Autopilot for Sunfast 37

[richy]

Any recommendations for best autopilot for a Sunfast 37?

[MalcolmP]

It may depend on the type of sailing you are doing - but you will always get much better performance if the autopilot is fitted directly to the quadrant. The type that fit onto the wheel do not have the power generally to keep the boat tracking well unless you are motoring in smoothish conditions. Most Jeanneaus will have the Raymarine types, but there have been some good reports of the newer Jefa systems who have an excellent reputation for rudder bearings and steering systems generally

This article form our Hints and Tips section is a good starting point 

www.jeanneau-owners.com/hintsandtips/SO35autopilot.html

[hoppy]

B&G's multi function display seems to be best for racing boats and thus if you wanted to go down that route, then perhaps you should look at their AP.

Whilst you could go for a AP that is not from the same company that makes the rest of your electronics, getting stuff from the same manufacturer tends to make integration much easier and better.

I have an old Raymarine AP and a newish e7 MFD and a mixture of old and new model instruments. It all works... It's so easy to control the AP from the MFD.

My AP has the hydraulic ram connected to the quadrant and it works well in all conditions I have encountered so far and the new models are supposed to be better. Sadly, most of the time my AP does a better job than me at the helm most of the time

[ianpowolny]

Check out Raymarine to see if you can get a deal from them. They sometimes have reconditioned equipment that sell off at less than retail. We have a ST 6002 system from 2008 which has worked very well over the last 3 seasons and covered 3500 miles. We tend to use it a lot as it's usually only me and my wife onboard.

[On y va]

You can separate the corepack and the actual hydraulics, if you want to save some money.

My SO40 was kitted out with the basics in France and I have the Lecomble & Schmitt hydraulic pack and hydraulic arm. It has worked perfectly for 15 years now. All I have done recently is replace the brushes and maybe 4x the hydraulic oil in these 15 years.
These things are pretty solid and in my view and are considerably cheaper than Raymarine´s hydraulics.
The only problem I had with my AP in all these years, was the Type 100 course computer that started to play up. I have replaced with a used S1G corepack, but the Lecomble & Schmitt unit keeps going strong.


ls-france.com/uk/lsvoilem-pa-el-fr.php