auto pilot

[salmonboy41]

Every time i take out random people/new people i always have problems with steering the boat(every time i let someone thats not a normal crew member we go around in circles lol) and i was woundering how or what kind of auto pilots people use so that I can just punch in the cordinates of where i want to go and the boat will steer itself.

[High Bidder]

The reason I installed an Autopilot is because not everyone can pilot a boat. Most people try to steer it like a car and end up overcorrecting constantly. One guy who used to fish with me had tired arms in about one hour from turning the wheel back and forth continuously as we zig zagged accross the lake. I have an IO and installed the Simrad AP24 and a linear stern drive unit. I believe it has better responce than the unit attached to the steering wheel. It was however quite a bit more money to buy the linear drive. I found an unused drive unit at a second hand shop and took a chance and it works great. Next to electric downriggers it was the best investment I ever made.

Setting an Autopilot to coordinates is a lot more involved than just setting a compass heading. In either case the AP must be connected to your GPS.

High Bidder

[Tim Bromund]

I have the Simrad AP14R on my Thompson and it was absolutely the best investment I could have made. On mine unit, it comes with a fluxgate compass that it uses to lock into and maintain a heading, you don't HAVE to NMEA it to a GPS to maintain a compass heading, but if you do connect the two units you can set it to navigate to a waypoint. Very useful if you have a cluster of marks (GPS waypoints) in an area, after you troll out a ways, you can turn around and tell the GPS to one of the waypoints and hit the nav button on the AP and it will take you right back through your marks.

Tim

[Iceman]

Garmin GHP10, try it you will like it!

[salmonboy41]

thanks everyone for the great information, this helps ALOT