Autopilot costs
- Thread starter Don L
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Comodave
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Need more information like what type of steering you have, what electronics do you have?
rslifkin
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I put one in last summer. We're only single helm, but being hydraulic steering 1 vs 2 helms doesn't make a significant difference to the install.
I went with the Furuno 711C and the Octopus 1.6 liter/minute hydraulic pump. $3200 for the kit with all of the AP components including the PG700 heading sensor and the pump. Then another few hundred for wiring and hydraulic plumbing parts. And a weekend of my time to install everything.
I went with the Furuno 711C and the Octopus 1.6 liter/minute hydraulic pump. $3200 for the kit with all of the AP components including the PG700 heading sensor and the pump. Then another few hundred for wiring and hydraulic plumbing parts. And a weekend of my time to install everything.
RedRascal
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$1,800 for a hydraulic steering kit. Raymarine Evolution EV150 Autopilot with Pump and Hydraulic Hose Kit Bundle | The GPS Store It's not installed yet so I am expecting a few hundred more to get it all connected up.
If you have hydraulic steering you need to match the autopilot to the size of the ram that turns the rudder.
If you have hydraulic steering you need to match the autopilot to the size of the ram that turns the rudder.
Fleming
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About $5500 for single helm Garmin reactor 40 and ghc 20 display as well as additional hydraulic hoses and fittings. I had an experienced professional do the installation in addition to those material costs.
rslifkin
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Some of the smaller / cheaper APs like that Raymarine unit will do the trick as well on this size boat. It depends mostly on whether they lack any features you want and what size hydraulic pump (or other steering drive) you need for the steering system you have. So one 36-ish foot boat may be able to use that unit comfortably, another may not.
In my case, the 1 liter/min pump would have been slightly on the small side (the 1.6 is slightly big for my 13.3 cubic inch ram, but the AP can slow it down enough to steer well). Hard-over time would have been about 13.3 seconds for the smaller pump vs about 8.7 seconds with the bigger pump I used.
The smaller / cheaper Furuno Navpilot 300 would have been adequate for my boat as would some of other less expensive units, but I went for the bigger unit anyway for a couple of reasons: the 1.6 liter pump was over the limit for some of the smaller APs and pushing the output current limits for others (like the NP300). And in the case of the Furuno units, I liked the controller (with knob) better on the 711C than the 300 on top of having much more output current headroom, etc. plus the NP300 was only slightly cheaper.
PierreR
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Furuno, dual station $4,500 DIY
Nepidae
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I'm going to take a different tack. I had our AP put in in '16 so I don't have any meaningful numbers.
Installing an AP is a real project as it includes a NMEA network, as well as all the wiring and pressure hoses, presuming you want to overlay radar, ais, depth on your chartplotter (CP). That also means that your version of CP will support that. With Garmin you need an XSV cp.
We did an 8yr Loop and the cp/ap steered 98% of the time. Wouldn't want to have hand steered that so I think you will appreciate the addition.
Any specific questions, let me know.
Installing an AP is a real project as it includes a NMEA network, as well as all the wiring and pressure hoses, presuming you want to overlay radar, ais, depth on your chartplotter (CP). That also means that your version of CP will support that. With Garmin you need an XSV cp.
We did an 8yr Loop and the cp/ap steered 98% of the time. Wouldn't want to have hand steered that so I think you will appreciate the addition.
Any specific questions, let me know.
AlaskaProf
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As none of us really know your wishes or budget, let me suggest what I think is the best value/function:
The Canadian-made Comnav line. they offer a wide range of capabilities and prices. Good reputation for quality and reliability.
I am currently without boat, but I installed one of their (relatively) inexpensive 1420s on my 41' trawler and found it to be everything one would need. I would buy another.
The Canadian-made Comnav line. they offer a wide range of capabilities and prices. Good reputation for quality and reliability.
I am currently without boat, but I installed one of their (relatively) inexpensive 1420s on my 41' trawler and found it to be everything one would need. I would buy another.
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