Autopilotsaytheon or Simrad?

[lnranch]

I am going to buy a wheel autopilot for my O'Day 28 for a trip to the Bahamas. I am looking at the Raytheon ST4000 or the Simrad Wheelpilot 30. The ST4000 appears to have a seperate display head that will cause me some addtional cost for a pod for my Edsion pedistal.I would like to hear from anyone with experince with either product.Thanks

 

[David Hirtle]

autopilotsaytheon or Simrad

My wife and i have been back for little over a year on a similar trip aboard our 28' O'day, Dunatos. It was the prefect boat for the trip! We installed the ST 4000 and were never sorry! We had plenty of time to read the Manual and once I understood all it was capable of doing, it was fantastic. Would love to hear your plans and would offer you any thoughts you might request.David Hirtlekhrtl@cs.com

 

[Dennis Lindauer]

Autopilot?

I had a Simrad installed last year on my 28 O'Day. While we were sailing, and hand steering the boat, the steering locked up, because of the autopilot. With the sails still up, I pulled the wheel, and removed the autopilot. Amazing how fast you can work when you have too. Boat US was very nice and gave me a refund on the thing. This spring, I'm ordering the ST4000. Lets try and get together and see if we can get a volume discount.

 

[Russ Marcks]

Autopilots

I believe Practical Sailor tends to rate the Autohelms over the Navico's (Simrad now). I would stick with the Raytheon Autohelm unit.Russ