Gogarty wrote:
In article , lid says...
"Roger Long" wrote in message
.. .
I brought the boat down from the yard today. The rig wasn't set up so it
was fifteen miles as a power boat. As soon as I got out of the river, I set
up the newly installed ST1000 driving the Cape Horn windvane.
Wow. I never had so much fun not doing something I used to think of as
fun. I know most of you take this for granted but I've always been a "keep
it simple", minimalist sailor. There's something about a boat that steers
itself that makes you feel like an adult.
I spent a good part of the leg down the bay sorting out lines and making
the boat a bit more presentable after the hasty mast stepping and
departure. The remote was close at hand and what luxury to just reach down
and push the buttons when a floating log or pot buoy came up.
On our boat, Bob does all these things while I have the helm. g
It was a cold, raw day (an inch of snow in the northern part of the state)
and would have been a long cold trick at the wheel single handed. Another
nice thing I've discovered about autopilots is that being able to move
around and do things makes you feel a lot warmer.
I don't know how I ever got along without this thing. I may never steer
again. What's next? Radar? (Now that I can leave the wheel, I could even
go and look at it.)
Yep... my ST4000 is truly great. The remote makes it greater.
We have an ST4000 with remote. I love it. I can sit on the foredech and steer
the boat. But for reasons I have never been able to fathom, my wife hates the
thing and hates the remote even more. Just doesn't trust electro/mechanical
gadgets. Whenever she has the con she sets it to Standby and hand steers.
Maybe I should let her hand steer for eight hours on a cold, windy, wet night
trip.
We didn't have an autopilot for the first year we had the boat. Bob
would actually make me steer for hours on end. I wasn't too thrilled,
but it probably was a good idea because it forced me to learn.
Then he installed the autopilot (we have a ST 7000). What a relief.
We don't have a remote, but with two of us it is not really necessary.
I love the autopilot, but there are some places where it is a bad idea
(once in the ICW the channel turned and I barely missed running over a
fishing boat that was at the elbow of the turn - he got into my blind
spot while I wasn't looking - I didn't have to look because the
autopilot was steering).
I suspect the wife not liking the remote has to do with the reason why
girls don't do as much video gaming as boys and why men often use the
TV remote more than women do. I'm really bad at gaming. I use the
autopilot, but I doubt if I would use a remote unless I was forced.
The thing has a name. Christopher, as in Saint. There is a St. Christopher
medal tacked to the bulkhead just above the display unit.
By the way, location of the flux gate compass is crucial. When we bought the
boat the flux gate was installed in a cabinet under the galley sink. If you
tossed a cast-iron frying pan into the sink the boat went berserk. It also
showed huge variation. We mnoved it to just aft of the mast under the saloon
table. Cut the variation to nearly zero and it never goes berserk.
Our fluxgate compass is under the aft berth (center cockpit boat).
grandma Rosalie
S/V RosalieAnn, Leonardtown, MD
CSY 44 WO #156
http://home.mindspring.com/~gmbeasley/id1.html