My Autohelm 4000 is dead and I have made up my mind to replace it. I have been very happy with it over the years. We don't do much long distance blue water so I'm fine with occasionally hand steering in larger following seas. My question for those with experience is - will I be equally happy with the Raymarine X-5 Wheelpilot?
I never could find the specs for the Autohelm, but I am well aware that our 36 cutter is beyond the rated specs for the X-5. We kind of blew our boat budget last year with a peel and blister job, so a below decks pilot is a bit out of reach right now.
If I was happy with the 4000, will I be just as happy with the X-5?
Brian Chalk
Inamorata
1981 P36 Cutter
Brian-- Our previous boat was much lighter than the 365 and had an Autohelm 4000 aboard. It steered very well. A few years ago I installed an X5 wheelpilot on our 365, having the same trepidations as you about the displacement. No worries, Mate. Steers well in quartering seas and 20 knots of wind. Just attend to sail balance. Jim
Brian,I have had the ST-4000 on our boat for more than sixteen years,it was the best peace of electronics I have ever owned.I perched a new Raymarine ST6002-S1 about four years ago thinking the old ST4000 will Quit at anytime.So I have carried it aboard in it's box waiting for the old one to die.It wouldn't so I installed the new one what a pain in the a$$.I have not tried the new one yet still on the hard.If I had it to do over again I wouldn't buy Raymarine.It seems in the last few years if they have a problems with a product they declare it obsolete,and then your stuck with it and your on your own because there is no customer service anymore.Brian I told a friend he can have my old unit if that changes I will let you know. NO RAYMARINE Allen
Jim, thanks for the positive feedback on the X-5.
Allen, thanks for the honest feedback on Raymarine and the S1. I'm curious whether or not the big PITA to install was the rudder sensor? As I understand it, the X-5 does not need a rudder sensor and I wonder if that should simplify the install.
Any other comments would be appreciated.
I have a lot of concerns about this as well. We just bought Journey. Haven't done more than the test sail but really wonder if the old Autohelm that's installed will cut it for the extended blue water we plan to do. If you find a wheel pilot that works well for you please post it up here?
Also don't know if we can do wind steering with a ketch and solar mounted on top of the davits.
Wondered if there was a viable below decks system that anybody recommends as we can't afford 5 grand on the below deck pilots I have seen looking out on the net.
Check out CPT autopilot. It is a wheel pilot. We installed one last year and have been very happy with it. Admittedly we haven't had any real bad weather against it as yet but so far it seems sturdy and reliable. Price is about $2k.
Ron
Journey,
The Raymarine below deck kit currently on the market is available through Defender and is the next generation of the unit on Sea Dragon.
http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|344|72126|299254|618697&id=1875099
The unit is on sale at Defenders for $3,200 and includes everything big, except the tiller arm, you will need. The Tiller arm and other (wire, screws, backing plate, expoxy, etc.) will run another $750 to $1,000. The installation is pretty straight forward and does not require much skill (just fair amount of time) to install.
http://www.sailingseadragon.com/AutoPilot.htm
We picked our unit up durning the Annapolis Sailboat show several years ago and I was able to get a very good deal on the unit & the tiller arm by purchasing at the show. The Annapolis Sailboat show is held each October and may fit nicely into you schedule.
We have been very happy with the unit and Raymarine has been great to work with over the years.
Garner
I have the X-5 on my boat. Easy install. Works great!
Thanks all for the help. I am going to try and nurse the old pilot through till we get to Florida. We can hand steer that if we absolutely have to. Then will either get an X-5 or spring for the CPT. The CPT is the only one I've seen that's rated for our displacement, thanks much for the heads up on that one.
There will be a limited amount of $$ available for upgrades when we get back to the states before leaving for the Western Caribbean. An SSB and a raft and a new dingy are also high on the list.
Cheers!
Wayne & Dana
I think that for real offshore work, a wind vane should be the primary self-steering with an auto pilot for motoring. Autopilots take a lot of juice and they don't handle following seas all that well and they break much more readily than a wind vane. I highly recommend the Monitor. I used one when I single-handed from San Diego to Honolulu. I steered for about 15 minutes on the entire trip.
I am heading offshore too and if I have to choose, I will have a wind vane before I have an SSB.
hi, last year our 4000T needed repair/replacement, and in the same boat you're in, the 365 being too heavy for the 4000 replacement. found someone on eBay selling one, it turns out he overhauls them, the one he had listed was sold, but he had me send him my drive and head, he turned them around for $100 ea. and they work as good as ever. I'd provide the contact information now if I had it, and I'm looking for it.... let me know if you're interested, and I won't stop looking,
greg
greg4706@yahoo.com
(don't always have a chance to check in to this wonderful site)
Quote from: ishmael on April 17, 2012, 05:58:00 PM
Check out CPT autopilot. It is a wheel pilot. We installed one last year and have been very happy with it. Admittedly we haven't had any real bad weather against it as yet but so far it seems sturdy and reliable. Price is about $2k.
Ron
Has your opinion held the same on the
New CPT Autopilot, complete
$1895
My 2 year old Raymarine wheel mounted autopilot has already crapped out. It's junk.
your's lasted longer than mine then ;D
LOL, NOW they tell us!
