On Sun, 30 Nov 2003 00:44:53 +0100, Michael Ohlhorst wrote:

my promblems setting up an Autopilot to my 10foot tube tender was the
compass.
the ractions of the compass where to worse to use it.
The semiregide inflatable with 40HP Johnsen is rigged with a hydraulik
steering system and the hydraulik pump works fine.
when the boot hurts in the sea my small compass ist circeling and the
fluxgate of the autopilot do not deliver usefull data sets.
The Autopilot ill tried was a small DANAHELM unit the first fluxgate has
aircoils and the second was oil filled. The idear adapting NMEA Data from a
GPS Handheld could work but the time to patch the software of the autopilot
to get it work would be to long for me.

Michael from Germany

Hi Michael,

Ok, so then you're saying that the data delivered by fluxgate compasses
was the problem. I can understand that, particularly as a small boat
always has far more pitch and roll than a larger craft. (My boat is small
as well) In fact, I recall something said by the owner of the boat I was
aboard saying something like autopilot wasn't that useful in rough weather,
but that might well have been because you tend to need to head into it and
it shifts, while an autopilot might want to take you in a different
direction.

I am pretty sure that modern autopilots can and do accept NMEA data. That
must be the case as some advertise that they work with GPS to follow a
plotted course, so it would appear as if there wouldn't need to be any
modification.

I have the skills necessary to modify software (I'm a software engineer by
trade) but I doubt companies would release the source.

Thanks for sharing your experiences.
--

Larry
email is rapp at lmr dot com