Kicker motor auto pilot

[tom r]

My name is Tom. I’m looking into purchasing a mercury four stroke pro kicker. I’ll like to put a panther T5 electric steering system in it. Does anybody know how we can possibly hook up a auto pilot to that or does anybody know of a auto pilot that doesn’t cost $4000.00 the auto pilot is just for the kicker motor 
 

[lrg355]

I had a unique approach since I already had a Lowrance-Navico outboard pilot unit from a previous boat.  I bought a hydraulic steering unit from Vivor ($350).  Put it on the kicker only.  Helm is mounted in a convenient place on the dash. Put a small crank handle on the helm. The outboard pilot is controlled by my Lowrance HDS 12.  The Lowrance hydraulic outboard pilot is probably about $1k today, so this whole setup would be about $1500 if you already had a Lowrance unit or equivalent NMEA 2000 capable unit to run it.

 

 

[lrg355]

1 minute ago, lrg355 said:

I had a unique approach since I already had a Lowrance-Navico outboard pilot unit from a previous boat.  I bought a hydraulic steering unit from Vivor ($350).  Put it on the kicker only.  Helm is mounted in a convenient place on the dash. Put a small crank handle on the helm. The outboard pilot is controlled by my Lowrance HDS 12.  The Lowrance hydraulic outboard pilot is probably about $1k today, so this whole setup would be about $1500 if you already had a Lowrance unit or equivalent NMEA 2000 capable unit to run it.

 

I was surprised how well it works!