New to us Hunter 40.5

[baycloud]

I was a bit confused by your choice of pilot, as I’ve never heard of Pypilot.
So, I went online, and digested all the info.
Here are my objective comments
Firstly, the designer of the pypilot did a lot of work on this, and took on an ambitious goal of developing an open source pilot based on arduino, and other commercial modules.
But, I really have to ask an obvious question
Why???
An yacht autopilot is a hard thing to do well.
I’ve owned many brands, all from established companies.
And it’s only with my latest pilot , the ray marine EV-1, have I got something that finally steers a boat like it’s on railway tracks, interfaces well with a plotter, and knows how to talk to a wind vane.
The problem with autopilots is the same issue with all robotics. The equipment is basically working “blind”, and cannot predict the next wave or wind shift. Even the worst sailor can realize more of their surroundings than the best pilot.
Years of work went into “fuzzy logic” algorithms to help pilots not just steer, (that’s the easy part), but to not over, or under, correct,
So, the Pypilot has all the basic blocks of a pilot, but these aren’t the hard part. It’s the years of r&d into getting a boat to stay on course in all conditions that make the difference. My Cetrek pilot of 20 years ago had all the same hardware, yet it was a poor performer.

Marine electronics are relatively inexpensive for the value you get from them. Going back to the days of spinning neon disc depth finders, we are getting incredible value for our money now.
More importantly, an autopilot is, other than a depth sounder, the one piece of electronics you can’t afford to be a “work in process”
You just need it to steer well, not broach you in wind shifts, or crash you into a rock.
So, while I respect all of the work that the designer of the Pypilot expended, I can’t find the rationale for it.
I do really respect innovation, but it’s hard to compete with established manufactures whom make thousands of pilot systems annually for a better mousetrap.

Sound logic and the correct choice for most people. I chose pypilot because it was easy to integrate with all equipment compared to specifc brand-limited devices, I can hook it up to a computer and chartplotter, I am not stuck with proprietary charts, and the price also meant it was a cheap test at worst. Happy to report back that with the sensors it has, pypilot steers, as you say, like the boat is on rails, even downwind in a gale with chop. Our whole crew was extremely impressed. It would steer more reliably than some of the crew.
My caution would be that the manual sucks and it's not for the technically faint of heart. However it's algorithms are highly capable. Light-years better than a raymarine tiller pilot and other auto pilots I've used. The algorithms and openness of the system are it's strong points. Ease of installation and diy hardware is it's tradeoff.

 

[baycloud]

Not to take over the thread but the Garmin chartplotter kicked the bucket the day of me leaving Portland Oregon for San Francisco. My new monitor is IP68 waterproof and useable when wet. I run open cpn in the cockpit. The computer is in the binnacle, and I have a duplicate touchscreen monitor at the nav station for checking/steering down below. It's an experiment but I don't miss the old Garmin and its worked for 600 miles down the coast. Barely have time to think these days but will post all the mods when I have time

 

[artboas]

Sound logic and the correct choice for most people. I chose pypilot because it was easy to integrate with all equipment compared to specifc brand-limited devices, I can hook it up to a computer and chartplotter, I am not stuck with proprietary charts, and the price also meant it was a cheap test at worst. Happy to report back that with the sensors it has, pypilot steers, as you say, like the boat is on rails, even downwind in a gale with chop. Our whole crew was extremely impressed. It would steer more reliably than some of the crew.
My caution would be that the manual sucks and it's not for the technically faint of heart. However it's algorithms are highly capable. Light-years better than a raymarine tiller pilot and other auto pilots I've used. The algorithms and openness of the system are it's strong points. Ease of installation and diy hardware is it's tradeoff.

I’m happy that this works for you. Clearly, you are very astute technically, and have the skills to make this system work,
As noted in my post, I meant no disrespect. If you feel that this is a superior solution for your needs, then I think it’s great that you are supporting this open source platform

 

[David Knauer]

Hello there. I can probably help you with the cng to lp if you haven't done it yet. I did that job myself in 2012. I no longer own my boat and I don't follow the forum much but I live right over the hill from Maryland Marina. Perhaps I can catch up with you sometime.

 

[SV Maverick]

Hi David, all of the original projects I listed and more have been finished on the boat. I gave up posting to my thread because it went way off topic numerous times.