Below-deck autopilot installation

[Dean Abramson]

After living for years with with a whacko, schizoid autopilot, I have bought a new corepack and am looking forward to the installing phase with some trepidation...

I bought the Raymarine SmartPilot X-10 Corepack. The theory is that it will work with my fairly ancient Autohelm linear drive unit. The drive unit seems to work fine. I bought the P70 control head. It's all still sitting in the box it arrived in. Probably an April project.

My current course computer is an Autohelm which was actually designed specifically for power boats. Why it was ever installed in this boat is one of many mysteries that came with the boat. I found some old paperwork which shows that the PO bought the currently-installed brain to replace another Autohelm unit before it, but I don't know why he did.

Our current autopilot works about 70% of the time in flat water and motoring. The other 30%, you never know where it's headed. (Ask some kayakers who were next to us in Somes Sound one time. Yikes.) It's never worked well under sail, or in anything above moderate seas, or downwind... Basically, it sucks.

My research indicates that connecting the X-10 to the drive will be easy. Unless there are some surprises (if you can imagine a scenario that bizarre), my biggest hassles will just be physically mounting the corepack where the old one is, which (under the head's sink) is a b___h to get at; and running the cable up to the fluxgate compass (new, comes with corepack) under the v-berth.

Any suggestions regarding a project like this would be appreciated.

Dean

[Russell]

I installed the same system a couple years ago (but with the ST70 display). Your old linear drive will be fine with the new system as long as its a type 1, the X10 wont control a type 2. Did you buy the SeatalkNG cables as well? When I bought my system it did not come with the cabling and I had to buy that to do the install and I assume the P70 connects with SeatalkNG. Its basicly Raymarines proprietary version of NEMA2000, and it isnt cheap.

Overall its been an okay unit once i got the kinks out, I had to send the course computer back to Raymarine for a software update to get it to work right. But I had bought it literally the month it was first released, so you wont have that issue. My big issue has been with the linear drive, which has been back to Raymarine for repairs 3 times. If I could go back and do it again I would go with hydraulic but that requires the X-30 control head, so I kind of painted myself in a corner there.

Install is strait forward connect the wires stuff. The hardest part is mounting the drive unit, which is already done in your case.

[Bob Brown]

Russell,

I was ready to pull the trigger on the type 1 linear with the X10 when I read you response. Now I've been shopping for the type 2 hydraulic with the X30 and have been chocking on the price. I've managed to get it down to $4508 with all three pieces, type 2 hydraulic linear, X30 and P70, coming from three different stores. I got all worked up when I saw the whole system on Overstock.us for $2200 complete but further investigation found that site to be a scam. Thanks for sharing your experience with the type 1.

[Dean Abramson]

Hi Russell,

Getting the notification of Bob's post made me realize I never responded to yours. Thanks for responding to my initial post.

I cannot answer your questions re the cabling yet. I literally bought the items, checked the boxes to make sure they were the correct items, and have not looked at that stuff again. So I cannot remember what all came with them. I also have not yet sat down and sketched out what all I am going to do. Friends tell me I should interface with my GPS/MFD, but I am not 100% sure I'll do that. I may just have it as a free-standing autopilot: push the button when it's headed where I want to go, correct when necessary. Partly because by nature, I want to be thinking as I go along, as opposed to letting the gadgets navigate for me. On the other hand, like in dense fog, having it electronically steer to a waypoint (once, and if, I get to feel like I can really trust the arrangement), thereby freeing me up to be a better lookout, has a lot of appeal.

I have a so-so record of having new hi-tech stuff work smoothly, so there is this fear that if I interface with the plotter, it will cause unforeseen issues. When I got a software update for my C-80 (so that it would interface with an AIS-equipped radio), there were issues (as in: it did not work), which I had to pay a local technician to sort out. The GPS/MFD/Radar are all happy now, and I don't want to mess with their minds...

Then again, if I do interface, I assume it would then enable Radar Overlay. My old software for the C80 did allow radar overlay, BUT, since there was no connection between the MFD and the autopilot's fluxgate compass (nor did I have a heading Sensor), the radar overlay was really based on the unit's perception of heading based only on my GPS track. Not a real heading. That made me nervous, so I never used it. In the updated software, I believe that without compass data, it will not let you even try to use radar overlay. Which to me makes sense.

So I have to weigh whether the advantages of having the GPS control the autopilot, and having compass data for radar overlay, is enough to make me brave enough to do all the extra work and then hope there are no ill effects.

Once I really get on this (probably in late March) I am sure I'll have more questions!

Did you ever use your X10 with the old Autohelm drive?

Dean

[Kevin Kaldenbach]

I too plan to install the X10 auto pilot. I have a hydraulic drive from a failed attempt to install a used cetrek system and Raymarine said there will be no problem using it. Russell is you system ruder feedback less? If so are you happy with it? As far as Sea Talk is concerned from what I read I can forgo the fancy cables and make splices where needed. One last thing, where did you mount your controller Russell? They say to mount at least 3 feet from a magnetic compass. I plan to break this rule also figuring that I will just have to account for the compass being off.
Kevin