I’d say it really comes down to how you plan to use the boat. The wheel pilot is marginal at best but if you’re just going to sail for a few hours in protected bays, in light to moderate wind its fine. It may also be a viable option if on a tight budget and view the autopilot as a luxury rather than a necessity. If you have more ambitious plans, you’ve received very good advice.
John On Apr 16, 2014, at 11:43 AM, Frederick G Street <f...@postaudio.net> wrote: > Agreed — rule of thumb is to size the autopilot so that its rating is at > least 1-1/2 times the displacement of the vessel; Raymarine says to add 20%, > but that’s not conservative enough in my opinion. So for a LF38 at a > published displacement of 16,000 lbs (which means in real life, it’s more > like 19,000 lbs loaded or more…), you’d want the autopilot to be rated for at > least 24,000 lbs; closer to 30,000 lbs would be better. The Octopus drive is > rated for 33,000 lbs, and the ACU-200 course computer will handle the current > for that drive under all conditions you’re likely to encounter. That’s a > much better safety margin than the SPX-5 which is rated at 16,500 lbs max > displacement. > > Fred Street -- Minneapolis > S/V Oceanis (1979 C&C Landfall 38) -- on the hard in Bayfield, WI :^( > > On Apr 16, 2014, at 10:23 AM, Joel Aronson <joel.aron...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Paul >> >> The X-5 wheelpilot is barely adequate for a 35/3. >> >> Joel >> >> >> On Wed, Apr 16, 2014 at 11:17 AM, Paul Eugenio <dre...@gmail.com> wrote: >> Frank, >> >> I do not have an autopilot yet installed on my 38LF. I do have a Raymarine >> SPX-5 wheel autopilot which I had installed on my 29-1(it is now currently >> at Raymarine getting the computer repaired). A 38LF is right at the max >> displacement limit for a SPX-5, and I was thinking about giving it a try, >> but I am strongly thinking about following Fred’s recommendation in getting >> the EV-200 Sail paired with an Octopus 1212LAM12 hydraulic linear drive. >> >> >> Paul > > _______________________________________________ > This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album > http://www.cncphotoalbum.com > CnC-List@cnc-list.com
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