Which Auotpilot Best For This Boat?

[JTHAW]

If...you had this boat...what, used,... wheel autopilot would you buy:?

17,000 lb sailboat, 36'.... good tracking, large skegged rudder, 685 SA...

autohelm 3000 came with the boat, selling this...to get better...but what

keys, Bahamas, down Islands sailing...

boat has,... Nmea 2000 backbone,.... Garmin 2012 740s chartplotter

budget least $$$, perhaps $1000 max used,... not wanting to purchase new...perhaps,...2008-2012 unit???....

informed responses appreciated...

[hpeer]

I've gotten rid of a 3000 on a smaller boat. 3000 now at a consignment shop. I'm going to do a tiller pilot to an aux rudder wind vane arrangement, just because I have the tiller pilot and a spare.

I recently installed a CPT on the big boat. 44' 40,000# long keel, barn door rudder.

Little experience with CPT (bought used for $1200 I think) but it seems to be working fine.

I think I had a ebay search for a CPT for about a year with one hit, maybe two. I know others who are looking as well. Very few used units floating around, from my experience.

I suspect you are going to have to bite the bullet on a new one. I have recently spoken to Jeff at CPT about a couple of things and it was a very, very nice experience.

[Annie in WA]

CPT. Got one, love it. for my 20,000 lb, 34' boat. There have been some recent posts on this topic, you might want to do a search.

[JTHAW]

I should add the steering is quadrant,....not hydraulic

[JTHAW]

Thanks for the quick replies....had not heard of cpt...glad I asked!

[onestepcsy37]

CPT autopilot. Been using mine for 12 years now. 37ft, 20,000lb cutter. Best wheel pilot around. Hard to find in the used market because they are easily moved from boat to boat, so some owners take them off their old boat and put them on their new one. See them here -

www.cptautopilot.com

[powsmias]

Originally Posted by onestepcsy37

CPT autopilot. Been using mine for 12 years now. 37ft, 20,000lb cutter. Best wheel pilot around. Hard to find in the used market because they are easily moved from boat to boat, so some owners take them off their old boat and put them on their new one. See them here -

CPT Autopilot Inc.

a big thank you to all the members on this site, especially roverhi, i bought a pearson 35 on ebay and tryin to get outta here but may be stuck till spring and thrilled after reading up on things listed here like the cpt which sits in a box in my hallway and no idea what i really had till i read this post and it's value.. thank you all.
eddie

[onestepcsy37]

Powsmais, whatever you do, dont sell it. If its old and you are not sure what shape its in, call Jeff at CPT and he will probably have you send it to him for a checkup and refurb. Not expensive.

My CPT came with the boat. It was at least ten or fifteen years old. Jeff refurbed it for $150 and ive been using it ever since.

[powsmias]

Originally Posted by onestepcsy37

Powsmais, whatever you do, dont sell it. If its old and you are not sure what shape its in, call Jeff at CPT and he will probably have you send it to him for a checkup and refurb. Not expensive.

My CPT came with the boat. It was at least ten or fifteen years old. Jeff refurbed it for $150 and ive been using it ever since.

thanx a bunch bro.. called him earlier and nice people.. gonna set it up soon and see condition.. all in all looks good.. thanx mister.. all the best

[ramblinrod]

Originally Posted by JTHAW

If...you had this boat...what, used,... wheel autopilot would you buy:?

17,000 lb sailboat, 36'.... good tracking, large skegged rudder, 685 SA...

autohelm 3000 came with the boat, selling this...to get better...but what

keys, Bahamas, down Islands sailing...

boat has,... Nmea 2000 backbone,.... Garmin 2012 740s chartplotter

budget least $$$, perhaps $1000 max used,... not wanting to purchase new...perhaps,...2008-2012 unit???....

informed responses appreciated...

I'd recommend a Raymarine EV 100 wheel pilot. Have installed many and all customers have been happy. Connects easily to NMEA 2K. 9 axis gyro beats fluxgate hands down.

[RaymondR]

I have some friends who recently bought a CPT autopilot and it looks like a nice sturdy piece of gear however I did not notice any connection to allow it to be coupled to a GPS or chart plotter. Does the CPT have NMEA capability?

I have two Raymarines, the first an old 4000 with the computer in the head and the second with a separate computer. I have found the electronics to be very good and reliable but the wheel pilot part with it's little 7mm wide belt a piece of junk and have scrapped them both in favor of a home made drive with a 300 Watt 24V pushbike motor, a 1" wide auto timing belt and a large SS drum on the wheel.

I have a switchable connection to both a dedicated nav computer running OpenCPN, with a USB GPS via a USB to RS422 converter and my old Magellan GPS and now consider this sort of setup a requirement for safe single handed coastal cruising.

[RaymondR]

9 axis gyro beats fluxgate

Is this some sort of string theory gyro or have I slept through something again?

[onestepcsy37]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

Is this some sort of string theory gyro or have I slept through something again?

Afraid you've been sleeping again. Raymarine ap's now detect motion in up, down, in, out, backwards, forwards, clockwise, anticlockwise and shakey. They also have alarms for anti gravity and zero gravity as well as the approach of an event horizon.

Either you need to stop sleeping so much or i need to stop drinking so much

[onestepcsy37]

Originally Posted by powsmias

thanx a bunch bro.. called him earlier and nice people.. gonna set it up soon and see condition.. all in all looks good.. thanx mister.. all the best

powsmias - i received your private mail, thought i would answer here. No, I don't have a wind vane. For my kind of sailing I don't see any particular good use for one. The longest i've been at sea is four days and the CPT steered the whole way every time. I can understand wind vane steering for long ocean voyages but I don't think I will be making one at my age. OTOH, some folks like to fool around with them so go right ahead if you like. The good ones are as expensive as electric autopilots but have the advantage of being completely self contained when in operation.

When you do install your CPT, use the manual. If you don't have one, they are available at the CPT website in PDF format. Be sure to read the manual cover to cover before doing anything.

They are actually very simple devices with few controls which is one of the reasons I like mine so much. Once you actually get to sea and start using it you will need to play with the two controls until you get to learn how your particular boat reacts to different settings. I eventually found a setting for each control that I used maybe 95% of the time for most sea states.

One control determines how far off course you will allow the boat to wander before applying a rudder correction. The other control determines how much of a rudder correction you will apply to get back on course. My boat is a heavy full keel cutter that balances very well. I found that it was ok to let the boat wander five degrees and make small rudder corrections. Your boat may be different.

And no, you can't connect it to your GPS, for which I can only say, "Thank You Jeff!".

[onestepcsy37]

Originally Posted by ramblinrod

I'd recommend a Raymarine EV 100 wheel pilot. Have installed many and all customers have been happy. Connects easily to NMEA 2K. 9 axis gyro beats fluxgate hands down.

I have little experience with Raymarine wheel pilots but I do know that they are limited to the size of boat they can handle. The EV 100 says 16,500 pounds, which is just at the limit of the OP's boat size. I personally wouldn't feel comfortable with an AP that could JUST steer my boat; how would it react in serious conditions?

Still, it is "state of the art" with all the bells and whistles the "modern" sailor wants. Thankfully i'm not the modern sailor...