Navico, a Scandanavian company (not the same Navico that made some top quality marine electronics back in the 90s) owns:-

Brookes and Gatehouse (top of the line but dear as poison),

Simrad (looks like good quality but not cheap),

Navman/North Star (seems cheap but no one has a good word for them)

Eagle and Lowrance (mainly el cheapo for tinnie owners).

Raytheon (yanks??) own Raymarine and Autohelm (some say good, some say crap), probably sit between Simrad and North Star in the quality stakes. Most of their products I have seen do not seem to be very waterproof.

I would go with a Simrad Tiller Pilot because of it's total unit integration and they brag full submersion testing. Cheers Cisco.

sleek1 said...

trailersailerplace.com.au have alot of advice on the subject.

Interesting read. Sounds like the Raymarine/Autohelm is the go.

I inherited an Autohelm ST1000 with my boat but it is an older model and the cable only has + and - wires which I hooked up to a battery and it worked. A bit noisy though and no auto tack or NMEA input.

I only want a pilot to hold a compass course anyway for when lifting the pick single handed or going below to make a coffee or similar task.

Guess it is worth giving it a go.

sleek1 said...

^^pretty good website as some those guys seem to have enough cash to try these things out.my thoughts for auto helm are the same to be able to make a cuppa maybe change jib size. just have to get the power put on and i can do these things.

Interesting, I have an ST800 which has GPS connectivity and auto tack. The auto tack isn't self evident, you need to push the +10 and the +1 at the same time for a starboard tack and a -10 and -1 at the same time for a port tack (I think thats the right direction from memory).

I think you can also get the pdf manual from their website someplace, but I still have my original. I can scan it if it helps.

Michael

It really has to be a personal choice based on the type of sailing you do and your budget.

If you can afford it and can get it to work properly, steering to wind or GPS sounds like an attractive proposition.

Keep in mind the purpose of an auto pilot though. It is to relieve the tedium of the tiller for limited amounts of time and hopefully steer a better course than you.

If you are single handing and fall overboard while the boat is on auto steering, it will get to the next waypoint but it is highly unlikely you will.

Commercial fishing vessels fitted with auto steering are required to be fitted with a "Dead Man Button" which if not responded to when the warning light flashes will sound an alarm. If this is not responded to it will cause the vessel to round up.

A "Dead man Button" for yacht auto pilots sounds like a good idea to me.

Being a Personal Life Bouy, Belt, Beacon, Boat???

Or a Pretty Long Bungychord, to sproing you back into the cockpit??

can also be connected a man overboard system like mobi alert to stop the yacht for not too much hard earned.

i think their bombs have killed too many innocents.