We have a little 18.5' Bomardier Utopia. It is a jet boat powered by
a 200 hp Merc. One of the characteristics of jet boats is that their
slow speed handling is lousy. You really can't take your hands off
the wheel.

I was thinking of installing some kind of hydraulic or electric
autopilot, but have virtually no experience with them. The boat does
have a Garmin 182 FF/GPS, so I presume there's a NEMA stream
available.

Is this possible? Does it make sense for a small boat? Has anybody
done it? Recommendations? I'm not concerned about navigation, simply
to be able to take my hands off the wheel and have the craft continue
in a straight line...

(Note: I have substantial experience with large and small power and
sail, but all of it is over 30 years old)

Thanks,
--

Larry
Email to rapp at lmr dot com

Larry,
I'm not at all familiar with your boat, but would there be any way to
rig a tiller pilot to work? These are devices designed to by used by
sailboats w/ a tiller, but are often also used with some wind vanes
(like the monitor). They steer the boat to a compass heading, but most
can also be interfaced to accept NEMA and steer to a waypoint. Cost new
starts about $300

L. M. Rappaport wrote:

We have a little 18.5' Bomardier Utopia. It is a jet boat powered by
a 200 hp Merc. One of the characteristics of jet boats is that their
slow speed handling is lousy. You really can't take your hands off
the wheel.

I was thinking of installing some kind of hydraulic or electric
autopilot, but have virtually no experience with them. The boat does
have a Garmin 182 FF/GPS, so I presume there's a NEMA stream
available.

Is this possible? Does it make sense for a small boat? Has anybody
done it? Recommendations? I'm not concerned about navigation, simply
to be able to take my hands off the wheel and have the craft continue
in a straight line...

(Note: I have substantial experience with large and small power and
sail, but all of it is over 30 years old)

Thanks,
--

Larry
Email to rapp at lmr dot com



--
Dan Best - (707) 431-1662, Healdsburg, CA 95448
B-2/75 1977-1979
Tayana 37 #192, "Tricia Jean" http://rangerbest.home.comcast.net/TriciaJean.JPG

Larry,
I'm not at all familiar with your boat, but would there be any way to
rig a tiller pilot to work? These are devices designed to by used by
sailboats w/ a tiller, but are often also used with some wind vanes
(like the monitor). They steer the boat to a compass heading, but most
can also be interfaced to accept NEMA and steer to a waypoint. Cost new
starts about $300

L. M. Rappaport wrote:

We have a little 18.5' Bomardier Utopia. It is a jet boat powered by
a 200 hp Merc. One of the characteristics of jet boats is that their
slow speed handling is lousy. You really can't take your hands off
the wheel.

I was thinking of installing some kind of hydraulic or electric
autopilot, but have virtually no experience with them. The boat does
have a Garmin 182 FF/GPS, so I presume there's a NEMA stream
available.

Is this possible? Does it make sense for a small boat? Has anybody
done it? Recommendations? I'm not concerned about navigation, simply
to be able to take my hands off the wheel and have the craft continue
in a straight line...

(Note: I have substantial experience with large and small power and
sail, but all of it is over 30 years old)

Thanks,
--

Larry
Email to rapp at lmr dot com



--
Dan Best - (707) 431-1662, Healdsburg, CA 95448
B-2/75 1977-1979
Tayana 37 #192, "Tricia Jean" http://rangerbest.home.comcast.net/TriciaJean.JPG

On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 15:37:07 GMT, "Daniel E. Best"
wrote (with possible editing):

Larry,
I'm not at all familiar with your boat, but would there be any way to
rig a tiller pilot to work? These are devices designed to by used by
sailboats w/ a tiller, but are often also used with some wind vanes
(like the monitor). They steer the boat to a compass heading, but most
can also be interfaced to accept NEMA and steer to a waypoint. Cost new
starts about $300

