AUTOPILOT SURVEY

[Alan Wheeler]

An older StandardHorizon with hyd. stearing. It's OK, but want to upgrade to the New Navman/Northstar system.

[Beausoleil]

Let's see.

In our old boat, "Moondrifter", a 1979 Mariner 28, we had a Navico WP-5000 (now Simrad). Never had a problem with it that wasn't user-induced (try a supposedly non-magnetic stainless-steel coffee mug right next to the fluxgate compass!).

In "Beausoleil", it's a Raymarine S3G (with gyro), with an ST8002 control head, and a Type III hydraulic pump. Installed last year. The control head died on the way back from a cruise to Maine. Raymarine replaced it no-questions-asked. We'll see how it holds up over time. I'll probably add a second control head at the nav station...

[Hud3]

Mine's a B&G Network Pilot, Type 1. It usually performs pretty well, but has it's lapses. It first quit in the Bermuda Triangle, mysteriously, and then came back on. It's had a few additional unexplained lapses in the Chesapeake and the Caribbean, but has recovered without assistance.

Has trouble handling large quartering seas offshore, so we hand steer. That's OK with me. I love to drive the boat, and tell my crew, "Why let the autopilot have all the fun?" Besides, how else can you tell if the boat is balanced unless you can feel the wheel?

Probably averages 4 amps in a 6-9' sea state. Just a guess, since the draw varies from zero to 8 amps or so. Less draw on smooth water, of course. I think it's slightly underpowered for my boat, unfortunately. which weighs about 24,000 lbs.

[cooper]

St1000 circuit board corroded. Definitely need to keep it out of the weather!! Got it going and and used it for two years. It stopped again just recently and now just beeps. ...I miss Albert terribly and curse sitting at the helm steering for hours.....

[henryk]

Just came back from the Seattle boat show . I looked all the autopilots that were there ,and it looks like I will settle with Hydrovane self steering with tiller pilot combination . Simple ,easy to install ,more rigid than any other windvane ,and doesn't stick aft as much as Monitor . There are lots of sailors that circumnavigate with this "combo" .
The only problem is cost $7500 plus delivery from England and the tiller pilot of my choice.

[Oceansandmts]

Alpha 3000 on a 32' cutter for two years. No problems, steered well in all conditions including quartering seas, low current draw, easy to use. I am putting another Alpha on my new boat.

[Maddog]

WP-10 who could ask for more.

[henryk]

who makes it ? and what's the cost ? is it electric or hydraulic?

[jrd22]

Old boat has a Wagner hydraulic autopilot, has been totally reliable for over 15 years. Newer boat has Autohelm 7000, I'll let you know how it is after a couple of years, but seems to work great and must be 10 years old at least, hydraulic. Monitor windvane has steered the boat all over the Pacific (PO) in some severe storms and still looks new. If I were buying new I would get Comnav, most popular with commercial fishermen here in the PNW and Alaska.

John

[rleslie]

We have a Furuno and it has been excellent. Used it in 5-6' quartering seas with winds 20+ under sail for about 18 hours and it lost it's heading and had to be reset just once. Very easy to use once you can figure out the directions.....a lot is lost in the translation. Have used it for three years with no problems. It is hydraulic with a gyro.

Would buy another in a heartbeat.

[Samadhi V]

WH Autopilot, drives the boats in ALL conditions- we have never had to assume manual control of the boat even in 50 knot sustained winds with very steep seas on the quarter.

[S/V Antares]

The Prev. Owner of our boat gave us an older Navico belt drive. I will buy a linear drive unit this year as the Navico simply does not cut it. Fine in flat calm motoring but not much more. POS.

Most folks name their Autopilots. Ours is "Rufus" How about telling us your pilots name when posting to this track!

[susan kennedy]

We have an old autohelm 3000 on our morgan 34 which works great. We call it "Captain Ron." We are looking for a 2nd one as a backup. We were going to get a simrad WP32 but they don't make them anymore. The only other manual wheel pilot I can find , now, is by raymarine. Is this my only option?

[Microship]

I named the tillerpilot on my previous boat (Corsair 36 trimaran) "Tina," since she was a Turner. Maybe the next one will be Ted. Or not.

I'm currently shopping for a robust autopilot that can drive a 30 cubic inch Wagner cylinder and play nice in a steel hull.

Cheers,
Steve

[Maine Sail]

With AP's the set up is CRITICAL. A buddy of mine, with the identical AP (brand not important), was always bitching and moaning about how badly it performed and how he was going to buy X-brand instead.

Well after about three hours of me helping with tweaking, test sails and set up, in menu's he never seen, all he could talk about was how great his autopilot was. He's still using it to this day and absolutely loves it..

It's all in the details and proper set up. DO NOT let the AP decide what "pre-programed" sail boat settings to choose! Dial it in your self and the difference will be like night and day!!