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seabum

seabum

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2017
Messages
60
Location
USA
Vessel Name
Magic Moment
Vessel Make
Mariner Orient 38 Euro
Can anyone offer suggestions about which autopilots seems to offer the best return for investment dollar suitable for use on a 38 foot, 24000 lb dual station trawler. Would like to know about ease of instillation, reliability and cost.

Here is some additional info as requested......
I plan to interface this unit to my Garmin plotter.
The boat has Hydraulic steering.
Will either need two control stations or a hand held remote.
Will be used to primarily steer a straight line, but will also use it to follow a plotter course.
The boat has twin, Cummins 270 with a typical cruise speed of around 10 to 12 kn.
Thanks everyone
 
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Welcome to the forum! A little more information would be useful.
Will it be interfaced to other electronics?
What electronics do you have know?
Hydraulic steering?
Hand held remote?
Simple steer a straight line and or follow a plotter course?
Single or twin, what speed?

Ted
 
Seabum

Four things
  • Panbo is your friend
  • A correctly installed AP system an important driver
  • Who will do the install and what is their experience?
  • Choose a unit that will seamlessly integrate with existing plotter and something like Coastal Explorer if you add this capability later.
 
There's really no wrong choice, as all of the major brands in the autopilot lineup end up doing the same & costing thing ,with some minor exceptions. Probably, IMO, the most bang for your $$ would be a Raymarine EV200 with a Type 1 hydraulic pump, assuming your steering cylinder volume is smaller than 14 CI, which it most likely is, considering the size of your boat.
The only other things you would need,in addition to the EV200 system , extra wiring & plumbing fittings/hoses , would be another control display (or handheld remote) & an Actisence data converter to interface the Raymarine to your Garmin (Actisence is the brand name, & you would need it to convert either NMEA 2000 or NMEA 1083 to Raymarine SeaTalkNG data, depending on which one you are using on your Garmin plotter). If you're planning on installing the system yourself, it's not a hugely complicated job but a little knowledge of plumbing & electrical wiring is required to make a good job of it.
 
SeaBum , you might want to try to get this thread moved to the electronics section.
 
When picking a new one I went with what all the commercial fisherman around here use: ComNav. Super simple, reliable, and when I called the company with pre-sales questions they spent a bunch of time working with me.

Not a lot of bells and whistles, but I really only view my AP as a helmsman, and don't use it to steer to waypoints, just headings.
 
questionmark said:
When picking a new one I went with what all the commercial fisherman around here use: ComNav. Super simple, reliable, and when I called the company with pre-sales questions they spent a bunch of time working with me..
Click to expand...
i had a ComNav years ago and loved it! As the OP says....super simple and reliable. :blush:
 
We have older simrads on our boat that we've been happy with, Iv'e also been using a Garmin Reactor on an outboard boat we have and Iv'e been thoroughly impressed. The only thing i don't like about the reactor- is that you're forced to use Garmin's pump, and heading sensor but that doesn't matter in most cases.
 
I think one of the most important considerations is how to update the AP software. Just about every manufacturer wants you to have one of their MFD's to update the software, which is generally updated one to two times per year. That can change the actual cost of ownership. If you go with the same manufacturer as your chart plotter, then you need to be sure the model you have can be used to update the software. I am most familiar with Raymarine APs and from a network perspective, the STng network is NMEA 2000 just with a proprietary connector. I believe you can buy a commercially produced STng to N2K cable now, although they are not hard to makeup up by cutting the connector off an STng trunk cable and replacing with a Maretron N2K connector.

Tom
 
I would go with the latest Raymarine series. Also you should try searching the topic. There is a fairly recent thread that discusses this.

Welcome aboard!
 
Another vote for Comnav. Many of these on both commercial and pleasure craft in PNW and Alaska. I'm very happy with mine.
 
If I was interfacing with Garmin, I'd get Garmin. We've been very pleased with ours. Just came as part of the package and we didn't know whether we'd be happy or not.
 
I think it is a better idea to match the AP to the navigational system you have then to try something seperately. I have a Raymarine system and a Raymarine AP. If I had Garmin then I would have had a Garmin AP.
 
I'm not saying your shouldn't match brands between autopilot and Nav system, but auto pilots are one area where you don't HAVE to match. Comnav is a good example, with lots of pilots and maybe no matching nav systems?

The communications that allows a pilot to follow a route is well established and standardized over both NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000. I've used it personally and seen it many more times work just fine across brands. It's a nice example of where inter-operability actually works well in marine electronics.

But if you DO match brands, you might be able to get one or two extras. Auto pilots have control panels where you set your course, steer manually, and tell it to follow a route being broadcast by your nav system. That's all common across all APs. Additionally, if you have the same brand AP and Nav system, say Garmin, you can also control the AP via a pop-up window on the nav screen so you can engage and disengage from the nav screen just the same as you engage and disengage from the AP control panel. Some people find that convenient, and others feel is takes up otherwise useful screen space on the nav system. But that's basically what you get with matched brand between AP and Nav system.
 
