Auto pilot

Aug 28, 2015
190
Oday 28 St Joseph, MI
I sail my O'Day 28 out of St. Joseph, Michigan, mostly solo. I'm trying to set the boat up so my trips out of the cockpit are minimized by running halyards and sheets to the cockpit. I've purchased EZ-Jax (lazy Jacks) which can be pulled down to parallel the boom or be deployed for dropping the sail. Because of the cockpit layout with wheel steering it's hard to raise the sails or tack or anything that involves leaving the helm so I'm going to install an autopilot. Hence my question: Is there a consensus on the most reliable, easy to use, easy to install system ,not necessarily the most expensive, for my boat? What do you use?
 
Jul 12, 2011
146
Oday 302 st pete
So the money you spend now will be worth every penny. Your only options really are some version of the Raymarine wheel pilot, or the cpt wheel pilot.
 
Aug 28, 2015
190
Oday 28 St Joseph, MI
Thank you for your replies. I have researched both Raymarine, Simrad and the CPT product. Years ago I had a very reliable easy to use Simrad autopilot on a trawler but they don't seem to have a "wheel" unit. From the reviews I could find on the internet some say the CPT is not completely reliable but people who have the Raymarine EV-100 really love it. The CPT is described as easy to install where the Raymarine product is described as complicated and requires proprietary cables but is cheaper than the CPT. I was hoping someone with a super reliable autopilot made by an obscure company which sells for $100 with a 10 year warranty would tell me how easy the install was and how rock steady and reliable it is. Guess I'll order the Raymarine EV-100.
 
Dec 7, 2016
66
Beneteau Oceanis 45 Annapolis
Wing,
Assuming I don't hit any additional snags I'll be installing and EV-100 on my Hunter 34 this weekend. Snags so far being having the required cables, appropriate length cables and adapters needed to complete the install. Depending on what you already have in place, NMEA, Seatalk it can become a puzzle to put the networks together without wasting a bunch of money on unnecessary connections and cables. Defender had the best price I could find on the EV-100 and through April they are offering a $200 rebate on the unit.
 

HMT2

.
Mar 20, 2014
899
Hunter 31 828 Shoreacres, TX
Wing,
Assuming I don't hit any additional snags I'll be installing and EV-100 on my Hunter 34 this weekend. Snags so far being having the required cables, appropriate length cables and adapters needed to complete the install. Depending on what you already have in place, NMEA, Seatalk it can become a puzzle to put the networks together without wasting a bunch of money on unnecessary connections and cables. Defender had the best price I could find on the EV-100 and through April they are offering a $200 rebate on the unit.
I recently installed the EV100 Wheel pilot and I love it. I do a lot of solo sailing as well and my favorite thing is that if you have a wind instrument you can have it hold a wind direction, (including 000 for raising the main) when tacking you can use the auto tack and it will steer onto the same apparent wind direction on the opposite tack. . It makes handling the sheets super easy. BTW the rebate for the EV100 is only $100, I didn't catch that until I sat down to,send in the information Here is a link to a thread I posted about Seatalk NG and NMEA 2000 that you may find helpful.

http://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?threads/seatalk-ng-demystified.182555/
 
Dec 7, 2016
66
Beneteau Oceanis 45 Annapolis
HMT2,

Glad to hear you are liking it. I don't have a wind instrument but I really want to add one. I was contemplating scaling the mast and adding one of those wireless solar units but they all seem to operate off of NMEA 0183 which I really don't want to deal with. I'm figuring I'll put the boat on the hard next year, pull the mast for some maintenance and add one then. Did you add the rudder position sensor to your setup?

I just double checked my rebate which you first register your product online and then print the form and mail it. Mine says EV-100 $200. When did you purchase it? The rebate I am talking about is the spring event and runs Jan 2nd 2017 through April 3rd.
 
Dec 7, 2016
66
Beneteau Oceanis 45 Annapolis
While I initially thought someone at Raymarine needed to be bitch-slapped for deviating from the industry NMEA standard, I do have to say they are onto something with relocating the locking nut from the cable to the connector/device. Drilling a large holes to route a NMEA cables through seems less than ideal for most marine installs.
 

Blitz

.
Jul 10, 2007
672
Seidelmann 34 Atlantic Highlands, NJ
HMT2 said:
Raymarine makes a good unit, although some complain it is noisy. The belt in the plastic wheel assembly makes a noise that is not easily adjusted away. At least I haven't found a way.

