HPORT

Attached are a few photos showing the AP14R setup on our 225. Bulkhead has a factory access panel which needed to be modified with an 8" cutout. I plan to make a larger cover to finish up installation this winter. NMEA connection between the GPS and AP is shown with wiring colors for SIMRAD and LOWRANCE. The remote can be removed at the twist lock connection if desired, you would never know the boat had an AP. I mounted the remote at the helm, you can mount it almost anywhere in the cockpit as the connection wire is at least 15'. The coiled cord will give me enough to reach to the back of the hardtop if I would need. We typically setup a course for trolling and never really need to mess with it. The AP is tied to the GPS for course plotting. The black box mounted to the bulkhead is the wiring tie-in box for the remote, compass and helm unit. No soldering required. SIMRAD AP14 helm was a direct replacement for the 225 rotary helm, so installation was shamefully easy. The 2nd to last picture is my son the at the helm coming back on 12/20, it was quite cold that day, but well worth it. We had apple smoked trout for Christmas... The only thing not shown is the AP compass unit , which is mounted on the centerline in the forward V-berth compartment. We have had good luck with this placement as it is low as possible for less roll effect and although its further forward then I would like it is level when it counts ( trolling and on-plane at speed) Hope this helps, if you have any questions let me know. I did this type of work for over 25 years and still enjoy it for the most part... I think this should be moved to THIS OLD BOAT??? John

Get the AP14R version, in my opinion its worth the extra money for the display. I used to have a Raymarine Sport Pilot, the Simrad holds a better course and not as noisy. It does however require ~ 11" behind the dash and a rotary cable as others have mentioned. I didn't have the room either, I cut a 8" hole in the bulkhead to mount it. Do a search for Simrad AP14R to get the installation instructions, they have the cable number required listed in the instructions. You just need to find your cable number to get the length.

Spent a few hours out on the south end of Keuka today. The water level is down ~24" making very hard to retrieve the boat from the launch, for those still daring it's can be done. Took 2 lakers on NK silver diamond spoons at 40' in 90 FOW. Surface temperature was 43 degrees. You can see clearly down to 25-30'

Were looking for four to six 12lb fish style downrigger weights in good condition. Anyone using the Sharks? We have been on the fence about going to the Sharks but hesitate at the cost verses benefit. Thanks, John

Sean, Yeah, it's a real simple install. Off the top of my head I believe its the AP-14 red ( data) wire to the HDS Yellow wire, then the Ap-14 blue (common) to the HDS blue wire. Look it up before committing, or I can look next time I'm on the boat and get back to you. It's really a slick setup and you'll wonder why the hell you didn't do it sooner. This winter I'm looking to tie the VHS into the mix, so it can report out my location and give me the coordinates of the boat we are receiving as well, providing they have a DSC equipt radio connected to a GPS. John

We have an HDS-8 and have a love hate relationship going. The graph is fairly easy to naviagate, my soon to be 16 year old son is our current pilot and with 1000's of hours of Playstation and Ipod experience is getting pretty comforatble with using it. The link between the autopilot and the HDS is what makes the trip an absolute joy. You can plot a simple or complex course of any length, hit go and sit back and fish. We have a Simrad AP-14, and the HDS helps hold a better course with wind since its naviagating a point, and not reacting to off course to steer. The hate part is the sonar part, getting the settings correct. Granted this is the first sonar we have used on the boat, so there may be allot on the learning end and not so much on the equipment side. The display is bright, we have it mounted on the dash directly in front of the wheel, thought about mounting to the hardtop, but when running it was easier to view when look ahead as you would naturally. Can those having a new Lowrance and a good settings cheat sheet, please share the setup. The settings are the only thing I need to get a grip on, the unit has allot auto gain features and default setting that require time to sort out, as one setting may not work for all conditions. John

We left the dock in Hammondsport at 6:20AM Sunday, fished the south end for awhile, then we headed up to the State Park and picked up two on the bluff side with the downrigger's at 90-100' over 160' on Sutton's. They were around 9AM, so time may not be a big factor when its cold. Well at least not yesterday... We always have the radio on, scanning or 68 usually. John

Mike, How far back were you running the grease trap? What color blades? What length leader on the fly? We fish from the south end and are looking to add to our winter shopping list of what works in the FL's I may venture up to the west end Saturday or Sunday morning at first light. I have 3/4 of a tank and need to burn it up before it starts getting real cold. John

Thanks much for the advice, with the cooler weather approaching we should be on the water more and will try the combos you guys have suggested. The 12lb weights are something that have been on my short list, the 8-10lb weights just don't seem to cut it. What are the thoughts on using the chrome sharks vs. plain lead sharks? Thanks Again, John

