Auto Pilot

[Priority1]

Most of you know I run a 22 Starcraft Islander Hardtop. I was wondering if anybody has a similar boat with Auto Pilot that will work well in two foot seas doing 1 MPH? I was also wondering if I would need to upgrade the steering from rack and pinion to hydraulic. Before seriously considering the Auto Pilot I would like to see one work at 1.0 MPH in 2 ft seas. I have my doubts if any exist but I have been wrong before. Even at Salmon speeds I see some auto pilots steering wheel getting a real workout.

[Rascal Trophy Fishing]

With all due respect Frank, I'm trying to understand why you have such high expectations from an autopilot's performance. A 2'-3' sea traveling at 1mph upwind or downwind with your size boat is going to be almost impossible to keep a steady straight troll, with or without the ap, imho. Why are you proposing such a slow troll? Normal speeds for me usually range from 1.5-2.8 mph, depending on the waves, speed at the ball, and wind. You might want to propose this scenario to the mfrs. technical assistance people and see what they send back to start.

[HONDAM]

You need a very strong autopilot to do that. All a good autopilot does is maximize the potential of what your working with a lot of the time driving better then you or i could. IF you dont have enough hp or your rudder is not big enough its not the autopilots fault that it wont keep coarse because if you were driving you wouldnt be able to either. So basically if its possible for your boat with the way you have it set up in those conditions one of these top of the line autopilots will do just fine.

Do you run a kicker? If you run a kicker the TR-1 Gold will probably do the trick for you. I dont run 1mph but i had a TR-1 Gold on a 24ft hewescraft on an 8hp power thrust kicker and ran it in about 4 footers at about 2.5 mph.

If you dont run a kicker then converting to hydraulic is a must, then adding a GHP-10. I ran my dads 27ft hardtop boat with a GHP-10 trolling in 8fters during a fishing tournament and it did not miss a beat. (I dont normally run in 8fters but if the money is on the line you have to fish an luckily enough we had the right equipment and people to get the job done and win that tournament)

[TURBOTWIST]

Frank I know why 1 mph is so important,and I think the gps to mechical slow reaction (update) would be the chagellen.up on a roller and back down the boat can be half sideways again.wonder if a older system that targets n or heading would be quick enought.just my .002 idea

tom

[Priority1]

You need a very strong autopilot to do that. All a good autopilot does is maximize the potential of what your working with a lot of the time driving better then you or i could. IF you dont have enough hp or your rudder is not big enough its not the autopilots fault that it wont keep coarse because if you were driving you wouldnt be able to either. So basically if its possible for your boat with the way you have it set up in those conditions one of these top of the line autopilots will do just fine.

Do you run a kicker? If you run a kicker the TR-1 Gold will probably do the trick for you. I dont run 1mph but i had a TR-1 Gold on a 24ft hewescraft on an 8hp power thrust kicker and ran it in about 4 footers at about 2.5 mph.

If you dont run a kicker then converting to hydraulic is a must, then adding a GHP-10. I ran my dads 27ft hardtop boat with a GHP-10 trolling in 8fters during a fishing tournament and it did not miss a beat. (I dont normally run in 8fters but if the money is on the line you have to fish an luckily enough we had the right equipment and people to get the job done and win that tournament)

Thanks Ryan, I run the just one engine for boat control reasons. I can control my boat going into 3 foot seas @ 1 MPH but others can not. I need to get the slow speeds for walleye fishing in the early Spring. It's not unusual for us to troll at 0.7 to 1.0 MPH until the water temps start getting out of the 50s. I'd like to see a GHP-10 perform.

[Priority1]

Frank I know why 1 mph is so important,and I think the gps to mechical slow reaction (update) would be the chagellen.up on a roller and back down the boat can be half sideways again.wonder if a older system that targets n or heading would be quick enought.just my .002 idea

tom

Tom, If anyone understands the need to go that slow it's you for sure. Trolling into 2 and three foot seas I'll have the wheel cranked all the way a lot of the time. The one thing lacking with any mechanical device is anticipation.

