I come hat in hand seeking counsel

I have located, both new in box:

1. A Ray Marine X30 autopilot. Anyone out there have any experience with same? I have a very slow wide, square butted boat and I hope to have an autopilot system strong and responsive to handle a following sea cause I sure cannot out run it.

2. A Ray Marine TV Dome model 45STV, same request as above. Any insight would be appreciated.
Thanks

They are good pilots. Which drive unit are you going to use?

Not sure yet, there is a pump hooked up from a days gone by auto helm?? Do not know if it works. Maybe an octopus?? Perhaps I should ask, "what should I use"?

Capt.Bill11 said:

They are good pilots. Which drive unit are you going to use?

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Good question. What are your thoughts on a continuos running pump setup vs the on off so many of us have.

I have a very, very robust 12 volt system so I see no problem. I have just noticed the GHP 20 Garmin is available at Discounters for $500 less than before. My plotter is a Garmin 4210. I did not know of this price cut before I started this string. I like seamless brand integration so I only have one set of feet to hold to the fire if things do not go well. Even though this will be at least $1k more I am really leaning that way. Thoughts??

sunchaser said:

Good question. What are your thoughts on a continuos running pump setup vs the on off so many of us have.

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Well over the years I've had both set ups and can't say I've found one to be noticeably superior to the other. The on/off style of pump may use less juice in the long run. But your engine/s are running when you use an autopilot anyway.

Mule said:

I have a very, very robust 12 volt system so I see no problem. I have just noticed the GHP 20 Garmin is available at Discounters for $500 less than before. My plotter is a Garmin 4210. I did not know of this price cut before I started this string. I like seamless brand integration so I only have one set of feet to hold to the fire if things do not go well. Even though this will be at least $1k more I am really leaning that way. Thoughts??

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No problem with what?

As to integration, that should be no big deal. You are just going to feed the Nav output signal to the AP from the plotter. Basically same, same what ever AP you use.

I am not an expert. But I am installing a new garmin gps but keeping my older ray marine autopilot. I was told by the experts that they will interface, but some features of the garmin gps will not work with the existing auto pilot. Something about not being able to turn it on and off from the garmin unit. Unfortunately, I did not quite understand what they were trying to explain to me, so I guess I will just find out after the install. If I dont like it, Ill just change it out.

We use a belted hyd pump, works the steering , 100% of the operating time..

With a pair of hyd solenoids the AP runs the helm.

This lowers the switching energy from the AP control box to 1/2 amp , rather than 30-60A for starting a hyd pump motor. It should last longer.

Advantage 2, the speed of response is the same with the helm or AP steering .

Third advantage , a hyd windlass is installed , from which the white smoke never comes out

Well, Bill, that does put another spin on it. The X30 Ray Marine unit does look good for $2k less pump. Has gyro sensor. Basic nav-com $1500, Garmin GHP 20 with Pump $3700. Price point says Ray.
I appreciate the come back.

Basically you would be to activate the ap to goto your waypoint from your gps, you have to goto the ap head itself and press Nav.

What I wonder is if Garmin, with their proprietary Vision 2 chip has some kind of programming voodoo to block the guide option to a non Garmin autopilot. The guide option takes the suggested course and makes it "so" to the auto pilot. Find your objective, click on it on the 4210. Look over the suggested course. Click guide and away Ya go turns and all, no more programming. No touching the wheel, except to dodge Nav aids, other boats and so forth.

Mule said:

What I wonder is if Garmin, with their proprietary Vision 2 chip has some kind of programming voodoo to block the guide option to a non Garmin autopilot. The guide option takes the suggested course and makes it "so" to the auto pilot. Find your objective, click on it on the 4210. Look over the suggested course. Click guide and away Ya go turns and all, no more programming. No touching the wheel, except to dodge Nav aids, other boats and so forth.

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Yes I believe you will either need a Garmin AP or N2k AP such as an AP-28. But if all you need to do is goto point a to point b, your raymarine will do.

Yes you can do all kinds of fancy thinks with the new fully integrated stuff. But whether it's worth all that extra money is up to you. We had the latest and greatest Garmin WiFi, multiple big screens, touch screen, iPad/iPhone system on the last boat I was running.

But in most cases all you want the plotter to do is tell the AP where to go to get to one active WP. And any basic system can do that for a whole lot less money.

Yeah, with this deal on the x30 I am trying to have the best of both worlds. Full integration, seamless with the sensitivity to overcome the tendency of my boat to be shoved around by following sea, with afford ability.

Just see what NEMA sentences are put out by the Garmin...and what sentences the AP needs to do what you want it to do.

I can't believe the 2 won't work for most AP basics.

Ray units usually don't have an On/Off switch and as soon as you connect the power, they are on. You have to either have a ray unit that has SeaTalk or equivalent to shut it off I think or you just have to put in your own on/off switch like I did.

Unless you just have a master electrnics switch and don't care if the AP comes on when the master is turned on...it just comes up in standby.

When I interfaced my Garmin 2010 to Raymarine AP, the wiring for the NEMA had two wires swapped from normal (color to color), its been a while but if you do a google search you'll find it.

Mule said:

What I wonder is if Garmin, with their proprietary Vision 2 chip has some kind of programming voodoo to block the guide option to a non Garmin autopilot. The guide option takes the suggested course and makes it "so" to the auto pilot. Find your objective, click on it on the 4210. Look over the suggested course. Click guide and away Ya go turns and all, no more programming. No touching the wheel, except to dodge Nav aids, other boats and so forth.

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Not sure I understand your concern. The Garmin 4210 comes up with a suggested route and lets you refine it BEFORE you allow it to send guidance to the autopilot. Who makes the autopilot doesn't matter. I have 4210's and a Sitex autopilot and they are seamless..............

Don't expect miricles

If your wide butted small ruddered boat likes to broach, don't think your new auto pilot will eliminate it. It will take the frustration out of you trying to steer the boat and it may do a better job than you can at steering. However my experience has been that the auto pilot will get you to the way point, but it still won't be pretty doing it.