Autopilot & Wheel Steering

[MarkRamsay]

I know this has been asked before, but I have read the posts across the various forums and still have questions:

I am about to add an autopilot to my Oceanis 311 (10m, 3,500 kg displacment) which we invariably sail short handed. It has B&G Network Quad for Depth, Speed, Log; B&G Wind; and Navman Tracker 900 GPS/Chartplotter. The latter will give NMEA 0183 output to the autopilot. The B&G kit needs an additional Quad repeater to give NMEA Wind sentences

The options I am considering are:
1. Raytheon ST4000+ MKII wheel pilot
2. Simrad WP30 wheel pilot
3. B&G Network pilot (but this seems a lot more work).

The obvious questions then are:

a) what is the recommendation based on experience of success (or failure)?

and

b) what criteria would you use to make the selection?

Thanks in advance....



Mark.

[morgansailing]

I used the Raytheon and liked it a lot. It was a workhorse. Visit my site at http://morgansailing.tripod.com
I wrote a book about my experiences (Flying Star: A Sailboat''s Story) that might be helpful to you.
Claude

[gnorbury]

I''ve used Raytheon autopilots before with good results and just fitted a new below-decks system to my Nicholson 45. Good stuff!

Either B&G or Raytheon pilots will work well for you, but I strongly recommend buying a system which is "over qualified" to steer your boat. Below deck systems typically have a lot more reserve grunt available when the going gets tough. Yes they are harder to install initially, but in the long run they should last longer and be less stressed.

Graham