New Autopilot for Catamaran.

[seaskip]

Hey all,
I’m planning an pilot upgrade for our cat.
She’s a 12.4 m Chamberlin, around 7 tonne, with stub keels. The present pilot is a Autohelm 3000 with belt drive that struggles when things get uneven.
The rest of our electronics are Raymarine, so I guess we should stick to them fir good connectivity?
I’d love your suggestions.
Happy sailing.

[Seman]

We are very happy with our RM wheelpilot Smartpilot X5 on our Mumby 48.
60000 nm, 5 Atlantic crossing and still working great. Replaced 3 drivebelts and 4 motors over 6 years of service.

[Joh.Ghurt]

If you want to stay with a wheel pilot, consider CPT Autopilot Inc.
It does the same things the old Autohelm did, but has beefier motorbox than the X5 or the EV-100 by Raymarine. Just compass mode steering, no NMEA, no GPS, no Tetris-game included.

The other option is to go with something modern with a ram attached to the quadrant. But in this case, the installation might be a little more complex.

[Frankly]

If you are bying new then you are probably going to find yourself in the NMEA 2000/ Seatalk NG business. Depending on your system integration there are converters avaliable.

I recently upgraded to a RM Evo system. Great system as far the AP business is concerned. Used a RM ST to STNG converter and kept my old RM X-5 for a NMEA 0183 to ST converter. All the different pieces appear to be talking nicely to one another, but I am really amazed. From a computer code perspective this is real a "tower of babel".


Frankly

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Joh.Ghurt

If you want to stay with a wheel pilot, consider CPT Autopilot Inc.
It does the same things the old Autohelm did, but has beefier motorbox than the X5 or the EV-100 by Raymarine. Just compass mode steering, no NMEA, no GPS, no Tetris-game included.

The other option is to go with something modern with a ram attached to the quadrant. But in this case, the installation might be a little more complex.

I would second this. Know several sailors that have put many miles on CPT units without a problem. Based on my limited knowledge this is the best of the wheel pilots. No networking, no fancy stuff, just basic, solid AP.

However for extended cruising a below decks unit is always a better option. I am very happy with my Simrad system that I use to drive a Raymarine linear mechanical drive.

[ALBACHIARA]

this is interesting, I didn't think the x5 was also suitable for sailboats

[Dougtiff]

I would be looking at the possibility of the boat being unbalanced, i.e., the sail's not being tuned correctly, over and above being knocked around in heavy weather, in that case, you probably should be at the helm.

[blubaju]

belt drive that struggles when things get uneven

my Raymarine steered perfectly my old cat, but had unresolveable problems with the new, much lighter yacht, no problem with B&G.

If its for reliable drive power, I use
www.jefa.com/steering/products/drives/drive.htm

[Paul Howard]

I had a Raymarine 6000 on my Manta cat coupled to an Octopus hydraulic pump and hydraulic cylinder installed below decks. Worked great for many thousands of miles and gale force winds in high latitudes 67N to 57S.
sold that boat and bought a lighter and more performance oriented 38ft. cat and tried a CPT and it could not keep up with the faster boat, especially going downwind when she would break away and surf at 15plus knots.
I am now installing a Raymarine EVO 200 with linear drive and tiller arm on the rudder post and hoping for good performance for the coming season.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Seman

We are very happy with our RM wheelpilot Smartpilot X5 on our Mumby 48.
60000 nm, 5 Atlantic crossing and still working great. Replaced 3 drivebelts and 4 motors over 6 years of service.

What does the steering systems look like on your boat that you are able to have a good experience with the wheel pilot?

[JasonS]

We installed the new Raymarine Evolution with ACU-200 and linear drive on our Manta 40 in February 2020. One year and About 2500 miles later, we are very happy with the system.

[chasfgr]

I doubt ANY autopilot, whether on windvane mode or steering to compass, can cope with a boat which surfs intermittently - this has to do with both drive and sensor.
It's comparatively easy when the sufrfing become continuous rather than intemmittent. Henmce, under such conditions, I tend to head more downwind than if I'm on hand-steering.

[arsenelupiga]

Originally Posted by chasfgr

I doubt ANY autopilot, whether on windvane mode or steering to compass, can cope with a boat which surfs intermittently - this has to do with both drive and sensor.
It's comparatively easy when the sufrfing become continuous rather than intemmittent. Henmce, under such conditions, I tend to head more downwind than if I'm on hand-steering.

we were in such conditions with SPX30. Critical to increase AP sensitivity so reaction delays are extremly litlle. We had to do it to 7 from default 3. Once delay is large enough, even 1/20 of second, forces to remediate start compounding at extremly fast rate. Once pilot fails to correct, you in serious trouble.

[seaskip]

Thankyou all for the responses and info. I’m not sure a wheel pilot is what I want, but I’ll look into the CPT unit. It does look robust.
Also , I take the point re sail trim, and I’m sure no expert, so done work to do there, but the conditions where I had the most trouble were 25-30 knots on the quarter, seas and swell 2-3 m and I had only furled headsail up.
Hand steering was fun, surf to 12 knots or so, but I’m not keen on doing that all night.
My read on this is that I was close to doing the best I could. I’m happy to learn.

[Rucksta]

Originally Posted by chasfgr

I doubt ANY autopilot, whether on windvane mode or steering to compass, can cope with a boat which surfs intermittently - this has to do with both drive and sensor.
It's comparatively easy when the sufrfing become continuous rather than intemmittent. Henmce, under such conditions, I tend to head more downwind than if I'm on hand-steering.

Mine does

B&G H5000 on a Lecombe & Schmitt hydraulic ram.

Leaves me free to tweak all the bits of string to stay on the wave longer.

It takes two waves for it to figure out what's going on then it adapts to changing conditions and trim.

9 axis steering compass, rudder sensor, high speed external processor with gust recovery algorithm all seem to do the job

I guess that's why they call it artificial intelligence.