Autopilot for jet boat

Boat: Bombadier Jet Boat, Utopia 185 with 200hp Mercury. Uses cable
steering.

Looking for an autopilot which works with the above, particularly at
slow (trolling) speed.

Thanks
--

Larry
Email to rapp at lmr dot com

Might look at the TR-1 Auto Pilot. Made to be a low cost reliable unit for
recreational fisherman, Many guides here in the Pacific Northwest have them
on their jetsleds.

They run the TR-1 on there kickers. Most of the autopilots should work on a
jetboat. They use the same steering helm as outboards.

wrote in message
link.net...
Might look at the TR-1 Auto Pilot. Made to be a low cost reliable unit for
recreational fisherman, Many guides here in the Pacific Northwest have
them
on their jetsleds.

On Fri, 16 Sep 2005 03:55:24 GMT, "Bill McKee"
wrote (with possible editing):

They run the TR-1 on there kickers. Most of the autopilots should work on a
jetboat. They use the same steering helm as outboards.

wrote in message
hlink.net...
Might look at the TR-1 Auto Pilot. Made to be a low cost reliable unit for
recreational fisherman, Many guides here in the Pacific Northwest have
them
on their jetsleds.


I spoke to someone at Nautamatic (which makes the TR-1) and he said
that the TR-1 MUST be connected to hydraulic steering. Unfortunately,
the Utopia 185 uses push-pull cable steering and the cable is
connected to the pipe under water. He said that it would not work
unless I changed the steering over to hydraulic and nobody seems to
know how to do that for a jet boat. His suggestion was to use an
outboard "kicker" and the TR-1 Gold with that. Unfortunately, that
model requires a gas kicker which I don't have and, because of the
swim platform, cannot mount.

Incidentally, the two models of the TR-1 are $2000 and (close to)
$4000 so they are not all that cheap!.

Thanks anyway,
--

Larry
Email to rapp at lmr dot com

"Larry Rappaport" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 16 Sep 2005 03:55:24 GMT, "Bill McKee"
wrote (with possible editing):

They run the TR-1 on there kickers. Most of the autopilots should work on
a
jetboat. They use the same steering helm as outboards.

wrote in message
thlink.net...
Might look at the TR-1 Auto Pilot. Made to be a low cost reliable unit
for
recreational fisherman, Many guides here in the Pacific Northwest have
them
on their jetsleds.


I spoke to someone at Nautamatic (which makes the TR-1) and he said
that the TR-1 MUST be connected to hydraulic steering. Unfortunately,
the Utopia 185 uses push-pull cable steering and the cable is
connected to the pipe under water. He said that it would not work
unless I changed the steering over to hydraulic and nobody seems to
know how to do that for a jet boat. His suggestion was to use an
outboard "kicker" and the TR-1 Gold with that. Unfortunately, that
model requires a gas kicker which I don't have and, because of the
swim platform, cannot mount.

Incidentally, the two models of the TR-1 are $2000 and (close to)
$4000 so they are not all that cheap!.

Thanks anyway,
--

Larry
Email to rapp at lmr dot com

Do not know about a Utopia 185, but my Jetcraft aluminum jetboat has the
steering connection inside the boat and a rod goes through the back to the
Kodiak jet's nozzle. The TR-1 does not link to the GPS as far as I know.
There are some autopilots for the standard push-pull rod helm. Autohelm
Sportpilot may work for you.

On Sat, 17 Sep 2005 05:09:43 GMT, "Bill McKee"
wrote (with possible editing):

....snip

Do not know about a Utopia 185, but my Jetcraft aluminum jetboat has the
steering connection inside the boat and a rod goes through the back to the
Kodiak jet's nozzle. The TR-1 does not link to the GPS as far as I know.
There are some autopilots for the standard push-pull rod helm. Autohelm
Sportpilot may work for you.

I wish the Utopia used that system. If it did, there would be an easy
place to add rudder feedback.

Unfortunately, the Raymarine Sportpilot will not work. I spoke to the
folks at Raymarine a few days ago and they said that rudder feedback
was essential with a jet boat, which means the Raymarine Sportpilot
Plus.

Another fellow recommended the Raymarine 3000 which also does not use
rudder feedback, but Raymarine nixed that as well...

I'm beginning to think I should sell the boat and get something else.
Thing is, I really like the fact that there is no lower unit or
similar thing to hang up on rocks...
--

Larry
Email to rapp at lmr dot com

And, yet another fellow told me that the Raymarine tech support didn't
know what he was talking about. I wish I knew. I am tempted to buy a
Raymarine Sport Pilot and use my own skills to feed it information via
the NEMA 0183 port.
--

Larry
Email to rapp at lmr dot com

The normal sportpilot does not use rudder feedback from my understanding.
They use a compass to figure which way the boat is pointing.

"Larry Rappaport" wrote in message
...
And, yet another fellow told me that the Raymarine tech support didn't
know what he was talking about. I wish I knew. I am tempted to buy a
Raymarine Sport Pilot and use my own skills to feed it information via
the NEMA 0183 port.
--

Larry
Email to rapp at lmr dot com

On Mon, 19 Sep 2005 00:59:31 GMT, "Bill McKee"
wrote (with possible editing):

The normal sportpilot does not use rudder feedback from my understanding.
They use a compass to figure which way the boat is pointing.

Actually, there are two basic models - the SportPilot and the
SportPilot Plus. Neither use rudder feedback, but both can
accommodate one. Raymarine Tech Support says that they do "much
better" if you use one. Also, fwliw, the difference between the
SportPilot and SportPilot Plus is that the Plus model works more
effectively at lower (trolling) speeds.

I was unable to find anyone with a jet boat with experience with one.
Finally, I bit the bullet and ordered a "Plus" model which should be
here by Wednesday. My thinking is that since it will accept NMEA 0183
sentences, I will see how good the thing is by itself; I can improve
performance by adding NMEA 0183 sentences from my Garmin 188c, and if
that still doesn't work, I will either design some form of rudder
feedback or build a standalone device to produce compensatory NMEA
0183 sentences. Seems like a huge PITA, but I want to be able to
troll alone (since most of my friends work) and it's either that or
buy a new boat...

Thanks to all for the help.
--

Larry
Email to rapp at lmr dot com


"Larry Rappaport" wrote in message
.. .
And, yet another fellow told me that the Raymarine tech support didn't
know what he was talking about. I wish I knew. I am tempted to buy a
Raymarine Sport Pilot and use my own skills to feed it information via
the NEMA 0183 port.
--

Larry
Email to rapp at lmr dot com

"Larry Rappaport" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Sep 2005 00:59:31 GMT, "Bill McKee"
wrote (with possible editing):
I was unable to find anyone with a jet boat with experience with one.
Finally, I bit the bullet and ordered a "Plus" model which should be
here by Wednesday. My thinking is that since it will accept NMEA 0183
sentences, I will see how good the thing is by itself; I can improve
performance by adding NMEA 0183 sentences from my Garmin 188c, and if
that still doesn't work, I will either design some form of rudder
feedback or build a standalone device to produce compensatory NMEA
0183 sentences. Seems like a huge PITA, but I want to be able to
troll alone (since most of my friends work) and it's either that or
buy a new boat...


Let us know how it works.

--
Bob La Londe

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