Below Deck Autopilot - Has anyone installed one ?

[ellispe]

I know that at this point I have still not actually sailed my new boat, but in preparation for that first long sail to Catalina Island, I was pondering the future purchase of an auto-pilot.

I have seen on other boats Auto-pilots with the rings and pulley's attached to the wheels and I have also seen people who had the mechanism used to turn the wheel mounted below deck.   If possible I would like a Ray Marine display on the topside, but would like top have the mechinisims to turn the wheel mounted below the deck.

If anyone has done this, or if anyone knows of any great autopilots I would appreciate if you could share the model numbers and descriptions

Many Thanks

Peter

[Jon Schneider]

I have.  The advantage of a below-deck pilot is that the course correction is far faster and more sensitive than any wheel pilot.  And it is perfectly quiet.  No more grinding sound in the cockpit, which is an amazing blessing.  The downside is that the swing radius of the below-deck pilot (at least Raymarine's) limits the C34's total port-starboard range of turning by about 10 degrees on each side.  That doesn't matter in any sailing circumstance, but it is a touch of a nuisance in docking (although probably only if you were used to the full swing radius as I was). 

I installed the Raymarine S1G, which I believe they still sell, but has been superseded by the X series.  For the X series, you need a Type 1 linear drive, an X-10 Core (computer), and a display that meets your fancy (they offer at least three variations).  There may be other differences between the S1 series and the X series, but the significant one that I can see is that you no longer need a rudder sensor with the X series.  That saves a bit of time in installation.  I'm not sure if there are any other truly significant differences, but it would be worth a call to Raymarine to find out.  I believe Simrad also offers autopilots.  I had a tiller-pilot of theirs 10 years ago (different boat obviously) and didn't like their support, so I've held that against them ever since.  I don't really like Raymarine's support either, but they're the market leader, so I went with them for that bit of security.  BTW, Raymarine's ST8002 display with rotary control is the one I got, and I don't recommend it.  The rotary steering is okay, but no better than the up/down buttons on the standard control heads.  What you can't do on the rotary model is an automatic tack by depressing two keys.  Instead, you have to twirl the rotary controller the right amount of degrees.  That means you have to be looking at it and do the math on the degrees.  I mostly single-hand, so that's not very convenient (although I do enjoy the math challenge).  I think the rotary controller is made for stinkpot owners. 

[Meerkata]

Have installed Raymarine and really like it. Any additional equipment is easily added with very little set-up knowledge. Electronically speaking, it becomes seemless. Now it is wireless capable.

When buying, I suggest thinking ahead to where you might be adding additional equipment, and make sure it is available, cost is what you would pay for the addition(s), and stay within one manufacturer. For interest, when I bought my first chartplotter, it was relatively inexpensive. The next item I wanted was radar. And guess what, it was available, but not for the chartplotter which was still very new. That is why I suggest to stay with a make such as Raymarine which has everything compatible. But be aware that even older (if you are looking at used) Raymarine may not be compatible with today's newest models in all respects.

Jim, Meerkata 1649