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First time on Autopilot
Primary self steering is by wind vane which uses no power. The electric
autopilot is just for use under power when its electrical draw isn't an issue. Since it doesn't have to exert any more force than the wind vane linkage does, it doesn't draw much anyway. I doubt that the Seawind held a straight course under power:) -- Roger Long |
First time on Autopilot
"Roger Long" wrote in message ... I guess I'm going to have to break down and finally buy myself a fancy boat knife. Old Reliable (30 years and about three new sheafs) is just going to have to make way for modern times. That is the exact spot where it's best to sit while working with the GPS. This should start a sub-thread: What's the best boat knife? -- Roger Long I have the Russel Belt knife with additional marlin spike. (made in this province) Probably wouldn't help your problem. http://www.oldjimbo.com/survival/grohmann.html |
First time on Autopilot
"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message ... If you had a real sailboat like my Allied Seawind 32 with her traditional full keel and ketch rig, you wouldn't need to use some cheapo electronic autopilot. Sea Isle can hold her course all day long just with the proper sail trim using the jigger as a steering sail. There is no joy in having to use electricity to keep a recalcitrant and poorly designed yacht on her course. Wilbur Hubbard Congratulations! You finally scuttled that ugly yellow/mauve Coronado 26. |
First time on Autopilot
"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message ... wrote in message ... "Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message ... "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. 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.) -- Roger Long If you had a real sailboat like my Allied Seawind 32 with her traditional full keel and ketch rig, you wouldn't need to use some cheapo electronic autopilot. Sea Isle can hold her course all day long just with the proper sail trim using the jigger as a steering sail. There is no joy in having to use electricity to keep a recalcitrant and poorly designed yacht on her course. Wilbur Hubbard Correct, we know the Allied Seawind 32 well. As you have stated it will, under normal condition, hold its course. That may account for one reason why circumnavigators were amenable to use the Allied Seawind 32. However, the Bay of Fundy, offers a varietals of challenges. The Point Lepreau rip tides, the Grand Manan channel, Tiverton Passage, Schooner Passage. Letite and Little passages are very challenging in Black fog. The legend has it that Mohawk ledge has had its share of boats. The fog is challenging but compounded with tides, eddies and currents you have all it takes to prove your skill and your manual or auto pilot. No one navigating in these areas will let his or her boat steered itseft alone. An auto pilot can be used as long as you have a constant vigil and adjust the heading a degree at a time or better still do the steering manually with the assistance of plotter,dept sounder and radar. Having a fin keel allows for quicker reaction time to avoid ledges and rocks. The Bay of Fundy is, indeed, one of the more challenging places in the whole world to sail. I've never been there but I understand the highest tides in the world occur there. Thirty to forty feet? Now, that's scary. Wilbur Hubbard Can reach over 50 feet up near the head. http://museum.gov.ns.ca/fossils/protect/tides.htm |
First time on Autopilot
"Don White" wrote in message ... I have the Russel Belt knife with additional marlin spike. (made in this province) Probably wouldn't help your problem. http://www.oldjimbo.com/survival/grohmann.html I also have the Davis Yachtsman Pocket Knife http://ca.binnacle.com/product_info....oducts_id=1023 |
First time on Autopilot
"Charlie Morgan" wrote in message ... On 18 May 2007 15:15:03 -0500, Dave wrote: On Fri, 18 May 2007 16:45:53 -0300, said: Correct, we know the Allied Seawind 32 well. I guess you're new here. The last time Neal was fantasizing, he claimed to have a Swan 68. What he actually has is a ****-colored Coronado 27. He doesn't even have that any longer. He had a "rough period" and no longer owns that boat, or even his kooky Suzuki. I think he probably had to eat his cat, or he'd have starved. He now posts from public access computers at the library. He's either homeless or hanging by a thread. CWM I thought he survived at the Post Office long enough to draw some kind of pension. Probably went into hoc renovating that God awful interior on the Coronado. |
First time on Autopilot
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 |
First time on Autopilot
"Don White" wrote in message
... "Charlie Morgan" wrote in message ... On 18 May 2007 15:15:03 -0500, Dave wrote: On Fri, 18 May 2007 16:45:53 -0300, said: Correct, we know the Allied Seawind 32 well. I guess you're new here. The last time Neal was fantasizing, he claimed to have a Swan 68. What he actually has is a ****-colored Coronado 27. He doesn't even have that any longer. He had a "rough period" and no longer owns that boat, or even his kooky Suzuki. I think he probably had to eat his cat, or he'd have starved. He now posts from public access computers at the library. He's either homeless or hanging by a thread. CWM I thought he survived at the Post Office long enough to draw some kind of pension. Probably went into hoc renovating that God awful interior on the Coronado. Neal used to read water meters for a living... if you can call it that. -- "j" ganz @@ www.sailnow.com |
First time on Autopilot
On Thu, 17 May 2007 20:17:02 -0400, Roger Long wrote:
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. On Far Cove (I've sold her now, so she's not "my boat" any more) I had the ST4000 head mounted under the dodger, so I could use that to steer if it was raining and I wanted to duck under the dodger (Put it on standby and use the buttons to turn the wheel). I used it a lot when under power - Otto was a godsend for those boring motoring stretches! But like our friend Wilbur (well, not like him since in my case it's true...), Far Cove could be set up under sail to go a constant direction without need of Otto. My next boat is definitely gonna have an Autohelm, even if it's a tiller. druid http://www.bcboatnet.org |
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