MacGregorSailors.com

Hello.
I've been thinking in install an autopilot in my . All my electronics (wind, deep and gps) is Navman, so I'd like install a navman autopilot (if anybody has a better solution, I'm waiting your suggestions). I've seen that it's necessary a linear hydraulic ram. Anybody knows what is the good size for the Mac?
Thanks by your answers and by read my poor english

Galletas

Click on the Modifications section to the left and look under "Instruments" for some installed Autopilots - you can also send a private message to the installers if you find your model there of course.

Anyone else with a Navman install who can help?

Galletas:

Creo que su Inglais es mejor que mi Epanol.

And that's about the extent.

I understand your desire to stick with Navman; all other things being equal, electronics tend to work better together when they're from the same manufacturer.

However, doesn't Navman make a wheel pilot? Linear rams take up a fair amount of space and are usually used on tiller-steered boats or those with inboard, sector driven rudders. One could be fitted to the Mac, but I'm pretty certain it's going to take some custom made hardware to make it work.

If not, and you consider other than Navman, it appears most of us have settled on wheel pilots from Raymarine, either the Sportpilot Plus or ST4000 Plus.

Buena suerte.

Thank you very much by your answers. I will study the option of the ST40. Is it valid to sail plotting fixed course with the wind, or only in geographic course?

this navman autopilot is a very interesting alternative to the raymarine pilots. it is expensive but it includes not only a fluxgate compass but also a gyro which will sensibly improve it's steering capabilities. it may be a kind of overkill for a lightweight 26 ft nutshell as ours, but i would also consider it if i had to buy a new autopilot.

the most elegant way to install the navman autopilot would be to change the whole steering system to hydraulics and get rid of this flimsy teleflex/morse thing. there are also solutions with an electric motor which attachs to the morse steering head (in the pedestal) - but i am not familiar with that. the drawback of this solution will be that the autopilot is not a backup for the steering system as it can be if directly mounted on the rudder bar.

Galletas wrote:Is it valid to sail plotting fixed course with the wind, or only in geographic course?

I can't address this capability with other models, but the ST4000 has it. In order to do so with any autopilot you will need an input from a wind instrument, which will send wind data to the autopilot through NMEA or a proprietary interface. The Raymarine proprietary interface is "Seatalk" which looks to be very powerful and easy to use, since all you have to do is plug the Seatalk instruments together and they will all communicate with one another. I've not used it since none of my other instruments is Raymarine. I assume the Navman has a similar interface.

Chip Hindes wrote:

Galletas wrote:Is it valid to sail plotting fixed course with the wind, or only in geographic course?

I can't address this capability with other models, but the ST4000 has it. In order to do so with any autopilot you will need an input from a wind instrument, which will send wind data to the autopilot through NMEA or a proprietary interface. The Raymarine proprietary interface is "Seatalk" which looks to be very powerful and easy to use, since all you have to do is plug the Seatalk instruments together and they will all communicate with one another. I've not used it since none of my other instruments is Raymarine. I assume the Navman has a similar interface.

Thanks everybody by your answers.
The problem is that I'm sure I can connect gps and wind equipment simultaneously to Navman pilot, but I'm not sure of being able to do it with the Raymarine. Both Navman equipments have exit NMEA, but I don't know if I can connect 2 entrances NMEA different to Raymarine pilot simultaneously.

Galletas wrote: The problem is that I'm sure I can connect gps and wind equipment simultaneously to Navman pilot, but I'm not sure of being able to do it with the Raymarine. Both Navman equipments have exit NMEA, but I don't know if I can connect 2 entrances NMEA different to Raymarine pilot simultaneously.

I am faced with the same problem (Navman wind meter, Lowrance GPS, Raymarine autopilot)... I cannot connect more than 1 NMEA "talker" to the autopilot (in other words, I can connect the GPS, or the wind meter, but not both).

I believe there is an NMEA-Seatalk converter box that would presumably allow you to connect 2 devices (one to the autopilot's NMEA port, the other through the Seatalk converter).

My solution (if I ever get around to it) will be to simply install a switch that will let me select which NMEA feed the autopilot receives (wind or GPS), since there is no need to have both at once.

--Mike

No single instrument can handle two NMEA inputs. The way the standard works is described as one talker, many listeners. You may run a single output to any number of inputs, but each instrument may only accept one input.

So, if your Navman autopilot supports NMEA only, you will be able to wire in your GPS or your wind instrument, but not both. If the Navman proprieteary data format supports multiple inputs, that is one good reason to stay with Navman.

Currently, I have both a Garmin GPS and a Standard Horizon depth/speed indicator (besides the autopilot itself) which output NMEA data. However, since the autopilot will accept only one NMEA input, I have chosen the GPS as the more important of the two, and the GPS output is wired directly to the autopilot NMEA input.

With the Raymarine instruments, you can buy a special piece of hardware called an "NMEA to Seatalk Interface" which will take a number of NMEA outputs (I believe up to six) and convert them to Seatalk format so they can be used by Raymarine instruments. However, the cheapest I have found this is $250, which seems a little steep.

If I add a wind indicator, I would want both GPS and wind indicator to send data to the autopilot, so at that point I have to purchase either a Raymarine model which supports Seatalk, or the NMEA to Seatalk interface.

Navman pilot allows to connect several emitters of navman that they have an own communication protocol (in addition to the NMEA) through device call NAVBUS. Certainly, it's a very complete pilot, but the price in Spain, including the arm, is about $2000 as opposed to $850 that the Raytheon costs

mike wrote:

Galletas wrote: The problem is that I'm sure I can connect gps and wind equipment simultaneously to Navman pilot, but I'm not sure of being able to do it with the Raymarine. Both Navman equipments have exit NMEA, but I don't know if I can connect 2 entrances NMEA different to Raymarine pilot simultaneously.

I am faced with the same problem (Navman wind meter, Lowrance GPS, Raymarine autopilot)... I cannot connect more than 1 NMEA "talker" to the autopilot (in other words, I can connect the GPS, or the wind meter, but not both).

I believe there is an NMEA-Seatalk converter box that would presumably allow you to connect 2 devices (one to the autopilot's NMEA port, the other through the Seatalk converter).

My solution (if I ever get around to it) will be to simply install a switch that will let me select which NMEA feed the autopilot receives (wind or GPS), since there is no need to have both at once.

--Mike

I'm very interested in your installation. Could you send the scheme and some photos?. Thank you very much.