auto-pilot (mechanical steering?)

With all of the winter talk, and getting boat ants in my pants, thought I'd ask if anyone has any expirence with the Linear actuator Type 1 (raymarine) on a mechanically steered vessel? They seem to stick with the sailboat description on website, but would like a power boaters opinion on system.
Looking to add auto-pilot on a 28' with mech. steering and would like any input...GOOD or BAD! Major question is how much drag is on system when steering manually/ standby mode? Thanks for any advise- looks like the ice is starting to form, be safe to all ice men! (i wont fish out there till i see a episode of Ice Road Truckers filmed on that water...lol) take care-ron

If I were you I would go over to www.thehulltruth.com and post the question or probably just search that forum. Lots of knowledge over there.

The best autopilot I ever had was my wife!:)http://community.walleye.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

I had a four winns 26' with 260hp and alpha 1, power assisted cable steer.
We had anchor marine in erie put a sport pilot on and loved it, I had bought this for my wife as a mothers day gift, Ya. She was not impressed, said that i no longer needed her to fish. Just the opposite, now we fish and not try to keep streight or she tanned on the bow and I wached the poles, don't know how we went so long without one, on stand by it is harder to stear but not bad, only issue is that it is noisy.
We had sold that boat and just purchased another, A new autopilot is now installed and I can't wait till spring.
Good luck if you get one.

I have a 21' Trophy Walkaround with a MerCruiser 190 IO. It has cable steer with power assist. This past summer I put on a Raymarine Smart Pilot X-5R Auto pilot with a P70R controler. I love it wish I didn't wait so long to get it. Very easy to operate. In standbye it is stiffer to steer but not bad.

I have a 27' Sportcraft with an Inboard and mechanical steering. The dry weight of the boat is 5600 lbs. The SPX-5R is within my price range but says with mech. steering max weight is 4000 lbs. To step up to a below deck pilot you are forced to buy everything (course computer, control head, drive unit) seperatly, causing the price to climb to nearly double that of a wheel pilot.If I install Hydraulic steering the SPX-5R is rated to 7700 lbs. But hyd. steering is about $1700. So still not saving any $$$ and adding a bunch of work. So what I believe Ron is thinking is using the Linear Drive unit in place of the Hydraulic ones taht are more commonly included with below deck pilots and sold as a kit at a substantial discount over buying seperate. That is what I believe I have to do. Raymarine also sells a Universal Stern Drive for about $800 less than their cheapest Linear Drive. I have often wondered if this would adapt easily to an Inboard. If anybody knows of a better alternative I weould definitly be interested in hearing it. This will be my fourth season on Erie and auto pilot sounds better and better every year.

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Originally Posted by eye-man

I have a 27' Sportcraft with an Inboard and mechanical steering. The dry weight of the boat is 5600 lbs. The SPX-5R is within my price range but says with mech. steering max weight is 4000 lbs. To step up to a below deck pilot you are forced to buy everything (course computer, control head, drive unit) seperatly, causing the price to climb to nearly double that of a wheel pilot.If I install Hydraulic steering the SPX-5R is rated to 7700 lbs. But hyd. steering is about $1700. So still not saving any $$$ and adding a bunch of work. So what I believe Ron is thinking is using the Linear Drive unit in place of the Hydraulic ones taht are more commonly included with below deck pilots and sold as a kit at a substantial discount over buying seperate. That is what I believe I have to do. Raymarine also sells a Universal Stern Drive for about $800 less than their cheapest Linear Drive. I have often wondered if this would adapt easily to an Inboard. If anybody knows of a better alternative I weould definitly be interested in hearing it. This will be my fourth season on Erie and auto pilot sounds better and better every year.

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I also have a Sportcraft with cable steering and am looking for an autopilot. I looked at the SPX-5R and it looks like it would work for what I want it to do. I want it to troll with and not when I am cruising. The power it would take to turn the wheel at an idle when trolling is alot less than under power while cruising. I guess Im asking if I am thinking right and if that would work using it in that manner.

I was thinking the same thing. But when I talk to people I continually hear the same two answers, "You get what you pay for!" or "Do it right the first time." I have also read an article by Don Casey that asks the question, "In an emergency when you really need to rely on your auto-pilot do you want it to hold course in all situations?" This is one of the main reasons I am doing a lot of research on this before buying. I have also just recently startted considering the pros and cons of a kicker motor with TR1 Gold.

I'm glad I'm not the only one with mechanical steering on a bigger boat. I was considering the wheel pilot- due to the cost, but dont think it will work cause of boat weight. (7000 dry- 278 BAHA)
Now I'm wanting, and waiting from a reply from Raymarine on using the X-10, P90R head hooked to a Linear 1 acuator, they asked to see a picture of rudder area. It mentions only about sailing vessels-BUT a overall 24000lb weight. Im thinking I maybe at 10,000lbs full (7000 dry)
Now what can be any different I ask? Im thinking it will be controlling the boat at high speeds which a sailboat can't achieve???? (Im guessing...) So then why not upgrade to the Linear 2 ram for the much larger sailing vessel? Im just tring to get away from the hydo upgrade. BOAT = Bring On Another Thousand, Right?
I will post what I find out from the Raymarine people, hoping it will work.

Come on Spring

I have a 24' sportcraft walkaround and installed a Simrad auto pilot purchased from Happy Days Boating in Port Clinton 4 years ago. It was simple to install by myself since you remove the steering cable from the old manual steer unit, remove the old unit, install the new unit (all the holes lined up), and rethread the steering cable. Biggest problem was lack of space between the steering mount wall and cabin wall and I had to open a hole in the cabin wall to make room for the new unit's mechanism. Hooked a wire to the fuse panel and it was a go. The controls are on a coiled extension wire so I can reach to the back of the boat if needed. I fish a lot by myself or with one other person and netting is no longer a problem nor watching poles for "fish on". In higher winds the unit can't control the boat well when facing a headwind. But other conditions it works well. Noticed no difference between units as far as steering drag when unit is off. It does not shut off automatically if you try to steer when it is on, but this has not been a problem for me.