FW: Autopilot on P19?

From: Bill Combs (ttursine@earthlink.net)
Date: Tue Jan 11 2000 - 21:44:56 PST


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From: "Bill Combs" <ttursine@gnt.net>
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 15:38:32 -0500
To: wwpotter@tscnet.com
Subject: Re: Autopilot on P19?
Resent-From: wwpotter@tscnet.com
Resent-Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 13:38:48 -0700

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>
> I'm think about adding an autopilot for single handing.
>
> Has anyone installed one of the new Autohelm "TillerPilot ST1000+" units on
> his/her P19? How do you like it? Any words of advice on installing it?
> Any experience with the optional windvane?
>
> Thanks,
> Judy B

Judy,

By dint of circumstance too absurd to relate, I have _two_ autopilots
for Ursa Minor: an Autohelm 1000 and an Autohelm 800. I wouldn't be
without one of them -- which, now that I think on it, makes a pretty
good reason to have both.

Somewhere in the memory of my currently-ill Powerbook is a discussion
of autopilots. It's masquerading as an element of the never-finished
Bahamas tale. [ Maybe I ought to write that; most of the things I
loved probably aren't there post-Floyd. Storm tracks show the eye
crossing right over Marsh Harbor and Little Harbor and Cooperstown and
... Bummer! ]

A summary: the Autohelms handles a tiller better than at least 2/3 of
the human helmsmen I've seen. Truly amazing!! Upon starting one up,
you can sit and _watch_ the thing learn about the sea state and helm
response. For all reasonably regular sea conditions -- from 6" ripples
to 4' square waves to 8' ocean swells -- and on most any point of
sail, corrections will grow fewer and course accuracy grow greater for
the first ten minutes or so. After that, power consumption is minimal.
There are, of course, sea conditions that are handled less well --
crossing wave trains on the quarters come to mind -- but you want to
be hand steering then anyway! Believe me.

Although I've single-handed Ursa long distances w/o an autopilot, I
can't now imagine how I did it. Hand steering should be fun, not
labor.

Even were I to never go out for more than a day, however, I'd still
want an autopilot. I dare say that the singlehander without one will
eventually get into trouble with, if nothing else, the sail
raising/lowering drill in less-than-best weather. Then there's: potty
duties, adjusting things like jibsheet lead or boom downhaul, going
below to find that missing X, scratching the dog, fixing a snack ...
and so on, ad inf. Nice to be able to do things without heaving-to for
the duration or scrambling to correct the tiller every 20 seconds. Of
perhaps highest importance is the potential postural improvement: it's
ever so much easier to be comfortable without the need to keep a hand
near or on the tiller.

Autopilots for singlehanders also offer unique opportunities such as
capturing the sea level view of your Potter sailing away from you,
crewed only by your pet. Or running into things while bemused, on the
can, or otherwise only semi-conscious. Or going a long way toward
nowhere while inadvertently napping. Fortunately these are all
correctable errors, in no way the fault of the autopilot.

As for you normal folks who sail with (human) crew, think how much
easier to do _everything_ if not always passing the helm back and
forth!

Installation is straightforward, but I may be able to save a bit of
planning, measuring, and catalog-perusing if any of you want to
install an Autohelm on a P19. Let me know.

I have one of mine (the ST1000) wired to the GPS, offering the
possibility of sending a powering Potter ahead to await your arrival.
Complete with course changes, no less. Let's see, 3 drums of fuel in
the cabin, cross plumbed. Remove the sails, batten everything down and
set the Honda at cruising rpm. Enter the waypoints and route into the
GPS. If the weather is reasonable, should be able to get from here
(Gulf of Mexico) to, say, the Severn River at Annapolis? Or London?
The Atlantic off Rio? All without a soul on board! Ain't technology
grand?

I know nothing of competing brands of autopilot directly, but reviews
and hearsay indicate they are also competent performers.

Recommended. Buy ahead of cosmetic expenditures.

Regards,

Bill Combs
WWP 19 #439 (Aug 1987)
"Ursa Minor"
Fort Walton Beach FL
ttursine@gnt.net



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