[Public-list] Autopilot Recommendation

[richard.hazlegrove at wachovia.com]

Andy,  I have a Autohelm ST-4000+ tiller pilot and like it a lot.  It 
consists of the ram itself, a remotely mounted fluxgate compass, and a 
gauge/head unit mounted on the bulkhead next to my other gauges.   I seem 
to recall that it is designed for boats up to either 14,000 or 16,000 
displacement so it's a little oversized but the next size down I think was 
right at our displacement.  Since I have other Autohelm instruments,  this 
unit can also repeat depth, and speed.  What is most useful however is 
it's ability to repeat lots of information from a linked GPS such SOG, 
cross track error, distance/bearing to waypoint, VMG,   It also functions 
as a digital compass display.  I normally set it to GPS speed over ground 
which is useful next to speed through water gauge.  These units are a 
little more expensive than the self contained units but are more powerful, 
probably a little quicker plus you get the display.   Someone else on the 
board asked about this awhile back and I shot some photos of my setup.  If 
you're interested, drop me an e-mail,  I can have these photos sent to you 
from the photo host site where they're currently housed. 
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