Tiller auto pilot

[wildlone]

I am considering buying an auto pilot for my 27 foot Coronado sailboat. It has a tiller. It weighs close to 7000 pounds with people and gear. I would like to hear from people with tiller auto pilots. What advice do you have? Which units have worked well for you? My inclination is to go with a slightly bigger unit that necessary. I also am interested in something that is not a power hog. Price is always a consideration. Thanks to those of you with experience with these that have thoughts to pass on.

[thomasstone]

Wildlone, I went with a Raytheon st1000. It is rated for a 5400 lb boat. My boat weighs 12000lb but the pilot is hooked to my wind vane below decks. This way it has the mechanical advantage of the vane. I will use it for motoring, plus I got the remote.You would need the st2000,rated for a 10,000lb boat.Current draw 0.5a. -thomas

[Wallilabu]

I bought a Raymarine ST1000+ for my Sailmaster 22 which displaces about 3900 lbs. It was recommended by my sailmaker, Doug Pope, down in Rockland Maine. He races a lot and probably uses the autopilot to take him and the crew back home after the race. Anyway, I have it an plan to install it before the boat goes into the water May 1st...detailed performance report to follow. Meanwhile, here is a pretty useful review from Sail magazine:

Hold Your Course

[Nias]

I got the Raymarine ST2000+ for my Catalina 27. Love it, use it all the time, one of the best investments i've made. I think you only have 2 options as far as manufacturers. Raymarine or Simrad. The Simrad is cheaper but I found that it was harder to find parts and accessories such as mounting brackets and such so I went with Raymarine.

[delite]

We have a Raymarine ST2000+ on our Cat 27 also. I find it has trouble maintaining course in choppy seas. Be careful with cockpit speakers as I have notice the ones we put out in the cockpit have a big effect on the AP if the speakers or wire get near its compass. It also draws a fair amount of power but its great for use while under power.

[centaursailor]

I have a ST1000 that came with my Westerly Centaur, 5000 lbs or so.
It mostly works well but struggles in heavy weather.
If I was replacing it I would go for the ST2000 and maybe the one with the remote as I sail single handed.
Safe sailing.

[haggerty60]

I put a simrad Tp-10 on my Irwin 27 last year. Loaded boat is about 7000 lb.Ilove it, works well in 3-4 ft seas. I may have over worked tho as it does make alot of worm gear noise.

[sawingknots]

i've used a st2000 on my py26 [about 7000 lbs] for about 6 yrs and i wouldn't want to be without it,i was a little leery of the st1000 being powerful enough too,under normal conditions the st2000 performs great occasionally,depending on cross winds/currents it will zigzag some.its so important to me i'm considoring buying a backup

[ccriders]

You should consider whether you want to interface the tiller pilot with wind instruments or a chart plotter/gps. Some models cannot be networked.
Also there are two different drive systems. You should study that also. After I looked at these issues, I went with the Simrad TP-32. Stronger, better drive system, networkable.
John

[blt2ski]

Always amazing that folks do not look at original date, ie first two posts were 8 yrs ago, last 7 in the last day or so...... not that the info is not good, considering I need a tiller auto pilot, but still........

enough of my nonsensical speaking

Marty