing.

For use the RayMarine S1000 seems like a perfect fit, one I should be able to install without too much trouble.

A little Father’s Day gift to myself.
 
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