What is your top Downrigger combination's for putting Lakers, Bows, Browns, LL in the box? We are new to downrigger fishing and would like to get a good assortment of Spin Doctor's, Fly's, spoons, etc... that work in the Finger Lakes. Also what leader lengths and type of leader? Vendor? Right now we are doing ok (so,so)with our sutton, NK, and decorated sutton's, with no flasher or dodger, just a single tied to the main line, but would like to try fly's and other combination's to put fish in the box. We did better with our Seth Green Rig's on our small boat, but the new to us boat (larger) is much more comfortable and we recognize that there are combination's out there that will really help make our trip more producing, we just need to get a few of those on the boat and I'm sure we could figure things out from there. We can mark fish, but can't seem to get them to jump in the boat... John

You need to be a town resident for the town ramp, but the hotel ramp is open to the public for a fee. Not sure on $$$ What SD and fly combo do you use? Photo? My son and I are Seth Green guys and are getting used to downrigger fishing now that we have a larger boat. The boat came loaded, ready to fish Ontario, but we want to work our way up to that by sorting it out on our pond, then move over to Seneca then up to Ontario. So any help getting fish in the boat would always be appreciated. We have fly's and squids, with a ton of dodgers and flashers, but no Spin Doctors, but most of the gear is for Ontario (large). I worked on charter boats when I was younger on the Jersey shore, and always loved hauling a big one over the rail. Its nice to start doing that again with my son.

We launch at the Town Ramp which you need a swipe card to enter. I personally think it's good ramp, I live 2 minutes from it. The Hotel ( next to the town ramp) has a ramp that you may be referring to, allot of people use it because other then the town ramp, it's the only one. Has anyone used fly's or squids behind dodgers or flashers on Keuka this time of year? We would like to catch the LL here and were thinking of different ideas of boating one.

Fished out of Hammondsport this morning, rain and all. We caught a few, largest was a 7lb Laker.... Caught in 109' of water, 80' down on a bare NBK at 5:45AM. Tried different colors and depths but couldn't get any takers after 6AM. The grass was a big problem last weekend down here, but this morning was fine. Oh...we did manage to catch 200' of copper line on one of the weights, so that almost paid for the fuel. It was just my son and I out this morning, so we enjoyed the peace and quite, and caught up on things since he's been away working at camp all summer. This is our first fishing report, since sorting the boat out and getting on the water last weekend. We live in Hammondsport. Hope to venture over to Seneca in the next week or two. John

Sean, The AP14R and the HDS8 work well together, 2 wires and your good to go. I haven't done multiple waypoints yet, but being able to select your waypoint and press nav, then sit back and have the boat take you there is really a nice feature when your getting your gear ready on the trip out. I fished solo last week and other then no one to net, it was great. You can get the wire coloring for the HDS units off the Lowrance site. The AP uses the Red and Blue. If you can't find the information let me know, I'll look my setup as I don't remember the HDS colors. John

I will start out by saying the AP14R I installed last Friday works great, takes waypoints from the GPS, holds a tight course and is quite to boot. The remote with digital display is worth the extra money over the AP12. This unit IMHO is much nicer then the Raymarine units, which I removed a sport pilot. Now I failed to mention up front this is the second brand new AP14R unit I have installed in two weeks. The first unit installed easily, but the digital remote would not display...? Went through the checklist, took the cover off and counted the LED flashes, 5 (remote not connected) it was and not getting anywhere with Simrad or the dealer for whom I will never buy from again, I returned the unit and recieved a full refund in 3 days, not bad but I don't rate vendors buy how quick they return your money. So I bought another unit from Technical Marine Support, and installed this unit in record time ( nothing like doing it twice). This brand new unit did the exact same thing...... so I called John at TMS, and asked if he knew the color coding of the Simrad system, yes off the top of his head we went thru the possiblities and color coding, till it was repaired. With that knowledge I found the factory had soldered the 12+ and 12- backwards in the coiled cord to the remote. A simple swap of the black and red wires at the junction box proved that, the system fired right up and works great... I just left it that way and gave John that imformation to share with the Simrad rep next time. Has anyone else come across this?

If the 2401 NMEA wiring is the same as the SIMRAD AP14R, it uses only two wires ; red NMEA + and blue NMEA -. I'm currently finishing up my AP14R install which I linked the AP to the Lowrance HDS-8. You can download the instructions off the web for your units. I will be testing the system this weekend. I also have a NMEA capable VHS that I need to wire in the system as well.

I just ordered a AP14R from Hodge's Marine, they sent me a stock update and have two ( now one) in stock as of 4PM today. We had a live person on the phone to verify stock, so I can assume a unit will be arriving on my porch by the end of next week. I too was just about to give up on the Simrad and get the X-5, but spoke with a number of vendors and they all said to wait and get the Simrad. These vendors sold Raymarine and Simrad so they had nothing to gain by recommending the Simrad other then a happy customer in the end. I hope Raymarine gets their act together and makes things right ASAP...

