Raymarine S1000 Autopilot

[billsaquasport]

Im considering putting a Raymarine S1000 autopilot in my 25 CCP. Seems very straight forward and it would link up with my L760 via seatalk. Any input???
Cant believe Im so lazy I cant steer my boat! But after driving my buddies 330 Grady down to the keys,,,,, I must have! Although he has 30K plus in electronics I wanted to see how the lower end of the autopilots worked. Thanks in advance for your help!

Come on Summer...........Global Warming??????????? At least AG invented the internet because he sucks as a weather man!!!!!

[fabuck71]

Who needs autopilot when you have kids!

[seabob4]

Global warming...ice caps melt...water grows colder...air masses move over colder water...air masses cool...results in the weather were having.  Pure science right there, man...

[billsaquasport]

Thanks Seabob!  

I just thougt is was cold this winter but low and behold it appears we have figured out mother nature. Glad I have the boat because when the ice caps melt I can troll for cod in the Keys.

At least we can agreeon COLD Beer! 8)

[Capt. Bob]

And here I thought it had something to do with that Mexican kid.

[seabob4]

Fish and chips in the keys, the little Mexican kid to bring us some Coronas...yeah, I could do that...

The last AP I ran was back in '99, a Raytheon (then) unit interfaced with one of the original Raytheon LCD radar/chartplotters.  Went out of Longboat Pass, went around the sandbar, pointed her west, say back and relaxed.  Hit the waypoint, she said "We're here!...'99 250 Osprey.

[GoneFission]

I've heard good things about the S1000 - nice wireless remote with good fishing capabilities.  It has it's own pump to work with hydraulic steering systems like the SeaStar.  But, make sure your GPS has the right interface for input.

[billsaquasport]

After a lot of research I pulled the trigger and bought the S1000. West Marine price matched the internet pricing.  I already have a Raymarine unit so it will get wired via Seatalk. I should have it in a few days and will update how the installation went. Then HOPEFULLY going out on Sunday to test it. I have done so much work to the boat this winter that I will have to go through a slight retraining period to remember how everything works. More to come on the performance and ease of use.

Please........ 75 and calm winds for the weekend.

[billsaquasport]

Got the S1000 installed. Took about 3 hours of work. Probably could have done it faster but little things just kept popping up. Nothing to do the autopilot just hard to get to places. Wired it up via the Raymarine Seatalk, Ran the wires via the diagram, mounted all of the hardware and wala it worked. Took it out this weekend and fired it up with no issues. Going to be great when heading off shore to grouper fish, but I think it will really shine when trolling. The ziz zag, circle, and cloverleaf patterns are awesome. Cant wait to find some floating debris in the keys and set up a circle pattern to troll around it. This could be a beer drinkers dream or nightmare. I can certainly see how this could make you lazy! I will try and snap some pics of the install. Only thing that I did not like was the kill switch. It is pretty big and ugly but works perfect and honestly I guess if you ran into problems you would want a very visable kill switch.

[seabob4]

Got the S1000 installed. Took about 3 hours of work. Probably could have done it faster but little things just kept popping up. Nothing to do the autopilot just hard to get to places. Wired it up via the Raymarine Seatalk, Ran the wires via the diagram, mounted all of the hardware and wala it worked. Took it out this weekend and fired it up with no issues. Going to be great when heading off shore to grouper fish, but I think it will really shine when trolling. The ziz zag, circle, and cloverleaf patterns are awesome. Cant wait to find some floating debris in the keys and set up a circle pattern to troll around it. This could be a beer drinkers dream or nightmare. I can certainly see how this could make you lazy! I will try and snap some pics of the install. Only thing that I did not like was the kill switch. It is pretty big and ugly but works perfect and honestly I guess if you ran into problems you would want a very visable kill switch.

 

[GoneFission]

Pretty cool - let us know how it works - the trolling features seem awesome!  

 This could be a beer drinkers dream or nightmare.        :tongue:  

Did it come with one of these:


See ya on the water!

[fitz73222]

Hi Billsaquasport,

When I bought my 73222 I got a S1000 in the box as part of the deal. I had other challenges to deal with so that took priority. Now I`m listening. How is the system ugly? Flying by wire may be fine for an Boeing 777 but its a little spaceage for this old boy. I would be interfacing with a Garman 545. I`ve got hydraulic steering with twins and I really want to do this. I`ve got a folding half tower (no helm up there!!!) on her and this would be the ticket for spotting Cobia trailing Manta rays and running grid patterns here on the east coast of Florida when the time is right. I appreciate the kill switch need. Have you run her on a plane with autopilot?

Anything you can offer is much appreciated!

Fitz73222

[gran398]

Had an Autohelm ST 5000 on a 2470 Pursuit with twin 130 Yammy V4's, hydraulic steering.

It was a pleasure going out. Clear the inlet, load the heading, power up, hit the button, and let the slave take over. Want to throttle back some, keeping the hull in the water, so the internal compass doesn't jump/spin.

Trolling: great at 4+ knots, tough to impossible under 2kts. , especially in any kind of wind. The boat was used mostly for live bait KM fishing, so when idling in gear, you're on your own.

This autopilot had a bad glitch, very dangerous, and it sometimes showed itself on the ride home. Seems that anytime the autopilot compass thought it was off 15 degrees, it would go into emergency correction mode, and very quickly make the correction. Only thing was, sometimes it would decide to make the correction all the way around the compass rose. That is, it would throw you in a circle at 30+ mph in the open ocean.

That happened two different times, 3 years apart. And before you could control the wheel, you had to disengage the pilot. Oh boy.

Happened if the forefoot grabbed the backside of a swell, and jumped quickly to one side or the other, and the pilot became confused.

Double checked all settings, thought I had it tweaked.....looking back, I'm not sure it was tweakable.

Boys, be careful.

Fitz, what would you figure as a fair price for hydraulic steering on our hull, installed, clean job?

Tx.

gran

[fitz73222]

Hey Scott,
I would think if you are going to have it installed by someone a grand should cover it. I installed a single engine seastar on my flats boat for about $500. It is a very easy installation. Your 75`s should be indentical to my 115`s for the installation and tie bar kits. I`ll snap some photos of mine and get some part numbers so you can zero in on total cost.

Fitz

[RickK]

Had an Autohelm ST 5000 on a 2470 Pursuit with twin 130 Yammy V4's, hydraulic steering.

This autopilot had a bad glitch, very dangerous, and it sometimes showed itself on the ride home. Seems that anytime the autopilot compass thought it was off 15 degrees, it would go into emergency correction mode, and very quickly make the correction. Only thing was, sometimes it would decide to make the correction all the way around the compass rose. That is, it would throw you in a circle at 30+ mph in the open ocean.

That happened two different times, 3 years apart. And before you could control the wheel, you had to disengage the pilot. Oh boy.

   
That's why they made those kill switch lanyards.