Auto Pilot for the A27

[SkipRocks]

My 85 Albin A27 Express with a 150 HP Volvo Penta TAMD31P needs an autopilot. I've got a bit more time these days and am beginning to venture a bit further off shore. I also do a lot of trolling, often solo and when I catch something the boat tends to do some random version of a clover leaf while I'm aft manning the reel: a bit embarrassing to me and annoying to other boats fishing nearby.

When I purchased the A27 in 2014 there was a non-operational 1992 Robertson AP2500 hydraulic unit installed. Man I wish I'd kept that in my parts bin as I bet I could bring it back to life, but I didn't. I have hydraulic steering and will mount the drive unit aft to connect to the rudder arm directly rather than the octopus "dash drive" type. I also want the auto pilot that will work with my Garmin GPS and I don't think the old Robertson would have done that. There's a decent thread on here about 10 years old discussing the Si-Tex units. Anyway, any thoughts and/or suggestions?

Thanks

[real550A]

Watching and learning!

[tribologist]

We have a NAC-2 in our Albin 25. Since you have Hydraulic steering you just put a pump in the lines between helm and rudder ram. You don't connect them to the arm. My actuator is a stripped Sportpilot that mount behind the wheel. Most AP’s works with pretty much any gps but only brand matched will work from within the MFD/GPS interface. Otherwise you need a separate controller, thats not that bad either…its sometimes frustrating to use GPS box for sonar, AP and Charts. We just finished a 300 mi trip on Erie canal and besides the sections around Rochester were Navionics were 100 ft off at times i never touched the wheel other than for dodging logs. (There are no NOAA charts past #674 near Syracuse all the way to Niagara river.) If i used the satellite photo overlay i would have been fine. Its just Navionic that has it wrong. If you would run a NAC-2 with an older gps you need a AP-44 interface too i think. The pictures show a place where Navionics were off but you also see the interface on our Simrad ESS7 EVO3. The AP-44 is pretty expensive so you migh want to consider changing MFD so you can do all from MFD. I do most routing on navionics on ipad or PC. Then the MFD syncs over wifi so all i need to do is to import the routes and hit start and sit back snd enjoy. I broke down and bought a HS60 GPS compass/gps reciever but i think thr point-9 is pretty good too. My old Point-1AP was not good enough for the canals. Did ok in rivers and fine in open water.

Its amazing how much better the AP steer than humans…. Love following other boats driving like texting teens…

[Ambler27FC]

Mine has a hydraulic Raymarine system. After I disabled it’s “recalibrate whenever you feel like it’ feature it has worked great. I just use it for heading-hold, but really good.performance even in narrow channels over long distances. The control head is very basic and entirely intuitive.

[SkipRocks]

Thanks for your help!