An aquaintence has updated the autopilot on his boat and has offered me his older Navico/Simrad Wheel Pilot 5000 autopilot. In looking over the owner's manual, it is stated that the control/compass unit for the autopilot needs to be mounted at least 39 inches from the boat's magnetic compass. On my boat and most of the others in our marina, this doesn't seem feasible if you want to position the control unit where you can see the boat's compass heading when you activate the unit (the control unit compass does not have a heading readout on the control unit).
To those of you who are using the WP5000, how far is your control unit mounted from the boat's compass. Looking at the control unit and thinking about it's design and intended use, 39 inches seems too far....is this number a typo in the instructions?
To those of you who are using the WP5000, how far is your control unit mounted from the boat's compass. Looking at the control unit and thinking about it's design and intended use, 39 inches seems too far....is this number a typo in the instructions?