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Sat, May 11 2024, 01:15 [ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, [3], 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ]

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Date Posted: - Thursday - 02/24/11 - 12:01am
Author: Jared Kibele (Jared Kibele)
Subject: We Like Our Raymarine Pilot
In reply to: Ben Millett 's message, "What Auto Pilot for M40 is best" on - Tuesday - 02/ 8/11 - 11:35pm

Architeuthis (M31 #9) has a Raymarine S1 autopilot and (as of last week) an old Aries windvane. You can see photos of the auto pilot installation with descriptions here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kibele/sets/72157608829826444/

Architeuthis still has the worm gear steering so we went with the rotary drive unit. For hydraulic steering, you'd obviously need a different drive unit. I have no complaints about our pilot. It has steered us through some unpleasant following seas with not so carefully balanced sails for hours on end without complaint and probably steered a lot straighter than I could have myself. When I first installed it, I did have to spend several hours tweaking all the various settings to get it to steer well in following seas but, once I got it set, I haven't had to mess with it since.

Power consumption varies considerably with conditions. Going upwind in fairly flat water, the boat doesn't need much steering input so Otto (as we call the autopilot) doesn't draw much current - I'd say somewhere around 2 amps if you average it out. In lumpy following seas, on the other hand, I'd say it's more like 4 or 5 amps. We posted a video on our blog that contains a couple clips of Otto steering the boat in following seas and you can see that the wheel is in pretty much constant motion: http://www.svarchiteuthis.com/2011/02/architeuthis-movie.html We have two 130 watt solar panels and found that with constant use of Otto and the the fridge, we can't keep the batteries fully charged. That's why we decided to add the Aries for our crossing to the Marquesas. Well, that and we got a great deal on the Aries.

While I haven't had any direct experience with the CPT pilot, I would worry that it might not be adjustable enough to get dialed in enough for steering in following seas.

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[> [> Costs? -- Ben, - Friday - 02/25/11 - 8:06am

Thanks Jared for the info. How much did it cost to get your system put together? I will check out the video.


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[> [> [> Cost -- Jared Kibele (Jared Kibele), - Sunday - 02/27/11 - 9:30pm

I'm really bad at remembering exactly how much things cost. I think it's a protection mechanism. I think the whole setup ended up being in the $2500 range. We got a big discount because of a friend that was working at a marine electronics shop. I did the installation myself. I took a long time but I think it was time well spent because I know more about the installation now than I would if I'd paid someone to do it and it saved me a lot of money.

If you want to figure out the cost, the photo set I linked to has all of the Raymarine part numbers for the stuff I used. I think I have the information in there about where I got the sprocket for the wheel shaft as well. With that info and a few google searches, you should be able to come up with a total cost.


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