Autopilot Question

[Bob Carlton]

I've got a 1994 Catalina 28' MkII (with a wheel) which, per Catalina Yachts, has 8,600 lb. displacement. I sail on the Columbia River where conditions for both wind and water generally range from calm to 20 knots for wind and moderate chop for water. I am looking for an autopilot with a good auto-tack so that I can comfortably sail single-handed and so I can occasionally run around on the deck to drop fenders or grab something from the cabin while under motor power. An interface for GPS would be nice but not necessary. Any suggestions. Thanks in advance.

 

[Bill Boudreau]

ST4000 Wheel Pilot

Raymarine's ST4000 Wheel pilot should be the perfect autopilot for you. It is rated for much higher displacements so you have plenty of room to play with. The part number for a complete system is A12008. You might also think about the ST600R. This is a remote on a 15' cord with a plug at the end of it. The plug goes into a socket that you can install anywhere on the boat. You can make course corrections from the remote unit. You will need a SeaTalk cable to connect the remote socket to the back of the autopilot. D284 is a 1 Meter cable, D285 3M, D286 5M. This cable has flat SeaTalk connectors on both ends. You will cut one of these connectors off and connect it into the back of the socket for the remote.

 

[Warren Renninger]

Simrad Wheelpilot

I put a Simrad (formerly Navico) Wheelpilot on my 1980 H27 for singlehanded sailing. Works fine. Installation is really easy. All in one unit.

 

[Terry Cox]

ST4000

Bob, I installed an ST4000 (West Marine, about $1,000) on my Hunter 28 last year. Took me about six hours mostly because I had to pull the pedestal to run the steering motor wire. Works great. One comment.For some reason the gain defaults to five everytime you kill the power to the instrument head. I always set mine to one, which is the auto heading mode. So, whenever I head out I always reset the gain to one by pressing the 1 and -1 keys together for about two seconds. This brings up the gain mode, then I reset it to one. No big deal. It took me awhile to figure out the problem, and tech support was not of much help. They kept saying it was a flugate compass location problem. Also, I have a 50 degree deviation, which seems to havelittle to no affect on its performance.Solo sailing works great with the autopilot while motor sailing or light winds. I hand steer in moderate to strong winds when my heel angle approaches 15 or more degrees. My boat builds a strong weather helm the further over it heels, which the autopilot does not react to very well.Let me know what you decide.Terry