Just ordered the X5 from Defender for $1262 US plus ~$200 shipping to Antigua. Really hoping it lasts for awhile as hand steering for the last 3 months has been NOT fun. Will be doing vane steering soon and would like the X5 to last till then and then become our backup.
If there is a wind vane for 365s thread, I would like to hear about it or any other feedback from people who have one.
Cheers!
Wayne & Dana
WWW.GalleyWenchTales.com
Yes, we are still happy with the CPT autopilot. We jumped across from Carrabelle, FL to Anclote Key in Oct. 140 miles on the rhum line and 50 miles offshore crossing that section of the Gulf. 28 hours under sail and motor. Winds about 15 - 20 knots part of the time and dead on our stern. Waves about 4 and sometimes 6 ft and quartering on our port stern. All in all a pretty sloppy crossing. CPT handled it well. It was great not to have to hand steer.
hi, I found a guy on eBay that rebuilt / replaced our autopilot, last time I tried to email him to rebuild a spare one I got no reply, but here's his address, maybe he's still in business? I think it was $100 for the wheel/motor assembly, and $100 for the main panel.
Dan Gerhardt
35 Michael Way
Durango, CO 81301
good luck!
Greg
"Vesper"
Baltimore
I put a new CPT on Dalliance last spring. Installation was simple and the unit works like a charm.
I'm doing mostly coastal sailing and a lot of it by myself, with Auto von Helm, my mechanical shipmate
at the wheel. He handles the vessel like a pro and doesn't drink any rum or give me any lip. What
more do you want from a crew. I highly recommend a CPT for a heavy boat like the 365.
Quote from: SVJourney on April 20, 2012, 03:59:30 PM
Thanks all for the help. I am going to try and nurse the old pilot through till we get to Florida. We can hand steer that if we absolutely have to. Then will either get an X-5 or spring for the CPT. The CPT is the only one I've seen that's rated for our displacement, thanks much for the heads up on that one.
There will be a limited amount of $$ available for upgrades when we get back to the states before leaving for the Western Caribbean. An SSB and a raft and a new dingy are also high on the list.
Cheers!
Wayne & Dana
I am going to be installing the SPX-5 P70 SAIL WHEELPILOT PACK on my boat in the next couple of weeks.......after all of the info and opinions...I am not to worried about the 16,500 lb rating...specs say our 365's are 17,700........
One last comment. 17,700 is the dry weight. We are cruising with mostly full tanks, dinghy and outboard, and a ton of tools and stuff. I'm sure we are at least 20,000 now. Had to raise the water line a couple of inches last haul out. Lots of ppl use the x-5 so hope it works out for you. ;D
the answer is in the usage
coastal x5 no problem ..have one and use it quite a lot
offshore hydraulic unit or servo pendulum
crossing oceans
i have a garmin sail pilot and a pacific wind pilot
I am going to be coastal................
I ended up buying the X-5 from Defender for ~1200 bucks plus 200 for shipping down here to Antigua. We're now in St Martin getting our rigging replaced and I will be installing the pilot at the same time. Will post up about how it works as soon as we get to test drive it.
My old Cetek Benmar CP21 unit died, so I bought a new Raymarine Evolution wheelpack 100 autpilot from Defender. I'm going to start off by using the benmar chain drive which is super strong, but possibly too slow. The evolution thing is a bit too smart and doesn't have any training or compass swing modes. I took the boat out saturday to test it but I ran out of fuel and had to sail back. It seemed to oscillate in steering a huge amount, so I played with the hard over steering time (one of the few user adjustable options) and it steered better, but it still was oscillating by 10-15 degrees under sail which annoyed me. I think it might need a rudder reference transducer. I'm going to build my own with a 5kOhm string pot I had sourced but never installed on my other boat.
I would rather not put the wheel unit on as I was hoping to sell it on ebay. Has anybody used an evolution autopilot or am I Raymarine's guinea pig?
Mike S.
S/V Boracay Star P367
I've used the Evo 100 by Raymarine for about a month now, including two trips of 10 hours or more. It turns out it requires you to spin around once completely before it will behave, and this doesn't require any prompt or menu, it just does it automagically. The Benmar chain drive unit is a bit slow, requiring 30 seconds to go from stop to stop at what I assume is full speed, however the autopilot apparently does pretty well with it. This is certainly at least as good as a wheel drive, but it has much more power with low current draw. The unit never seems to draw more than 3 amps or so, and is at 100 mA in standby with the screen turned all the way up. The Benmar motor is rated at 7A which is perfect for the Evo's ACU-100. If I dim the screen to min (you don't really need to watch the magnetic heading do you?) then current draw is 30mA which is pretty low. I haven't been in any lumpy seas going downwind just yet, but in a mild chop on all points the unit does well. I've had an issue at really low speed the unit doesn't know where the stops are and it will overdrive the rudder. It has enough oomph to cause the quadrant to deform and the pinion gear to skip a tooth which is a bad thing. I will eventually get around to installing my homebuilt rudder transducer.
A very neat thing is that the pilot steers a bit more like I do, due to the gyros I assume. As soon as the boat starts turning the pilot starts the correction which I can only assume is due to a control loop wrapped around the gyros in addition to the compass. I will eventually plumb the unit into my chartplotter and GPS so I can make it do more fancy things, but I rarely sail with the chartplotter on due to the current draw.
Mike
S/V Tardis
Pearson 367 Cutter Hull 26