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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 25 Specific Forum

Which Tiller Pilot?

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jsummerfield
1st Mate

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USA
96 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/08/2003 : 19:36:23

A tiller pilot is among my wish list. It may follow my wife's Bimini and perhaps my GPS. Still, I wonder which tiller pilots are suitable for a Catalina 25. Would the tiller pilot permit raising sails with the outboard engaged and the tiller holding the vessel into the wind. Is this practical and safe?

Some units with a NMEA-0183 interface appear much more costly than without. Is the interface worth the difference? Also, are interface issues with a GPS and depth finder still problematic? Please share any wisdom gained with your venture.

John

Edited by - on

Arlyn Stewart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2980 Posts

Response Posted - 07/08/2003 : 19:52:34

IMHO an interface to gps is not needed unless cruising... then its quite helpful.

Yes, the auto should hold your boat to a windward course for sail management.

An unbalanced rudder combined with a boat of of trim can be demanding on the abilities of the autopilot.

Many pilots cannot handle offwind in a breese for two reasons, they don't react fast enough and they don't anticipate the necessity of vaining the rudder to a quartering swell... but they seem to do quite well to weather in a breese.

Arlyn C-250 W/B #224
<img src="http://www.stewartfam.net/arlyn/rr.jpg" border=0>
N/E Texas and Great Lakes

[url="http://www.cox-internet.com/arlynstewart/"]Arlyn's C250 Mods n Cruisin Stories[/url]

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Brooke Willson
Admiral

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USA
983 Posts

Response Posted - 07/08/2003 : 20:28:37

There are two, basically: Simrad and RayMarine. The RayMarine (formerly Raytheon) has a fluxgate compass readout which at first glance seems like a great addition, but, in my experience, is not all that necessary or accurate. You can use your compass and/or GPS to authenticate the course.

Practical Sailor top rated the Simrad, which is a little cheaper, but as is often the case with PS, they didn't do an apples to apples comparison. Either will do you just fine. My experience is like Arlyn's: the tiller pilot is great for pretty average conditions, but doesn't steer as well as you in big winds/big seas. I do find it to be a great safety device when single-handing: I can go to the head, get a drink, change clothes, clear fouled lines, prepare for docking, or just sit at the base of the mast without the boat rounding up or otherwise going astray.

Brooke

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Leon Sisson
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1893 Posts

Response Posted - 07/08/2003 : 22:19:46

John,

Re: "I wonder which tiller pilots are suitable for a Catalina 25?

I've had a RayMarine ST-2000Plus for a couple of years, and I'm very pleased with it. I recently put over 700 nautical miles on it on a trip, several hundred in ocean conditions. It performed flawlessly.

Re: "Would the tiller pilot permit raising sails with the outboard engaged and the tiller holding the vessel into the wind?

Yes, by far the best solution I've found to raising sails hassle free while singlehanding under all conditions.

Re: "Is this practical and safe?

Very practical, and a lot safer than scrambling madly about trying to get things done before the boat swings off course again. One important safety advantage of using an autopilot is keeping the helmsperson from getting worn out unnecessarily.

-- Leon Sisson

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77Gypsy
Captain

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USA
356 Posts

Response Posted - 07/09/2003 : 00:53:42

interesting, how much do these things run roughly? i just lash my tiller now with some bungee cords, works ok in he bay but wouldn't trust it for real navigating through shoals, around islands, etc.

Steve
78 C25 SR/FK - Gypsy
<img src="http://www.websdf.com/logo.jpg" border=0>

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Brooke Willson
Admiral

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USA
983 Posts

Response Posted - 07/09/2003 : 03:01:22

C'mon, Steve. You can look these things up for yourself: http://www.sailnet.com/store/departments.cfm?id=763

Also, judging from the pic you're posting, you need a boom vang to keep the boom from lifting so much when you're sailing downwind (as well as shape the sail in other situations).

Brooke

Edited by - brooke willson on 07/09/2003 03:13:46

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 07/09/2003 : 13:26:37

My ST-1000 tiller pilot works great. It will hold a course within 1 or 2 degrees for hours, motoring or sailing. With the Honda 8 in gear at idle, it will hold you into the wind while raising/lowering sail. You can also use it to simply lock the tiller in any position (useful for heaving to). It's simple to hook up and simple to put away. You steer to the course you want and then engage the pushrod and push a button to lock on. There are buttons for fine tuning 1 degree port or starboard and 10 degrees port and starboard. There is also an "autotack" that tacks you 100 degrees. Internal compass and various LED displays (bells and whistles) are not needed.

The computer inside compensates for wind and wave conditions to prevent over or under correcting, but you can manually override this if you want to (never needed to).

This device makes long distance cruising and single handing practical and fun.

If mine ever broke I would order a new one the next day, it's that valuable to me.

<img src="http://www.indiscipline.org/cat25/pictures/icon.jpg" border=0>Indiscipline 1978 FK #398

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 07/09/2003 : 13:29:00

By the way, my personal suggestion is to buy the GPS first.

<img src="http://www.indiscipline.org/cat25/pictures/icon.jpg" border=0>Indiscipline 1978 FK #398

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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.