Also, be sure to have a way and understand how to do the software updates.if you have a MFD by Raymarine it is not an issue.
 
Aug 28, 2015
190
Oday 28 St Joseph, MI
I'm trying to keep things simple. I have a windex on top of the mast which only points to wind direction. I have no networked instruments, just the original Datamarine depth finder and speed instruments. I have an ipad in a waterproof case I use for navigation using Navionics software and charts. I don't really want to go to the expense of buying and installing a MFD just to update the software. Once the autopilot is up and running what is the necessity of updating the software?
 

Blitz

.
Jul 10, 2007
672
Seidelmann 34 Atlantic Highlands, NJ
The last generation wheel pilot (SPX) had to be updated at a dealer or send back in for software updates if no MFD. I'm not sure about the newer EV-100 units.

This might be a question for your dealer or Raymarine directly.

Raymarine does a lot of updates, especially when a new device comes out. It might not be absolutely necessary but you'll want to make sure the software is the latest before you buy.
 

HMT2

.
Mar 20, 2014
899
Hunter 31 828 Shoreacres, TX
HMT2,

Glad to hear you are liking it. I don't have a wind instrument but I really want to add one. I was contemplating scaling the mast and adding one of those wireless solar units but they all seem to operate off of NMEA 0183 which I really don't want to deal with. I'm figuring I'll put the boat on the hard next year, pull the mast for some maintenance and add one then. Did you add the rudder position sensor to your setup?

I just double checked my rebate which you first register your product online and then print the form and mail it. Mine says EV-100 $200. When did you purchase it? The rebate I am talking about is the spring event and runs Jan 2nd 2017 through April 3rd.
Mike,

Good for you! Mine was an earlier promotion. There are a couple of wireless wind instruments that are NMEA 2000, I tried the Garmin GWind wireless. It worked great for a while then it started working intermittently, I went through a big thing with Garmin support replacing each part one at a time over several months. I eventually gave up and went with the wired Garmin GWind and it has been great. No I did not add the rudder sensor, mine works well without it. Good luck!
 

HMT2

.
Mar 20, 2014
899
Hunter 31 828 Shoreacres, TX
The last generation wheel pilot (SPX) had to be updated at a dealer or send back in for software updates if no MFD. I'm not sure about the newer EV-100 units.

This might be a question for your dealer or Raymarine directly.

Raymarine does a lot of updates, especially when a new device comes out. It might not be absolutely necessary but you'll want to make sure the software is the latest before you buy.
Yes this is true! You need to have a Raymarine MFD to be able to update the software so make sure it comes with the latest version on it.
 
Aug 28, 2015
190
Oday 28 St Joseph, MI
I think the more I try to learn about the Raymarine EV-100 system, the more confused I become. In any case I have ordered the EV-100. Can someone tell me, if I purchase a wind vane to work with the p70 autopilot display, do I still need a stand alone display for the wind instrument? Any recommendations on which wind vane? And thank you, all of you who responded. The electronics systems on a boat have become too complicated.
 

HMT2

.
Mar 20, 2014
899
Hunter 31 828 Shoreacres, TX
I think the more I try to learn about the Raymarine EV-100 system, the more confused I become. In any case I have ordered the EV-100. Can someone tell me, if I purchase a wind vane to work with the p70 autopilot display, do I still need a stand alone display for the wind instrument? Any recommendations on which wind vane? And thank you, all of you who responded. The electronics systems on a boat have become too complicated.
No you do not if your MFD is NMEA 2000 and your wind instrument is NMEA 2000 (or SeTalk NG). I have a Garmin 541s that is a chart plotter with internal GPS it also displays wind, gauges if you have them, and talks to the autopilot
 
Aug 28, 2015
190
Oday 28 St Joseph, MI
So I cannot connect a seatalk ng wind instrument to the seatalk ng backbone of my autopilot, I have to spend another thousand on an MFD!? Seems like they're ripping us off.
 
May 20, 2016
3,014
Catalina 36 MK1 94 Everett, WA
I have the ev200 and a below deck linear drive - I absolutely love it. My only complaint is the remote control is so old it requires me to put a SeaTalk-1 segment in my network..... I'm told it will be several years before they upgrade the remote to sea talk-ng