Topic: Tiller Pilots

Anyone have experience with tillerpilots?
ST 1000 or 2000 or TP10 or TP22 (with remote)
Pro's and cons on different brands?

Re: Tiller Pilots

Yeah i gat a simrad tp10 on mine with a navik windvane.
The tp10 work great but take a lot of power for 2 or 3 days trip offshore if the sun doesnt show up for the solar panel.

With a little bit of wind it take a LOT of power, i drain my whole battery that was full in 36h with 30/35 knots wind with not even 8 foots seas using no other electrical instrument.  But it hold the course better then anything else i know.

Hope that will help

Re: Tiller Pilots

Re: Tiller Pilots

Thanks Donald_duck , do you think the remote on the TP22 is worth the $150 or so extra?

Re: Tiller Pilots

Sorry to be so late on the answer.
Well i gat a autopilot too, because some time its better.
Singlehanded on a port, its faster putting the autopilot to do some maneuver.
In real light wind too, the autopilot work better, same thing for really close to the wind.

On my last boat, i lost my windvane 350 miles offshore on a collision with whales. So just for the fact
to have a backup, to don't do again 70 hours at the helm its another reason why i got it.

Hope that help.

Peter: Well the remote for me doesn't worth it. From the inside you can see the compass, and i look around everything 35 minutes offshore for ships so doing 2 steps more to adjust the autohelm is nothing. And normaly you dont change course that much for needing a remote ! My point of view .

Re: Tiller Pilots

I'm thinking of an auto helm this year or next.  The ST1000 is rated for boats up to 6600 lbs.  I'm wondering two things 1) does this mean the boat with out people and their gear?  2) given the large rudder of the CO26, should I only look at the ST2000 which goes to 10000 lbs?

Re: Tiller Pilots

I suspect the displacement rating is total weight of the boat. Gear/people/etc. But common advice is to get an oversized tiller-pilot, in order to keep the device from running at the edge of its capabilities.

Re: Tiller Pilots

On LATVIS we have an ST-2000 setup on the lazarette, leaving the cockpit free. Because this setup create a very short leverage I think you need the power and the reaction speed of the st-2000. I do not know the difference between the 1000 and 2000 as far as energy consumption, I mainly use the autopilot when motoring or raising/lowering sails. When sailing I use it as a tiller lock. Disconnected from power and the arm of the pilot at the proper length, I can re-attach it at  will to keep the tiller steady and move around for a short period. I also use that setup when I practice steering the boat only with the sail.

9 (edited by Jackateeth 2008-02-18 14:58:44)

Re: Tiller Pilots

We have a remote control and I never used it.

Re: Tiller Pilots

I have used the Autohelm ST1000 for 10 years. It does a good job - especially when sailing close to the wind. My ST1000 will run down one of my two batteries almost completely- steering for 8 hours in boistrous conditions. It takes an hour or more running the diesel to charge the battery back to full.

The cutworms are in the hollyhocks, again!

Re: Tiller Pilots

Another viable alternative to the ST-1000 is a Simrad TP-10 (good to boats up to 33')which draws a measly 0.5 amps on Auto and 0.06 amps on standby.   It is more powerful than the ST-1000 and is super quiet.  I have used it extensively on Tessa last summer using only my starter battery for 5+ hours straight and "Otto" kept the course quite impressively with absolutely no hiccups whatsoever and the battery still had enough to start the Farymann.

I think that for the most of us who don't really go out offshore would probably opt for an electronic tiller pilot instead of a windvane for the obvious cost/hassle factor but  I do recommend to everybody that they have a house battery or two just to offset the load.  This season, I'll be installing a 75 Watt solar panel to keep the house batteries charged up while under way with "Otto" engaged as well as powering other electronic gadgets on board.  I do believe that Tania Aebi uses the Simrad TP-22 for her Devilliers 36 (Shangri-La) in conjunction with a Monitor windvane from the link that KodiakGirl provided a couple of days ago.  Thanks for the link, by the way, KodiakGirl.  It really makes me itch for the season to start.

Cheers everyone,

José

Re: Tiller Pilots

I like to sit at the bow with my son.  That means giving the tiller to my wife or someone else.  This is usually ok until the person on the help wants to go do something else.

What if I ran two lines via block from either side of the tiller up to the bow and steered the boat from there?  Kinda like a remote "Tiller Tamer". 

This seems to make sense in my head but I haven't actually seen anything like this.  What do you guys think?

Re: Tiller Pilots

there's a fix like that in a book on easy/innovative fixes I have at home - fellow who singlehanded wanted a way to steer from the bow while working up the anchor and managing through anchorages.  He ran a line around the tiller on eahc side and thoruhg blocks and could stand on the bow and steer while he also managed his gear.   said it was unnerving to other boats to see the boat moving around with no one visibly at the helm!

Re: Tiller Pilots

I have a line that runs around the inside of the gunwales on our daysailor so one can steer from anywhere in the boat.Very simple,works great.A pair of quarter blocks at the tiller and one length of line running thru the stanchion bases around and back again might work OK.You might stratgegically locate some toggles that are easier to grasp.