what a difference a tiller pilot makes

[centerline]

I got the new raymarine tiller pilot installed in time for the extended weekend trip, and even though I was a bit skeptical about how the performance would be, it performed absolutely perfect... I got the st2000+ and was impressed with it.
my wife and I sail together and I am usually stuck at the tiller while she works the deck, and even though im good at barking orders, I would rather not (i kinda get that feeling from her too)..... so with the tiller pilot im not stuck at the tiller all the time and shes not having to get up on deck when we need some adjustments, as it allows me the freedom and enjoyment of doing some of it.... and with the auto tack feature, its easier to work the sheets while the tiller pilot does the tiller work thru the turn and keeps us on course. (it actually does a better job of it than I do)
my wife is a penny pincher and at first, she didnt understand my need to spend that amount of money on an autopilot, but this weekend, the autopilot was such an asset to the relaxation part of it, that she has admitted it was a good purchase.

in addition to making snacks and tea time better while underway, it also makes studying the charts a much easier and more relaxed task, and basically allows freedom which equates to more time for enjoyment than does being a slave to the tiller all day.

we only had wind in the early morning and the late evening, so we missed most of it, but we motored a lot and only sailed about 2 hours the whole 4 days.
with the tiller pilot being able to keep us on a straight line, and me not getting impatient with our pace and increasing the engine speed (because now i was able to fill my time with other tasks like coiling lines, splicing eyes, drinking tea and looking thru the binocs at the wildlife in the surrounding hills and/or other boats), we got much better mileage from the fuel tanks.... cruising at 3.2 kts, we traveled 51.8 miles on 3 gallons of gas. we had about a pint left in the tank.

the money it cost was well worth the investment and although it wont make us better sailors, it will increase our pleasure during the time we spend underway, which is quite a bit....
now I need to run the wire from my GPS to it for auto routing and auto track back features....

 

[bletso]

I had an auto-pilot on my Cat25. When I went to sell her we left the slip, set the sails, turned on the auto-helm and sat back. The prospective buyer ask what I was doing and I said, "Sailing". Boat sold!

I wish i had one for my Globe 38. (It has a tiller). Though I can do almost the same with the mizzen when the wind co-operates, it's not the same!

 

[Apex]

we found operation even in standby is very helpful. I am unable to use the auto-tack. I think the unit is mounted too far from the axis of the tiller, because the pilot runs out of stroke and grinds on itself?

 

[Stu Jackson]

u... although it wont make us better sailors, it will increase our pleasure during the time we spend underway, which is quite a bit....

Great writeup, one of the better ones I've read, and captures the essence of the importance of an AP.

In addition, you might want to consider that it WILL make you a BETTER sailor. Why? 'Cuz when you're using it while sailing you will be able to see the results of good vs. poor sail trim since the AP will be either fightin' with the tiller or will be very "happy." You end up becoming a much better sail trimmer.

Good luck, continue to enjoy, fair winds.

 

[Old Skool Neil]

. . . . . . because the pilot runs out of stroke and grinds on itself?

Try and avoid running to the end of the stroke. I recently repaired an ST2000 for a friend that had done just that and spun the pinion gear on the motor. For some reason the A/P was not designed with limit switches or a clutch and will sacrifice itself trying to follow your instruction.

 

[nolasafari]

Order of Purchase
Boat
Bimini
Autopilot

Jim

 

[Stu Jackson]

Jim, we have similar ideas: boat, dodger, autopilot, wench.

 

[kpgraci]

Tiller pilots rock. I don't use the auto-tack, never even tried it, some say it works, most say it does not, but I'd rather tack myself anyway (it is sailing after all). I compare my 'straight' legs on the chartplotter to the tiller pilots - mine are a bit squiggly, the tiller pilot's look like it was drawn with a straight edge. The ST2000 has an issue when at the end of travel, it has no limit switch but will thermally shut down, a poor substitute in my opinion, avoid that. This will happen if you forget to go to standby when you stop or if the boat is out of balance and the tiller pilot can't compensate.

 

[nolasafari]

Jim, we have similar ideas: boat, dodger, autopilot, wench.

Yes we do.

​

 

[Chris Patterson]

I have always been adamant about autopilots. It's a helmsman that never gets tired, needs to sleep, go to the bathroom, whine about the weather, etc, etc. It takes me in the direction that I want to go without an opinion about how "we" should do it, it just goes.
I won't move a boat very far without a good autopilot. I generally have way too many other things to be doing on a boat besides standing at a wheel or tiller. And after a few miles the thrill of 'Wheeeee, I wanna drive the boat' sorta wears off, and it becomes a job that demands your attention constantly. Besides, as said earlier, it tends to steer the boat better than I can. That's not sayin' a lot though..

 

[centerline]

Great writeup, one of the better ones I've read, and captures the essence of the importance of an AP.

In addition, you might want to consider that it WILL make you a BETTER sailor. Why? 'Cuz when you're using it while sailing you will be able to see the results of good vs. poor sail trim since the AP will be either fightin' with the tiller or will be very "happy." You end up becoming a much better sail trimmer.

