Which brand of autopilot

[Eliminator]

I was all set to purchase a Simrad AP12R autopilot this winter but have found they stopped making them. So, my question is now, what other brands of auto pilots do you guys use and would you recommend it? The big restriction I have is I still have the TeleFlex cable system, I don’t really want to spend $1000 to upgrade to hydraulic.

P.S I have a 21 foot fiberglass boat

[Paulywood]

Sitex makes a unit similar to the old Simrad units. I guess the engineer who was in charge of the old Simrad units went to Sitex so the basic concept is the same. That is the only one I know of that works for rotary steering right now. I installed a Raymarine X-5 last year and it works good but I'm pretty sure Raymarine discontinued it. I know one guy who installed the Sitex. They said the instructions weren't the greatest but once they installed it and it worked fine.

[1mainiac]

The Octipus drive unit is the part that counts if you want to go that way Simrad created their own cable drive steering system so they stopped offering the AP12 and AP14 which were designed around the drive. The X5 used a motor control that mounted to the original steering box the Octipus replaces the steering box Raymarine also has a cable drive but it costs almost as much as converting to Hyd steering. The new Simrad system is the AP24 with a cable drive option however I can convert my boat to Hyd steering and buy the Garmin AP for less money. Keep in mind the Octipus drive mounts behind the helm and is not small it also requires you to have the correct steering cable for it. Sitex is offering a install kit that cuts down on the drive protrusion by up to 1.5 inches. Right now unless Raymarine brings the X5 back the Sitex is the only option under 2 grand plus install for a cable steered boat. There are a couple other options but again they cost a ton and in the end you still have a cable steered boat which once you drive a Hyd steered boat you will realize sucks. The other issue for me is when I do the math it makes better sense to just trade my boat in on one that is already setup the way I want simply because if I did all the stuff I want done I would have close to 40 grand into a boat that might sell for 12 if I was lucky. And I can buy a boat for 40 grand that is actually worth more then 40 grand.

[CITM]

Raymarine is doing warranty replacements on the X-5's, I just talked to them last week and was told they are in full production. Seems likely that they'll be available again soon.

[1mainiac]

I hope they finally fix it when I bought this boat the X5 was part of the deal 8 months later I gave up on it as they kept changing the release date and got my money back for the AP. That was coming up on 4 years ago since then it has been released pulled redesigned released and pulled again and again. Keeping in mind the X5 is a rewrite of the old Sport Pilot which also went thru the same issues and was finally pulled for good. One thing that got me was in talking to the Raymarine rep and he made a statement basically to the effect that because I had a cable steered boat my issues did not matter as we are a small market segment to them and they have to take care of the big boys first so I should just sit and wait. Seems strange that nearly 70% of the boats under 28ft are cable steered and they were working on a AP for cable steered boats but since it was such a small market they did not care if they ever produced it. Don't look for a lot of Raymarine products on any of my boats now or in the future.

[N II Deep]

Raymarine is doing warranty replacements on the X-5's, I just talked to them last week and was told they are in full production. Seems likely that they'll be available again soon.

was @ cleveland boat show yesterday talked with raymarine dealer because he had x-5 displayed in the booth. he said an updated version is to be rolled out later this year at miami show. price is going to jump to $1800+

[CITM]

Raymarine told me they did a complete redesign on the problem bearings & something else. I hope they have it right this time. Service has been great to deal with though.