I have a 32ft yacht, fiberglass and looking for a autopilot to replace with a broken course master autopilot. any suggestion?
I heard about TMQ AP4 and also SIMRAD. no idea which one has a better quality, I just bought the vessel for the first time.
Thanks
I bought a Coursemaster a couple of years ago & have had no problems with it.
Ozzy made!!!!
Saturn,
unsure of your budget, but I can vouch for the NKE, handles arkward sea states from the rear quarter like a breeze.
CPT make the best wheel pilot by far, but not the cheapest. It can steer in a breeze that you can't feel on your face and in quartering seas that make you think about swallowing the anchor. Been known to keep steering a boat while submerged in a cockpit full of water.
The TMQ AP4 is a great piece of kit. Had one for years in my fishing vessel, All the boats in my home port had them as well. Made in Queensland and used to have good service. More for use in power boats I would say. The power draw would be high.
If you have a chart plotter on your boat it would probable be good to get one that can communicate with it. This way you can plot a course and have the Auto Pilot follow it.
I like the TMQ AP4 as well but you need to work out what suits your vessel and budget. Good luck.
One important factor is to make sure there is a service centre or repair shop somewhere near you. No doubt that whatever system you buy will fail and it is pretty frustrating to have to Fedex it to the other side of the world and speak in a different language to a technician. In my experience this would be a critical factor in any purchase.
I have a B&G auto pilot with the ram connected straight to the quadrant. All of my electronics are B&G so they all interact with each other.
I have a SIMRAD TP32 tiller Pilot. 10 years old, been subjected more abuse than a rugby ref and still works properly. Less than a $1,000.
Chiming in late and putting in a good word for Raymarine. I installed mine over 5 years ago (specifically a SmartPilot X-10 course computer, a p70 control head and the rotary drive unit) and no problems at all. The integration with their chartplotter is excellent, but presumably it would work well with any NMEA 2000 equipment.
You can read more about my installation here: blog.arribasail.com/2013/01/tech-arriba-gets-autopilot.html
