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Autopilots

C

corsaire

Stan Mathey
I'm considering upgrading my current (but dated) Autohelm 4000
with another wheel mounted pilot. I don't have any plans to go
offshore and although Lake Michigan can be like an ocean, I
still don't want to invest in a below deck unit. My current
choices are the Autohelm ST4000+ and the Navico 300CX. The
Autohelm list its max vessel weight recommendation at 16,500
whereas the Navico is at 40' OR 19000 lbs. The latter seems to
fit the boat better than the Autohelm although my current unit
works OK except when close hauled where it sounds an alarm every
so often. I don't have an operation manual but I suspect it is
trying to tell me it's working too hard. JSI is currently
selling the Autohelm 4000 with a free remote for $899 and the
Navico for $969. Has anybody had any recent experience with
either of these units?
 
I have the Autohelm 4000 on my M384 and would like to use it as a sea anchor. Returned it to Autohelm for repairs with no luck. Autohelm says the M384 is to large for the 4000. I do not believe this is true but will be going to another manufacture for a replacement. I am considerating the Autopilot II by CPT, Inc. Costs a little more but seems to be a little more rugged. Ranked in Practical Sailors top 10 products for 1996.
 
<div>Just a general comment... Autohelm, as a company, does not seem to have as good a pholosophy towards repairs as does NAVICO. I have an old Autohelm 3000 that Autohelm does not have parts to fix. My neighbor in the marina has a NAVICO of roughly the same vintage and had no problem having it repaired. I owned a NAVICO tiller pilot on my previous boat (Ranger 29). The unit worked well with only 2 problems. The unit was 10 years old the last time I had it repaired. It took NAVICO less than 2 weeks from the time I sent it off until it was back in my hands. I, personally, lean toward NAVICO just because of my experience with the company.I would be interested in any alternatives that you & others might have. I too intend to replace my unit at some future date and the cost of a below decks unit (at least the ones I've seen ) are too steep for my pocket book.
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Alan. I have an Autohelm 6000 below deck which is currently does not work despite the fact that Autohelm cannot find any thing wrong. Needless to say, I am not impressed with Autohelm or Raytheon who now owns Autohelm.
 
<div>Gus,I ment to ask at the last posting if you had any information on the CPT autopilot (cost, web address or e-mail address for the company, issue it appeared in Pratical Sailor, etc.)? Any info. would be helpful.Thanks,Vic C.
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Vic
CPT Inc.
4336 NE 11th Ave
Fort Lauderdale, Fl 33334
Ph (954)564-1445
Fax (954)938-4579
The price @ the Miami boat show was $1095
I don't remember the PS issue but will look for it.
Gus
 
I have a ST6000+ belowdeck, and has performed without a problems for eight years without a problem. All my other instruments are ST50's and they too are without problems.
 
I have a ST4000 on my 382 outfitted for cruising. I use it as a backup to my soon installed Aries lift up Vane. The only problem I've had with the 4000 is that is the wires getting disconnected/ripped out from the traveller coming across the back of the unit.
I too am waiting for the unit to crap out completely before replacing. I have a fellow cruiser that installed the Navico 5000 wheel pilot and it extremely impressed with it. It's rated to 21000lbs and only costs $690 at West. I too like the CPT and have been holding on to his literature for 3 years waiting for my present unit to go out.
 
Vic, I hope you know that Navico was taken over by Simrad.
I sent back a hand programmer for my Navico unit to FL. and they were great, told me that they would fix it for free, just a broken wire. Before I got the unit back they were taken over by Simrad and poof! the rules changed. I had to
find out what they did with it and to my surprise Seattle,WA
and now they want to quote me a repair cost.I complained enough they still did it for free. So if you call Navico in
FL they will probably answer Simrad and you could be talking to Seattle.
 
<div>Thanks for the "headsup". Why do all the good companies go up in smoke? Of course they may still be OK but now we start over and build a new history. Oh well.Vic C.
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<div>I have a NAVICO 300 CX on my 382 and it's performed really well for me. Coming over to Florida from Texas it did most of the steering ( probably over 98 %), The worst conditions I had were 12 ft' seas on both a beam reach and close hauled- handled with no problems , Just came back from Cuba' and the pilot steered entirely except for entering into Marina Hemingway, Worst conditions were crossing the Gulf Stream in about 8 ft seas on beam reach.. I don't have any way to measure power consumption, but it appears to be very low when looking at my ampmeter during operation.Had a little problem installing it because the attachment to the pedestal just bareky fits to under the expanded upper portion of the pedestal when the unit is centered on the wheel .Only problem I have had with use was running downwind i 8 ft seas. Boat would start to round up and the unit wouldn't straighten me out before the next wave. However, this was with a short wave frequency. NAVICO said to increase the gain. Haven't had similar situation to try it
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