Good luck, continue to enjoy, fair winds.

yea... you may be right, but i'll keep my expectations low so i'll have no disappointments
Ive already thought that i would have more time to mess with the cunninham, outhaul, genoa leads and probably even the backstay now that i have the freedom to do so without the boat zigging, zagging, and jibeing.... its really hard to tell if the trim adjustment I just made had a positive or negative effect, when the boat altered course when i made the adjustment....

 

[JonnyQuest]

When the winds are strong and squirrelly on a broad reach I may get tired and also frustrated when drifting off course quickly while adjusting sails or consulting GPS -that's not sailing well if you neglect sail trim because you're fighting the tiller. Out comes the autopilot, the course track straightens out and the sail becomes pleasurable and thrilling again.

Agreed, it is a good albeit expensive tool.

 

[mark_swart]

I have maintained for a long time that a $400-ish Raymarine ST-1000 is the single best upgrade you can make on a tiller boat. It might seem like a big investment, but the beauty is that you can take it to your next boat or even sell it separately when you get rid of the boat.
I used to race my S2 27 with ST-1000 singlehanded all the time. Auto tack worked like a champ on that particular boat.
It was worth the $$ in the amount of arguments that it prevents between me and the Admiral by not having to hand off the tiller to her : ) !!
Glad to hear you are a convert, you won't regret it. Ever.

 

[capta]

Great writeup, one of the better ones I've read, and captures the essence of the importance of an AP.

In addition, you might want to consider that it WILL make you a BETTER sailor. Why? 'Cuz when you're using it while sailing you will be able to see the results of good vs. poor sail trim since the AP will be either fightin' with the tiller or will be very "happy." You end up becoming a much better sail trimmer.

Not to be at all argumentative, Stu, but we really didn't learn how to get the best out our boat UNTIL the autopilot broke. We would set the sails and pilot and if she was sailing OK, that was fine. But once we had to man the wheel for hours (or days) at a time, we wanted to go as fast as we could to get done with that chore! Even saving half an hour on an 8 hour sail was a great thing for us, without a pilot. It took 5 months to locate a new drive motor and after that we knew the boat so much better and probably increased her performance by 30%. Not to say we don't use it now that we have it ("our father, who steerith night and day") back. When sailing the island lees, we still hand steer, but that's a lot more fun, taking advantage of a little puff or pinching in a header, much more so than thrashing across a channel in 20 to 25 knots in a relatively steady wind.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Interesting observations. Thanks. Perhaps on a boat your size you had a pretty powerful AP. I don't know. I appreciate your experiences and perhaps the OP can learn from that too. It is quite possible that folks buy APs and neglect sail trim.

One of the reasons I mentioned my experience is that I started sailing with a sheet to tiller arrangement from John Letcher's book, Self Steering for Small Craft, a classic if there ever was one, sadly now out of print.

The ONLY way to make that system work was to assure good if not perfect sail trim, or else the balance between the tiller, bungee cord, and the line to the mainsheet would be interrupted and the boat would wander all over the place.

Once I finally got an electric AP, I simply applied the same reasoning.

The OP, regardless of whether he employs your experiences or mine, should learn good sail trim.

Seems we can agree on that one. Thanks again for your observations.

 

[centerline]

we really didn't learn how to get the best out our boat UNTIL the autopilot broke. We would set the sails and pilot and if she was sailing OK, that was fine. But once we had to man the wheel for hours (or days) at a time, we wanted to go as fast as we could to get done with that chore! Even saving half an hour on an 8 hour sail was a great thing for us, without a pilot. It took 5 months to locate a new drive motor and after that we knew the boat so much better and probably increased her performance by 30%. Not to say we don't use it now that we have it ("our father, who steerith night and day") back. When sailing the island lees, we still hand steer, but that's a lot more fun, taking advantage of a little puff or pinching in a header, much more so than thrashing across a channel in 20 to 25 knots in a relatively steady wind.

im not sure what came first in your situation. the autopilot or the hand steering, but on my boat it has been the manual steering and with that i havent had the time to try all the different sail trim settings that may increase performance...
but I do know, for a FACT, that if i'm not sure what I want, im not about to bark the order for it to happen, only to find out that it is wrong in about 3 minutes and have to go the other way or leave it as it was.

this would be fine to do if I had some young energetic kids for deckhands, but with the deckhand that I do have, shes fairly smart and she would catch on to this after a few moves and start questioning my decisions.... it would all go down the scupper from there.:cry:

with the tiller pilot i will have the opportunity to play with the sails and make the trim changes i want, in the increments i want, as many times as i want and for as long as i want to do it.
then, after i know what works with which trim option, then I can bark the order and get what i want from the boat without getting the crews panties in a bunch...

so i think both perspectives are valid to some degree, but if a person doesnt have the time to learn, they never will.

I think you had the opportunity to learn sail trim much earlier and easier than you did, but you didnt recognize the need or freedom for what it was until you had to steer by hand.... cuz you were having too much fun relaxing and sailing on autopilot..... ive seen the need, now i have the time to learn...

 

[SenecaDaze]

Not a mention on how easy it is to raise or lower sails while autopilot keeps her headed into the wind.

just as easy to keep tiller between my legs as i raise sails but when the wind is howling lowering the sails can get ugly.

I have found running downwind is perfect time for an autopilot,works for me but not for others am sure.