Dan,

Thanks for the tip. I'm not familiar with tiller pilots that
accept NEMA data, but now that I know there are some, I'll definitely
take a look. Thanks.
--

Larry
Email to rapp at lmr dot com

On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 15:37:07 GMT, "Daniel E. Best"
wrote (with possible editing):

Larry,
I'm not at all familiar with your boat, but would there be any way to
rig a tiller pilot to work? These are devices designed to by used by
sailboats w/ a tiller, but are often also used with some wind vanes
(like the monitor). They steer the boat to a compass heading, but most
can also be interfaced to accept NEMA and steer to a waypoint. Cost new
starts about $300

Dan,

Thanks for the tip. I'm not familiar with tiller pilots that
accept NEMA data, but now that I know there are some, I'll definitely
take a look. Thanks.
--

Larry
Email to rapp at lmr dot com

Larry,
These are not neccessarily the cheapest sources, just the first that
came up when I Googled Tiller Pilot

http://www.ginasvineyard-marina.com/raysttilpil.html
The Raymarine's entry level is the ST-1000. It accepts NMEA

http://www.vitelectronics.com/smtp10.html
Simrad's entry level TP-10 does not, but it is cheaper.
The TP-20CX and TP-30CX do accept NMEA.

http://search-completed.ebay.com/sea...ompletedonly=1
They also come up on Ebay every now and then.


L. M. Rappaport wrote:
On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 15:37:07 GMT, "Daniel E. Best"
wrote (with possible editing):


Larry,
I'm not at all familiar with your boat, but would there be any way to
rig a tiller pilot to work? These are devices designed to by used by
sailboats w/ a tiller, but are often also used with some wind vanes
(like the monitor). They steer the boat to a compass heading, but most
can also be interfaced to accept NEMA and steer to a waypoint. Cost new
starts about $300


Dan,

Thanks for the tip. I'm not familiar with tiller pilots that
accept NEMA data, but now that I know there are some, I'll definitely
take a look. Thanks.
--

Larry
Email to rapp at lmr dot com



--
Dan Best - (707) 431-1662, Healdsburg, CA 95448
B-2/75 1977-1979
Tayana 37 #192, "Tricia Jean"
http://rangerbest.home.comcast.net/TriciaJean.JPG

Larry,
These are not neccessarily the cheapest sources, just the first that
came up when I Googled Tiller Pilot

http://www.ginasvineyard-marina.com/raysttilpil.html
The Raymarine's entry level is the ST-1000. It accepts NMEA

http://www.vitelectronics.com/smtp10.html
Simrad's entry level TP-10 does not, but it is cheaper.
The TP-20CX and TP-30CX do accept NMEA.

http://search-completed.ebay.com/sea...ompletedonly=1
They also come up on Ebay every now and then.


L. M. Rappaport wrote:
On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 15:37:07 GMT, "Daniel E. Best"
wrote (with possible editing):


Larry,
I'm not at all familiar with your boat, but would there be any way to
rig a tiller pilot to work? These are devices designed to by used by
sailboats w/ a tiller, but are often also used with some wind vanes
(like the monitor). They steer the boat to a compass heading, but most
can also be interfaced to accept NEMA and steer to a waypoint. Cost new
starts about $300


Dan,

Thanks for the tip. I'm not familiar with tiller pilots that
accept NEMA data, but now that I know there are some, I'll definitely
take a look. Thanks.
--

Larry
Email to rapp at lmr dot com



--
Dan Best - (707) 431-1662, Healdsburg, CA 95448
B-2/75 1977-1979
Tayana 37 #192, "Tricia Jean"
http://rangerbest.home.comcast.net/TriciaJean.JPG

On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 20:53:41 GMT, L. M. Rappaport
wrote:

On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 15:37:07 GMT, "Daniel E. Best"
wrote (with possible editing):

Larry,
I'm not at all familiar with your boat, but would there be any way to
rig a tiller pilot to work? These are devices designed to by used by
sailboats w/ a tiller, but are often also used with some wind vanes
(like the monitor). They steer the boat to a compass heading, but most
can also be interfaced to accept NEMA and steer to a waypoint. Cost new
starts about $300

Dan,

Thanks for the tip. I'm not familiar with tiller pilots that
accept NEMA data, but now that I know there are some, I'll definitely
take a look. Thanks.