We have a 1998 225 Outrage with a 5.0L / Alpha, nice combination. Troll at 2.0mph and has a top speed of 45mph. I would contact TJ at pennyanboats.com His family used to own the Penn Yan Boat company and let him guide you on the differences in the PY line up. He helped us choose the right boat, and we couldn't be happier. The 8' beam boats tended to roll more and not have the room the newer 8 1/2' beam boats do. Our 225 has a 8 1/2' beam with 6' 4" of headroom under the hardtop, with a flat floor under the top...that was the selling point for us. It still has a dog box but thats the price you pay for a boat you can trailer. We looked at a 245 at Arney's in the early spring this year, nice boat but the newer boats if you can find one in my opinion would be a better choice. The 5.0L like the others have said are great on fuel, but if you push it, it will use fuel...no different then any other boat.

Thanks for updating, When it went off course, it just beeped to tell you that it was happening? or did it go way off course and continue to beep? I'm in the same situation, I want a AP14R but none of the vendors will stock them. Again I called Navico today, and they said there are 5 units on the shelf for sale? I can purchase directly from Navico if I want to pay the $1962.00 list price. So I'm stuck paying $500 more for the AP14R then the X-5 AP if I go that route. I'm thinking of getting the X-5 which like you said mount's up without modifactions. Did you have any problems with the way the X-5 operated other then going off course in 4-5's? Some say it's very noisy and some caution that the X-5 may have the same clutch issues as the older units. What is you take on all this now that you have used one on your boat? I was planning on purchasing the Simrad today as the shipping date was today, well now its next month. I heard that story two months ago. Wheres Ralph Nader when you need him...? Does anyone on LOU have a dealer setup with Navico that I could purchase a unit from?

Replaced both batteries, they were 2004 vintage. Same steady tone.... The AP14R is still another week out for shipping according to the vendors, Navico still says there in stock? I'm not completely convinced on either the X-5 or AP14, the X-5 is an easy installation for me as I have the mount from the sport pilot already and it will not require cutting a hole in the bulkhead like the Simrad will, but if I was to decide right now I would pick the Simrad just for the simple reason I think the sport pilot plus was a piece of junk. I don't want to base my next unit purchase on the faults of the old one, unless Raymarine is still using the same components in a new box.

Are you going out with just one battery on board? May want to conceder dual batteries, one for starting and one for electronics, etc... that will also be a back-up to the main.

I have a Sport Pilot Plus that is 1 hour old, we believe it has a bad circuit board, the unit in basically brand new. We would like to find someone who has a unit with a bad clutch thay are will to part with. Thanks, John Hammondsport, NY.

1st the story... it goes something like this... About a month ago we picked up a never used Raymarine Sportpilot Plus, installed it and ran our first ( last) sea trial the next day. It was great, set it and turned around and my son and I spent the next hour run up the lake BS and setting DR. Turned the boat around and the AP won't hold a course and eventually just emitted a steady tone, and hasn't worked since. Looking on this site and many others, the older Sportpilots had their share of problems. The Simrad units seem to be held in much higher regard and haven't heard allot of problems with them. I'm starting to see some Simrad posts about poor technical help, bad units and just more of what I was seeing with the Sportpilots. Right now the Simrad vendors are holding off selling or stocking the units till the first week of July, I cannot figure that one out. Call Navico and the AP14R and AP12R units are in stock? Having used an AP on the boat now, I can't see fishing without one....damn technology. My FF and VHF all have NEMA protocol and having a AP that links with those is really nice...damn technology. So can those who have Autopilots weigh in on the good and bad of both of these units? From what I can tell, these are the only two units out there that will fit my boat. There have been similar postings about AP but nothing that gives the good bad or differences of the new units availble. Thanks, John 98 225 PY

I called Navico (Simrad) today and asked about the shortage of the AP14R units, I too have called around and have recieved the same answer. Well as it turns out, Navico has units in stock and doesn't haven't a clue ( not saying....) why their dealers are not stocking them on the shelves. I'm wondering if there will be a price increase come July ??? Called Hodge's right after talking to Navico and the salesman gave me the same run around answer of " we expect something around the second week of July" Can a dealer please shed some light on this? I would like to buy local and I would like to buy right now... It's almost like Navico has an interest in Raymarine, I have a Sport Pilot Plus that is 2 hours old for sale if anyone is interested, worked great for 2 hours, now just emits a steady tone... John

I'm an idiot... My helm is a rotary ( why else would it have a rotary cable), I recently installed a rack system on another boat and have R&P on the brain. So excuse my rambling and thanks for making me think twice. Called several vendors and all say the same thing, Simrad won't be shipping new units till the first week of July. Has anyone found a really good vendor to deal with? Saving a few bucks is always good, but I really like to talk with vendors and get someone who can help when you need parts or repair, etc... I'm like a kid two weeks before Christmas, know what I want but have to wait. And yes, I've been good... Thanks again, John