Autopilot Setup advice

[zacksmyname]

I'm new to the cruiser world. I've spent most of my summers on jet skis and center consoles and just purchased my first larger boat. It is a 2001 Cruisers 3750 and it has essentially no electronics. I would like to figure out the cheapest decent autopilot setup including the chartplotter/autopilot/pump and anything else required. I want a setup that will navigate bases on the chartplotter, not just maintain course. I have very little knowledge on the electronics so any help is appreciated. Thank You

[kapnd]

Have you done any shopping yet?
You might want to pare the word “cheap” out of your search criteria, marine electronics in that category are not what you’d want .
Google search is your best friend, narrow down your choices there, then post back here for input from others who use same.
I’d start with a decent head unit, and then buy compatible add-ones of same brand.

[LoudMusic]

I'm curious what you consider to be "cheap".

[zacksmyname]

Originally Posted by LoudMusic

I'm curious what you consider to be "cheap".

Up to $5000 for the system.

[zacksmyname]

Originally Posted by kapnd

Have you done any shopping yet?
You might want to pare the word “cheap” out of your search criteria, marine electronics in that category are not what you’d want .
Google search is your best friend, narrow down your choices there, then post back here for input from others who use same.
I’d start with a decent head unit, and then buy compatible add-ones of same brand.

Yes, but im having trouble figuring out what can work with what. I was hoping to have someone chime in and say "i have this setup (with details on a similar boat) and it works great and than i would at least know what i buy together will work.

[Quebramar]

I think for $5k you could have an integrated system incl. AP, plotter, wind/speed/depth instruments for eg Raymarine: evolution AP, Axiom plotter and related instruments incl. gps antenna. Just look up their site to see features and what works best.
It works on my boat for 20yr, and I’m upgrading components as we speak.

[Bill O]

You may want to use the boat a bit before you choose your AP system. The chart plotter is fairly simple and you could use opencpn on a laptop initially for this purpose. You may have most of the items/equipment needed already for opncpn, so very little cost upfront. Even though it's free shareware, the people that put it together have made it better than many brand name chart plotter software packages.

This will allow you to use the boat and do your homework to determine what is the best AP for the job.

[LoudMusic]

Following a path is pretty common on chart-plotters/autopilots these days it seems. You likely won't be able to get a particularly large screen for your budget, but maybe that doesn't matter.

Also, you might find someone who has recently replaced all their equipment and is willing to offload their old stuff to you. People seem to upgrade unnecessarily and I don't know what they do with their old working stuff

[tkeithlu]

I'm with Bill O. on this. In addition, you have other electronics to consider, and may or may not want to have them integrated into the system. What do you plan for AIS and radar? VHF?

You can go anywhere from a full glass cockpit with everything on one system to everything separate. Personally, I'm at the "separate" extreme, but I particularly value redundancy, integrate it all OK in my brain, and have bunches of instrument panel space. You know you want to integrate chartplotter and autopilot, but what about the rest?

[kapnd]

“Cheap” applies to building the autopilot system as well, there is nylon tubing or there’s stainless, size matters too, bigger diameter tubing has a much smoother feel, smaller tubing works, but you’ll feel every pulse of the pump.
Cylinders can be aluminum or brass, the immediate distinction between them being price, but if you want long lasting quality, brass wins.
I’ve had Comnav, Raymarine, and Simrad autopilots, the Simrad gets the nod.
My old boat came with a Comnav, I hated it. It had no screen at all, just two rows of buttons, no visual confirmation or course indicating.
The Raymarine was more user friendly, but had electronics failures, and a screen went black way too soon, so it was costly to keep up.
I’ve had the Simrad for 5 years, no complaints or failures there, consequently I’ve upgraded all electronics to Simrad so they all network smoothly from either station.
That’s what I know, hope it helps!