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what are people's experience with auto pilots on a 38 cutter? i'm thinking along the lines of a hydrovane for any longs runs offshore, however it'd be handy to have an electric pilot inshore. there's a huge difference in price between under deck and wheel models. however, wheel models are not rated at up to the displacement of the 38. i'm thinking one might work for all but the more difficult points of sail & seas. any experience out there?
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No direct experience yet but you might look at a wind vane that you can add a tiller pilot to so that you can use it with the wind or with the electronic auto pilot.. that seems to be a cheap and effective alternative that a lot of people use.
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return trip said:
what are people's experience with auto pilots on a 38 cutter? i'm thinking along the lines of a hydrovane for any longs runs offshore, however it'd be handy to have an electric pilot inshore. there's a huge difference in price between under deck and wheel models. however, wheel models are not rated at up to the displacement of the 38. i'm thinking one might work for all but the more difficult points of sail & seas. any experience out there?
We have an old electro-mechanical Benmar on our DE45 - it is built like a tank, and could probably drive one. It gets used all the time - it is like having another crew member on board, to steer while you:
- tend sails,
- make a quick trip down below,
- eat lunch in the cockpit,
- etc.
We also have a Sayes Rig wind vane, but the turbulence from the prop when motoring makes it impractical to fit for short passages. The Sayes Rig is a servo rudder arrangement, and that servo rudder feels every little burble in the stream of water from the prop directly ahead of it. For long passages, when the motor is not likely to be needed, it is great, since it keeps the boat positioned in the wind - meaning the sails are unlikely to get back-winded, while the Benmar keeps a constant compass heading, and knows nothing about the wind.
Modern autopilots can do both wind and compass steering, but since I don't have one, I do not know if they can do something like "wind sensitive compass steering" - that is, hold a compass course unless the wind gets more than xx degrees off the setpoint.
Oh yeah - the Sayes rig draws zero power. Zilch. Running it is as free as the wind itself.
bob
s/v Eolian
DE45 #11
Seattle
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I'm in the same situation. I just purchased a Raymarine X-30 below decks system ($$). It's back ordered for over a month now, but when I get it, I will let you know how it goes. (And yes Scott, I'll try to remember to take pictures of the process :)).
Actually I was at the boat today, still on the hard in Connecticut, and had the stern lazarette cleared out for an insurance survey, and was trying to figure out where I was going to put the linear drive (Type 2). I would like to put it under the lazarette sole, so it's out of the way, but I'm not sure there will be enough room. Now I'm thinking that I'll have to mount the drive unit to the underside of the deck. It will be easier to install in that location, but it will require holes through the deck and a backing plate that is visible on deck. But if that's where I have to put it, that's where it will go. I'll have to check the old message boards to see if anyone has installed this type of autopilot system on a 38 before.
In addition to the hydrovane, check out the Cape Horn system. Don't have one, but they look really interesting, and simple. One advantage is that once it is installed, you can use a cheap (relatively) tiller pilot attached to the Cape Horn, below decks. It doesn't use much electricity to steer the boat and it is out of the weather. A good option for maintaining course going dead downwind, a point where most windvanes fail.
Finally, don't sweat too much about installing an undersized wheel pilot. As long as don't push it's limits, it could work just fine. Think about how much pressure you apply to the helm on a typical day on anyting from a close to a broad reach. In my experience, it's mostly just small corrections. If you use a wheel pilot for that, it should last for a good while. You'll just have to remember to stay pretty close in case there's a big puff. If used right, I could see that installation doing just fine and costing a lot less.
-Argyle
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I put a Simrad WP32 on Bodhran before taking off down the West coast to Mexico. I wasn't as good at keeping the boat really balanced then and the WP32 which just wasn't up to the task of steering an unbalanced boat. It worked well for motoring for the first year. The second year the clutch started wearing down and the bearing started going out. I had to futz with it a lot, but I could still make it work most of the time. By the time I got across the Pacific, all the plastic parts had been worn down and there was nothing I could do to make it work. It finally ended up in a dumpster in New Zealand.
I've since picked up a mid-80s vintage Raymarine Autohelm 6000 with type II drive for $500NZ. It steers like a champ, but it was really designed for 45-60 foot boats, so you'd expect it to handle a DE 32 no problem. Unless you're going to be just using it occasionally and in protected waters, I don't think that you could really get away with a wheel pilot on a DE 38. It's just not going to be up to the task.
I've also got a Monitor windvane which does 90% of my steering and is probably the best piece of gear on the boat. Just finished another 1100 mile passage this morning and steered all but the last 4 hours when we motored in to Fiji.
Jason Rose,
SV Bodhran
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