All,
Finally something I can comment on --- all of you experts know so much and I feel like a toddler at the kids table at Thanksgiving when I listen to you all. My experience with a wheel pilot was the Raymarine one you mention. I put it on a Rawson 30 cutter rigged with an Edson wheel and pedestal. The Rawson is a VERY heavy boat for it's size and I felt that I was pushing the limits with the wheel pilot. In "calm seas" it did GREAT. however anything above 3-5' it wouldn't handle it at all and I had to hand steer. Keep in mind the Rawson was very heavy and lots of freeboard. and it needed a lot of wind to really get the rail down. So it was kind of at odds with itself as far as autopilots go. it needed a lot of wind to get really moving, and then when it had that, the seas were so "rolly" that the wheel pilot just couldn't hold the line. I tried all the calibration tricks, and so long as it wasn't too much above 10-12 knots, it was OK. after that - nope. It integrated well into all the electronic goodies and had no problems there. (chart plotter, GPS, Radar (Radar was Furuno, Chart plotter Garmin, GPS Raymarine). So now that Alethea (C&C 43) has a shopping list for upgrades - she is getting a new below decks autopilot - something along the lines of the EV-400 or something maybe like a Simrad AP28 . Still researching.. Interestingly enough I had a C&C 34 (Gabriella) that had the wheel taken out and a tiller fit on.. When I bought her she had a "little" (and cheap) Simrad tiller pilot and that would hold the C&C 34 in just about anything . well - anything reasonable - 20-25 knots and choppy Puget Sound seas. But "Gabby" was extraordinarily well balanced and she could be hand steered from the tiller in heavy wind and seas with VERY minimal effort. JP Alethea C&C 43 From: Novabraid via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Sent: Friday, October 22, 2021 9:10 AM To: 'Stus-List' <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Cc: csgilchr...@comcast.net Subject: Stus-List Engine controls and Auto Pilots I'm contemplating adding a new wheel mount auto pilot (Raymarine EV-100) on my 1983 Landfall 35, equipped with an Edson 737 dual lever engine control (the type with the two extra stainless tubes that carry the control cables). I was curious to see if anyone on the list may have attempted to add this style auto pilot to their boat using the same engine control to see if there were any clearance issues between the autopilot motor/drive unit and the control housing. This type engine control extends below the top of the pedestal (beneath the compass) and has up/down levers on port and starboard. I am aware that I'm at the top end of the displacement range for a wheel pilot, however my main reason for wanting a pilot in the first place is to facilitate single handing the boat for setting and dousing sails as well as picking up moorings, etc. I'm not looking to cross oceans, just simple coastal cruising but since my primary crew member has moved out West, not having an auto pilot means the boat will sit on the mooring far more often. A below deck pilot brings with it the challenge of where to mount the drive unit and the cost of the more expensive pilot, the Edson tiller arm, and the fabrication of a shelf to mount the drive unit. Thanks for any advice. Chuck Gilchrest S/V Half Magic 1983 Landfall 35 Padanaram, MA
Thanks to all of the subscribers that contributed to the list to help with the costs involved. If you want to show your support to the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks - Stu
