On Mon, 31 Mar 2014 07:28:15 -0600, slide wrote:

On 3/31/2014 6:34 AM, Flying Pig wrote:

This, too will pass, but it's very tire$ome.


No, it's worse than that. It pulls all the joy out of the experience
because it morphs a sail or cruise into a Sisyphean Labor.

I never had nearly the issues you guys have had but had one near
experience. My BG autopilot died within an hour of leaving Narraganset.
I returned to get it fixed. It died again maybe 200 miles south while
far out at sea. When I put in, I tried to get it fixed but no fixes
seemed to 'take'.

I ended up replacing the entire unit which failed again within hours. At
that point I gave up on it and decided to make do w/o an autopilot which
was annoying for me, a singlehander, but putting the issue behind me
allowed me to enjoy the time at sea w/o fretting over broken boat parts.

After 1.5 years sailing, I sold the boat and now, if I ever return to
the seas, it will be on a bare bones boat lacking most of the systems
which even can break. After all, things like rigging maintenance is
enough w/o adding another 3 layers of complexity.

I don't think I even want pressure water.


Excellent advice, Skippy. Listen to the man. He's
got it figured out. An old-fashioned, mechanical
wind-actuated, steering vane is more reliable than
modern electric autopilots. But, if you are using
electric autopilots ship no fewer than two replace-
ments, preferably three.