Advice on new Auto Pilot for a 41' CheoyLee Pedrick

[Captain Randy]

Hi All,
Its time to pull the trigger and replace our Raymarine Wheel Pilot and put a real below deck hydrolic pilot in. A Raymarine Evolution EV 200 is being recommended to me as a viable option and will link with my Raymarine chart plotter. So if you were me what would you be looking at. We are taking off 11/19 to head to Mexico and South America and want of course reliable and as low possible power consumption. The EV 200 kit is $3,300. If there is a better value and reliability I would like to know even if at a higher cost with out getting to crazy on cost. I want the right one.

Thanks so much for helping us.
CR

[billknny]

You might consider a Raymarine linear drive. They are very robust (mine was just rebuilt after 50,000 miles!) and really, really quiet. Ours is actually under the bunk in the aft cabin. You can sleep on the bunk underway. Try that with the typical hydraulic drive!

Downside: the installation dimensions are larger and less flexible than the typical hydraulic cylinder.

[Captain Randy]

Thanks for the feed back. I will look into it.

[Suijin]

Just make sure that if your boat is remotely close to the tonnage limit of a given drive that you get the next biggest one. Undersized drives tend to have short lifespans.

If Raymarine offers a linear drive I would look into that. They are quieter and in some cases more energy efficient.

[Scout 30]

Defender has the EV 200 on sale right now plus there's a rebate.

Raymarine Evolution EV-200 Power Vessel Hydraulic Autopilot Pack w/ P70Rs

[Matt Johnson]

Raymarine Linear drives are excellent, but you are pushing it for a type 1 (24,000 pound capacity to your 23,000 displacement). I'd upgrade to the ACU-400 with a type 2 drive for your boat..... Higher price, but reliability will be top notch.

Matt

[Bob.]

Look at W-H Auto pilots in Washington I had one on my 40 for over 20 years. They have been used on round the world racing sail boats.

[skipmac]

When I researched a new AP for my 42 Pearson it seems Raymarine units are loved and shall I say, not loved. Most seem very happy with them but a few not so much.

I went with a Simrad unit and so far very happy with it. Note that you can interface any AP with any plotter that has NMEA 2000 connections. Raymarine uses a slightly proprietary version that requires a bit of tinkering but should stll work. I was able to get my Simrad AP to work with my Garmin GPS with no issues at all, truly plug and play.

[roland stockham]

The difference between the email & 200 appears to be just the power output stage which is a simple H Bridge. If you understand how they work you can save a lot by fitting the the ev100 plus an h bridge driver. Worked for me.

[emcmia]

Originally Posted by funjohnson

Raymarine Linear drives are excellent, but you are pushing it for a type 1 (24,000 pound capacity to your 23,000 displacement). I'd upgrade to the ACU-400 with a type 2 drive for your boat..... Higher price, but reliability will be top notch.

Matt

I concur with all those recommending a Raymarine linear drive. Due to catastrophic failure with the originally fitted Autohelm A/P on my 1993 cat, I retrofitted the electronics end of a Cetrek A/P system to the still operating (Type 2) Autohelm (now Raymarine) linear drive in 1996 and have had no failures or faults in more than 20 years. You may also find that many of the 'below deck' systems from other manufacturers will easily interface with the Raymarine linear drive.

[Oceanride007]

Put me down as another vote for type 2 & ACU400.
I haven't upgraded my actuator yet, still plenty of life in existing type1 actuator.

The thing is that the amp draw is more largely dependent on the load. If a larger clever AP anticipates earlier it can avoid more corrective course correction and less amphr draw.

Much can be done by making the balance more neutral. Linear motor actuator is more efficient than Hydraulic and less noisy. Rotary electric I would think is more reliable, Ray says not, for me Rotary would be a bitch to install, it was easy to talk me out of it.

[Boston Blackie]

We love our Evolution Type 2 hydraulic system on our J42. It replaced the original Roberston. The Evolution has roll pitch yaw sensors that nicely adaptively anticipate motion and avoid over steering.

[jacktheflyer]

Originally Posted by roland stockham

The difference between the email & 200 appears to be just the power output stage which is a simple H Bridge. If you understand how they work you can save a lot by fitting the the ev100 plus an h bridge driver. Worked for me.

Could you expand on the details of the H bridge adaptation? I have a EV100 with a wheel pilot for a 7tonne boat and it is undersized. I'd very much like not to have to go to a EV200.
Scrubby

[Greg Mason]

My '88 41' Pedrick Cheoy Lee offshore required me to build a platform for a linear drive auto pilot, attached right onto the rudder quadrant from a tower. I was in BC at the time, and bought an Octopus linear drive unit from the guy building them in West Vancouver. Bought a control unit and away we went. Because my CL 41 weighed in at a little over 15 tons, with a good sized rudder, we upsized the hydraulic ram. Also we used our Monitor self steering a ton. You might be surprised how apparent wind on the light air paddle could steer while under power. We were. Make sure you are matching ability of the unit to your vessel.