Hi Gus,
NKE Gyropilot 2, best ROI out of all the whole build, awesome piece of kit. Mind you, the pilot is only as good as the sensor inputs, aside from the normal stuff I'd really recommend a roll/pitch/yaw sensor for crap conditions, it's worth every cent.
Power draw is dependent on a well balanced boat of course, properly trimmed the helm doesnt move more than an inch or two and the power is nothing.
The only critique I have had with the NKE was a period where the helm would randomly snap hard left or right. Turned out to be my fault, I had it set to solo mode and my wrist mob transmitter battery was going flat, so it kept thinking I had gone overboard

I used TMQ as well. All the fishing vessels in this port used TMQ bar one with a Coursemaster. Mates Coursmaster gave him trouble. TMQ were made in Queensland and I did have to send mine away for a service but I would rate them as excellent.

I have a Raymarine, installed it myself on a 37 foot modern Bavaria. So not a long keel boat, rather a flighty, highly responsive type of boat. I first bought a wheel pilot type, but luckily I phoned RM and spoke to A guru who put me straight on matching up the right unit. So he advised, adding 20 % to your listed displacement of the boat. To allow for all the extra crap that we non racers carry around. So in my case that resulted in buying a bigger system. Mine is electric/ mechanical, but I guess the same applies to your hydraulic pump system, RM have electro/hydraulic actuators. I some how ended up with an extra rudder position sensor, if your keen? I love the performance of the system, the 9 axis guidance is really precise, mine is set to also work of the wind direction indicator and works amazingly well to windward, it can keep the headsail tell tails flowing perfectly. Downwind is better on course degrees setting, but this is simple one touch toggle between Vane & Course angle. Single handed tacking is spot on, it can even gybe too!
adding a rudder sensor sharpens everything up.

if you already have instruments, it maybe easier to match up your system to communicate and integrate easily!

cheers Richard

shaggybaxter said..
Hi Gus,
NKE Gyropilot 2, best ROI out of all the whole build, awesome piece of kit. Mind you, the pilot is only as good as the sensor inputs, aside from the normal stuff I'd really recommend a roll/pitch/yaw sensor for crap conditions, it's worth every cent.
Power draw is dependent on a well balanced boat of course, properly trimmed the helm doesnt move more than an inch or two and the power is nothing.
The only critique I have had with the NKE was a period where the helm would randomly snap hard left or right. Turned out to be my fault, I had it set to solo mode and my wrist mob transmitter battery was going flat, so it kept thinking I had gone overboard

Shaggy, never heard of NKE until now. Looks innovative, and perhaps a bit of an underdog?

How and where did you get yours from? Appears there is one reseller in Adelaide.

Can you compare performance against other brands you've had/used?

Stockie said..
I have a Raymarine, installed it myself on a 37 foot modern Bavaria. So not a long keel boat, rather a flighty, highly responsive type of boat. I first bought a wheel pilot type, but luckily I phoned RM and spoke to A guru who put me straight on matching up the right unit. So he advised, adding 20 % to your listed displacement of the boat. To allow for all the extra crap that we non racers carry around. So in my case that resulted in buying a bigger system. Mine is electric/ mechanical, but I guess the same applies to your hydraulic pump system, RM have electro/hydraulic actuators. I some how ended up with an extra rudder position sensor, if your keen? I love the performance of the system, the 9 axis guidance is really precise, mine is set to also work of the wind direction indicator and works amazingly well to windward, it can keep the headsail tell tails flowing perfectly. Downwind is better on course degrees setting, but this is simple one touch toggle between Vane & Course angle. Single handed tacking is spot on, it can even gybe too!
adding a rudder sensor sharpens everything up.

if you already have instruments, it maybe easier to match up your system to communicate and integrate easily!

cheers Richard

Thanks for your take on your Raymarine Richard. They seem quite popular and easy to find, which is appealing. You mentioned you did the install, any pain along the way? Where did you get yours from?

GusTee said..

Stockie said..
I have a Raymarine, installed it myself on a 37 foot modern Bavaria. So not a long keel boat, rather a flighty, highly responsive type of boat. I first bought a wheel pilot type, but luckily I phoned RM and spoke to A guru who put me straight on matching up the right unit. So he advised, adding 20 % to your listed displacement of the boat. To allow for all the extra crap that we non racers carry around. So in my case that resulted in buying a bigger system. Mine is electric/ mechanical, but I guess the same applies to your hydraulic pump system, RM have electro/hydraulic actuators. I some how ended up with an extra rudder position sensor, if your keen? I love the performance of the system, the 9 axis guidance is really precise, mine is set to also work of the wind direction indicator and works amazingly well to windward, it can keep the headsail tell tails flowing perfectly. Downwind is better on course degrees setting, but this is simple one touch toggle between Vane & Course angle. Single handed tacking is spot on, it can even gybe too!
adding a rudder sensor sharpens everything up.

if you already have instruments, it maybe easier to match up your system to communicate and integrate easily!

cheers Richard

Thanks for your take on your Raymarine Richard. They seem quite popular and easy to find, which is appealing. You mentioned you did the install, any pain along the way? Where did you get yours from?

GusTee said..
I was looking at Coursemaster, because it's locally made in Australia. Then seen too many reviews calling it 'Cursemaster' etc.

My boat has hydraulic steering, approx 200cc ram. Most brands seems to use the same pump, looking at the photos. I would like one with rudder feed back.

B&G, Raymarine, Simrad, in comparison the user display looks more modern, but that doesn't relate to better performance.

For me, I'm looking at reliability and low power consumption as priority, neither of which is going to be possible to judge from spec sheets.

What brand do you run? How old is it? What would you replace it with of you had to do it again?

Thanks a lot.

GusTee, I bought the current EVO series from good old Whitworths, Raymarine the are also accessible for help and technical. I found them very helpful in recommendations. They even loaned me a MFD to update software.
That was when I had an older C70 MFD.
My installation was pretty simple, I was lucky enough with my Bavaria steering to have mounts already to accept the servo motor, and also the sprocket on the wheel shaft. So I ended up importing a Lewmar motor drive kit, complete with chain set up for my model Bav. So it was a bolt up. Some people go with the linear drive, but mine is a motor and chain. It has plenty of Grunt and is not too noisey. So for a boat up to 40 foot with a displacement of around 7~8 tonne the 200 series is great. So you would need to get the hydraulic interface.
A P70 dial is used and this works well, with easy toggling between vane and pilot
great set up for tacking, too. Makes singlehanding enjoyable!

Richard

GusTee said..

lydia said..
Had TMQ on two boats.
Commercial quality kit and not sailing performance kit but thousand of hours trouble free.

Ramona and Lydia, TMQ seems to have a strong following in commercial applications. Possibly one of the most rugged based on reviews. I can't seem to find a lot of info on sailboats running them. I like the fact that it's made here in Australia.

TMQ sponsored boat in the Osaka race, works fine on a sail boat.
My motor sailer had TMQ.
when I meant sailing performance I was comparing to NKE.