Autopilot selection

[Frenchy]

My Raymarine wheel pilot is not behaving. In the past it would wander off into the woods and by
re-calibrating, it would decide to obey commands for a bit. Now it's displaying a drive error message.
It's just frustrating when I think of the money spent and effort to install. "Go Big or Go Home"
makes sense. A below deck unit hopefully would be more reliable. If it's not too power hungry,
that would be a big plus.
So I'm wondering- what do other board members recommend? Should i stick with the Raymarine
controls and get a below deck ram?

[Steve Laume]

Which model control head do you have now.

The new Evo 100 seems to work much better than the old models and woud be worth keeping, Steve.

[Jim Walsh]

I had a Raymarine Smart Pilot X5 which was replaced with a EV-100 and I couldn’t be more pleased with it.

[Frenchy]

Yeah, that's what I have - it's a smart pilot. What version I don't know- the paperwork is on the
boat. I've never really trusted it. Hopefully, I could keep some of the components if the
switch was made to the EV-100.

[Jim Walsh]

Yeah, that's what I have - it's a smart pilot. What version I don't know- the paperwork is on the
boat. I've never really trusted it. Hopefully, I could keep some of the components if the
switch was made to the EV-100.

The only component which is interchangeable is the wheel adapter (which incorporates the drive motor). I had my unit installed by a pro and he knows I go offshore so this info is accurate.
You might want to read the installation manual https://www.raymarine.com/view/index-id=6866.html
The “sensor core” must be mounted three feet away from any battery or strong electrical current so that is a prime consideration. The rest of the unit, including the ACU-100 is unaffected by proximity to other components.

[Frenchy]

Thanks, Jim