On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 19:31:07 +1030, BruceM wrote:

I would say it is impractable.
Chap has an auto-pilot here in Sth Aust on a 38footer and believe me it is
the worst boat in the fleet. The boat has the nickname of "drunkboat".
Firstly, those jets are OK for 18 footers going like a bat-out-of-hell up a
fast flowing river & doing spin-outs in their own length like in NZ tourist
fjiords.
At 18 to 25 knots they just wander all over the place. Maybe if you had a
full length keel or something it might help.
"drunkboat" has nearly been spun that many times in a big following sea that
most won't go out with him if there are more than a metre seas running. Like
I said, on a 45MPH boat on a fresh water lake.......... no worries.
BruceM

A few years ago I was on a short cruise in a 44' mv in Bermuda. It was
equipped with an autopilot - a Raymarine, I think. We were in fairly light
seas, but it handled really well. (the Capt. let me take the wheel for a
while) Of course since there wasn't much of a sea, that might have been
the reason.

My very limited understanding of autopilots is that they have to be matched
to the boat. The critical parameter is something I'd call "damping" - how
much rudder is applied for a given deviation and how much rudder behavior
is anticipated. Another factor might be whether the reference is a
fluxgate compass or a NEMA stream from a GPS.

Do you know much about the "drunkboat"? Was it a do-it-yourself or
professional installation? What equipment?

As I said earlier, this might be a futile exercise - it appears that nobody
has even tried it.

I don't tend towards going like a bat out of hell! If I lived closer to a
large body of water, I'd probably have a nice sailboat in the 30 - 40'
range, but they don't trailer very well among the lakes, which, as I said,
can be shallow...

Thanks for your comments
--

Larry
email is rapp at lmr dot com