Raymarine Sport Pilot Plus Question

[DEFIANCE1]

I have a sport pilot plus on my boat but I'm having trouble with it holding a steady course when its very rough out or there is a strong wind. My boat is aluminum and if I am heading straight into the wind the autopilot cannot correct fast enough. Does anyone have the NMEA cable installed so it follows the track off the GPS? When using the cable does it reference from the GPS course heading vs. the compass installed on the boat? I think that one of the main problems in rough seas with my aluminum boat that is it gets tossed around so much that the compass gets inconsistent readings and tends to make the autopilot over compensate. Any suggestions would be great thanks.

[traveling man]

I have a 22 Islander with a sport polit plus. When it is rough and i am trolling into the wind i don't even try to use it. We it dies i will buy something better. i don't have a nmea cable on mine but if it works better i would change mine over.

[DEFIANCE1]

Well I just purchased a NMEA cable for my humminbird off ebay, so hopefully next weekend I can let you know if I think it helped at all.

[holy mackerel]

Auto pilots do steer better when headed toward a waypoint via Gps. The further away, the better, or just curser up the screen on the Gps, and go to curser.

I had a sport pilot plus connected to the Gps in my old boat ,22' starcraft, and it worked o.k. (except sport pilots are junk, had to repair annually)

I have since upgraded to a Simrad (22'Lund cuddy) which is also connected to the gps, and once you get the gain set properly, It will hold course quite well when going to a waypoint, unless it is crazy rough.