AUTOPILOT SURVEY

[viking69]

i have a simrad wp30 and it is crap. brakes belts in rough seas and here they cost $80 a go. when a belt brakes it jams your steering wich is not much fun either. does not control well in anything more then good conditions. i have had the dealer out to check it over and he said that is just how it is.

[Lancerbye]

I have an AutoNav 1510 with hydraulic controls tied to a Garmin 2010 plotter, Works great, AutoNav is made in Vancouver, British Columbia.

[Paul L]

I just looked at the poll above. 3 out of the 2 users of WH APs say they perform well in rough conditions. I think we have some statistical problems.

Paul L

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Paul L

I just looked at the poll above. 3 out of the 2 users of WH APs say they perform well in rough conditions. I think we have some statistical problems.

Paul L

Maybe the 3rd guy has a stolen one and doesn't technically own it.

I bet if there are any RayMarine reps monitoring this forum they are pretty happy...

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

...I bet if there are any RayMarine reps monitoring this forum they are pretty happy...

I don't know. The absolute number of APs in the survey are clearly Raymarine. They also have the highest percentage of survey folks saying they were unreliable 9%.

Paul L

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Paul L

I don't know. The absolute number of APs in the survey are clearly Raymarine. They also have the highest percentage of survey folks saying they were unreliable 9%.

Paul L

It's hard to extrapolate the number as most of them do not add up to the total of units as Paul pointed out.

Also to get teh right percentages you have to consider the number of like units.

Actually of 33 Raymarine units 6 are unreliable for a total of around 18% of raymarine units. However some of the others are 20% up to 40% on sample sizes of 5.

Methinks we have unsifficient sample sizes...

[scotte]

As Ex-Calif says, it can be tricky getting statistically significant data from this survey. By the same numbers, we could argue that Raymarine must be the most reliable, because it has the highest number of votes there.

In other words, the data is only as good as the data is...

[Keegan]

Originally Posted by scotte

As Ex-Calif says, it can be tricky getting statistically significant data from this survey. By the same numbers, we could argue that Raymarine must be the most reliable, because it has the highest number of votes there.

In other words, the data is only as good as the data is...

As long as we dont let statisticians start anylising the data then we will all be fine drawing our own conclusions. Ignorance is bliss I thought.

Keegan

[bob and sharon]

We have an older Raymarine wheel mounted autopilot. According to the Raymarine literature it's way too small for the 25000lb, 41' sailboat it's attached to. But it seems to work well in most weather conditions, although it sounds stressed when steering in big swells. Our only problem has been that the wires soldered to the drive motor occasionally break off, or should I say the solder joint breaks. I believe this to be due to the vibration caused by the unit when it's turning the wheel. I like it due to it's simplicity; a control unit (which mounts below, out of the weather), a gyro compass, and a 12volt drive motor and belt. It draws less than 1 amp and can be programmed to pilot a compass course or maintain an angle of sail, similar to a vane (if connected to a Raymarine windspeed/direction display.

[caribnsol]

Raymarine ST7000, has worked well sofar, though I am currently having problems with the windbird. The raymarine site had some good troubleshooting tips so I'll be trying that.

[Connemara]

Autohelm 3000. Otto the Iron Sailor does a pretty good job, but haven't really tested him in tough conditions -- I prefer to sail myself. He crews on a 27-foot Mirage sloop. No idea of the power draw -- haven't checked.

Connemara

[imagine2frolic]

All instruments are Tecnautic with the steering being hydraulic.

[svquest2]

I have a NAVICO WP5000 installed in 1994 and used constantly since then. Have cruised offshore from WA to the sea of Cortez and six years there. I'm still using the original belt. My boat is heavy at 20,000# + and to stop the belt from slipping I glued a piece of extra belt inside out to the wheel pulley and it doesn't slip unless I'm getting knocked down.
The only problems I have ever had with it was the O ring broke that prevented the compass from tumbling and the compass did tumble (I flipped it back and put on a new O ring myself). The other problem was a broken wire in the remote that was caused by a yank on the remote, and I fixed that myself also.

Navico was bought out by Simrsd, and they marketed the same unit as a Simrad WP 5000, and I bought one to have as a spare, and have never used it.

Joe S

[harryrezz]

I have a three year old WH on my 36,000 lb (empty) CSY 44 cutter. Rugged and robust unit. It has been trouble free. It gets used frequently in pretty rough conditions (Windward Islands of the sosuthern Caribbean ) and steers much better in most cases than I can (or than I choose to put forth the effort to do). Love it.
BTW - I checked off a wrong box on the survey because I mis-read a question. My unit has NOT been unreliable ... ever!

[Brent Swain]

I have owned an autohelm 800 powering a trimtab on the trailing edge of my ruddder since 1992. No problems, except it sometimes sticks and throws the helm hard over. This may have been what ran a couple of pleasure boats under BC ferries in the last ten years. Best never use an autopliot in the presence of big ships or close to other dangers.