There are some extra features available Garmin to Garmin. However, all I'm saying is their autopilot is comparable to others and there is really no reason not to match. Not too long ago some autopilots were considerably better, but the gap has really been closed.
 
A few years ago, when we owned a sailboat, I installed and connected a new Raynav Evo autopilot to a new Garmin Plotter. At that time (and maybe still) no one made a cable to easily interface these two units to one another. Finally, after many calls to pen and paper technicians at both Garmin and Raynav I managed to speak with a support person that had retired from the military as an electronic technician. His advice was simple and profound, "buy a Garmin and a Raynav cable, cut one end off of each, and connect the four wires coming from each cable color to color." He said the systems are both NEMA 2000 compliant, and as such they need to have matching colors on their signal wires. I followed his simple directions and within a few minutes had succeeded in making my Garmin and Ranynav units shake hands with one another and was off steered by autopilot headed to a GPS waypoint.

Yoou may find this an interesting link

The Marine Installer's Rant: Installing the Raymarine Evolution autopilot
 
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For decades I have used Robertson and later Simrad autopilots on my boats. I am upgrading the entire electronics suite in my new-to-me boat with Garmin equipment. I almost purchased a new Simrad AP, but after some research, decided to try a Garmin Reactor instead. I liked the idea of being able to engage the AP from the plotters.

The only downsides I can see with the Reactor are that there are no knobs on the control units to adjust the course, or steer the boat. I hate using the left/right buttons for some number of degrees of adjustment, multiple presses etc. Also, there is no provision in Garmin AP lineup, either now or in the immediate future, for a jogstick. I like fingertip follow-up steering as provided by Simrad autopilots. And finally, some of the basic AP functions are several layers deep in the menus, I prefer more dedicated buttons on the controls.

I'll know more in a few weeks after it is installed and I become familiar with its features and operation.:D
 
When we took possession of Shangri-La we had all the nav electronics replaced. Due to our old school cable steering, only the Simrad unit would work. It interfaces fine with the 7610 Garmins.
 
LarryM;524516 The only downsides I can see with the Reactor are that there are no knobs on the control units to adjust the course said:
You bring up some good points, especially support for more sophisticated AP accessories. The OP is looking for the basics, so not applicable to him, but potentially important to others.

I too really like a knob for making course adjustments in Auto mode. I find it so much easier to dial in any arbitrary number of degrees course change vs pushing a button many times.

And I really like follow up steering controls. They allow for much faster rudder control than I could ever do by hand, and are a god-send when docking. I actually don't know when I last used my wheel to steer, and know a number of people who have eliminated the wheel completely. My need for redundancy and backup plans has prevented me from going that far, but the wheel sure does get in the way sometimes.....
Click to expand...
 
I have a older ComNav 1420 on a 38' with 2 helms. Simple and durable, I use it to hold a heading, on the river I do not need the nav function although it will interface with my SH cp plotter.
 
When I looked at the Garmin Autopilot, I decided against it as it required the "Course Computer" to be installed in the lazarette very close to the pump. Since I already had power cables running back to the pump from the existing course computer at midship, that would have required me to run a dedicated network cable back to the stern. I am glad I read the installation instructions before I bought the Garmin.

Tom
 
Still a student of these devices, but I will throw in a +1 for simple helmsman role, I haven't seen a waypoint yet I don't want to supervise the turn making waypoint following somewhat of a novelty.
 
I've used Garmin, Furuno, Simrad, and Anschutz autopilots. They're all different but the same. Just different ways to operate. They're also all changing in terms of controls. It's like many things changing. I don't like touch screen but times are forcing me to get used to it. I held out for keyboards.

I will say too that all are an adjustment. My first was Furuno and I remember adjusting to another and wanting it to work just like the Furuno. Well, it didn't, worked better.

Oh, one thing Garmin has that is unique. You can program a Garmin watch to be used as a remote control. I have not done that, but will have to play with it some day.

I do think the Garmin has some weaknesses pointed out and they tend to be more the consumer they target. They target a smaller boat than Simrad does.
 
BandB said:
Oh, one thing Garmin has that is unique. You can program a Garmin watch to be used as a remote control. I have not done that, but will have to play with it some day.
Click to expand...

I do not have a garmin AP but I do have a garmin MFD sonar/radar/plotter and the helm app technology is actually pretty sweet. It turns your phone and/or tablet into an MFD over wifi.
 
kev_rm said:
I do not have a garmin AP but I do have a garmin MFD sonar/radar/plotter and the helm app technology is actually pretty sweet. It turns your phone and/or tablet into an MFD over wifi.
Click to expand...

We've used with tablet but haven't gone the phone route yet.
 
highly recommend the ComNav unit-did not marry mine to Garmin plotter-use to follow course set-use remote on flybridge for steerage. in ICW-older unit but very reliable. Support is very good
 
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