[Priority1]

With all due respect Frank, I'm trying to understand why you have such high expectations from an autopilot's performance. A 2'-3' sea traveling at 1mph upwind or downwind with your size boat is going to be almost impossible to keep a steady straight troll, with or without the ap, imho. Why are you proposing such a slow troll? Normal speeds for me usually range from 1.5-2.8 mph, depending on the waves, speed at the ball, and wind. You might want to propose this scenario to the mfrs. technical assistance people and see what they send back to start.

I can control the boat going into 3 footers @ 1 MPH but most people that I fish with can't. Meat fishing for eyes early means 1 MPH or less.

[HONDAM]

Thanks Ryan, I run the just one engine for boat control reasons. I can control my boat going into 3 foot seas @ 1 MPH but others can not. I need to get the slow speeds for walleye fishing in the early Spring. It's not unusual for us to troll at 0.7 to 1.0 MPH until the water temps start getting out of the 50s. I'd like to see a GHP-10 perform.

Call frank at the store he will be happy to take you out, he's always looking for someone to go out and has the ghp10 on his boat.

I think he sometimes goes out of Benton harbor I don't know how far that is for you but considering you may be spending about $4000 on conversion and autopilot it may be worth the trip especially since you get a day on the water out of it.

[somethin' fishy]

One way to find out Frank, bring your trolling bags along when you come to the west side for salmon. You can run any test you want on it.

[Rascal Trophy Fishing]

Different fishing than for salmon, but Lakey's will take cowbells and such at .8 mph & up in calm conditions too, thanks Frank. If that conversion/s is done, it will be costly, hope you're fine with that boat for some time into the future.

[Priority1]

The $4000 may be the stopper. I'm just a Po Boy.

[HONDAM]

Roughly $1000 to convert and $2700 for the autopilot and $200-$300 for misc hydraulic hoses, fitting, and hardware. That's realistically about where it ends up but it's the only thing that will do what your trying to do.

[1mainiac]

Frank come on over and check out my boat I have bags and the fish are going crazy right now. I have just under 2 grand in my AP and it does a nice job. we were not below 2.2 last night but I never put the bags down either. Into the wind across the wind with the wind the only thing that changed was boat speed it held what ever course I set it on 3 of us fishing for 4 hours and I never touched the wheel just adjusted the AP all night.

[Priority1]

Thanks Jim. Maybe in a month I'll be able to drag myself off these walleye. What brand do you have? Do you have hydraulic steering?

[1mainiac]

I got the Raymarine SPX-5R with a P70R controller cost me 1800 bucks plus a few bucks in hardware and a few trips back and forth to the boat to install it. It is a cable steered boat other than issues with clearance on my helm it would have been a under 3 hour install. It is 4 pieces a compass head you mount at waterline level a computer you mount on a bulkhead a controller you mount on the dash I removed my speedometer and put it there. And a drive that mounts under your steering wheel. Run the wires from everything to the computer hook them up run 12v power and ground to the computer and run the setup and your ready to go out and teach it how to drive your boat. Aside from missing a terminator in the network and not being able to get the wheel where I wanted it was a very easy upgrade. Wish I could afford to drag it over to you and have a go at those Walleye. We fished in 1 to 3 all night and in every direction and it stayed on course I did play with the rudder settings a bit and found a setting I liked which slowed it down and worked very well. If your boat is like mine only lighter most people have a problem with over correcting so a slow rudder setting helps. With the rotary control you can change course 1 deg at a time which is cool. If I had known it would work this well I would have bought it 5 years ago but everyone told me I needed hyd steering to get what I wanted. Well that and 5 years ago Raymarine could not get all the bugs out of the system.

[HONDAM]

The spx5 is a decent autopilot especially for those on a smaller budget. But the reason I didn't bring it up myself it is very unlikely it will be able to do what you asked in your original post. But for those who troll for salmon in good to fair weather it is a good option.

It is on the calumet marine website at the $1800 price which is as low a I've seen it.

[bmsstp4u]

we run the spx5 on a 22ft islander hardtop and it is awesome ray is an excellent driver

[Just in time]

Frank, I have a Raymarine SPX5R that has never faulted. I am sure if you ran two trolling bags it would work at 1 mph. I know at 2.5 mph it controls my boat fine in 10 foot seas. Best money I have ever spent on the JUST-N-TIME. Never had the boat driven as well as my Raymarine does. I spent a little less than $1600 on it. Bethel marine in Florida.