If all you need is to hold a straight line, you don't even need to
hook up the NMEA. The autopilot will follow the magnetic course you
start it on with its internal fluxgate compass.

I don't know how to mount a tiller pilot on a motor boat. I use one on
my sailboat with the emergency tiller. I do plan to hook up the NMEA
but it works without it.



Rodney Myrvaagnes NYC J36 Gjo/a


"Wanting to meet a writer because you like his work is like wanting to meet a duck because you like pate."
Margaret Atwood

On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 20:53:41 GMT, L. M. Rappaport
wrote:

On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 15:37:07 GMT, "Daniel E. Best"
wrote (with possible editing):

Larry,
I'm not at all familiar with your boat, but would there be any way to
rig a tiller pilot to work? These are devices designed to by used by
sailboats w/ a tiller, but are often also used with some wind vanes
(like the monitor). They steer the boat to a compass heading, but most
can also be interfaced to accept NEMA and steer to a waypoint. Cost new
starts about $300

Dan,

Thanks for the tip. I'm not familiar with tiller pilots that
accept NEMA data, but now that I know there are some, I'll definitely
take a look. Thanks.

If all you need is to hold a straight line, you don't even need to
hook up the NMEA. The autopilot will follow the magnetic course you
start it on with its internal fluxgate compass.

I don't know how to mount a tiller pilot on a motor boat. I use one on
my sailboat with the emergency tiller. I do plan to hook up the NMEA
but it works without it.



Rodney Myrvaagnes NYC J36 Gjo/a


"Wanting to meet a writer because you like his work is like wanting to meet a duck because you like pate."
Margaret Atwood

On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 21:58:49 -0500, Rodney Myrvaagnes
wrote (with possible editing):

On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 20:53:41 GMT, L. M. Rappaport
wrote:

On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 15:37:07 GMT, "Daniel E. Best"
wrote (with possible editing):

Larry,
I'm not at all familiar with your boat, but would there be any way to
rig a tiller pilot to work? These are devices designed to by used by
sailboats w/ a tiller, but are often also used with some wind vanes
(like the monitor). They steer the boat to a compass heading, but most
can also be interfaced to accept NEMA and steer to a waypoint. Cost new
starts about $300

Dan,

Thanks for the tip. I'm not familiar with tiller pilots that
accept NEMA data, but now that I know there are some, I'll definitely
take a look. Thanks.

If all you need is to hold a straight line, you don't even need to
hook up the NMEA. The autopilot will follow the magnetic course you
start it on with its internal fluxgate compass.

I don't know how to mount a tiller pilot on a motor boat. I use one on
my sailboat with the emergency tiller. I do plan to hook up the NMEA
but it works without it.



Rodney Myrvaagnes NYC J36 Gjo/a

Thanks, guys,

Well, I did a little research and I'm not sure a tiller pilot
would work. The inexpensive models seem to be designed to connect to
a conventional tiller. When you step up a bit, it looks like you
replace the wheel with a new assembly.

I'm going to have to first figure out what kind of steering
linkage is being used he I know it's not cables, but I don't know
if it's hydraulic or mechanical. Then I have to figure out how much
travel, and whether or not you can move the jet without turning the
wheel; i.e., if you turn the jet, does the wheel move or does it even
matter....

I'll keep looking and report back here. I tried two suppliers
yesterday, but both said I needed to talk to the manufacturer. The
manufacturer says I need to talk to the dealer. The dealer doesn't
know... Figures...

--

Larry
Email to rapp at lmr dot com