Grady White needs an AUTOPILOT- Please help me!

[garrymny]

Grady White needs an AUTOPILOT- Please help me!

Just bought a really nice 1982 Grady White Bimini 220. I want to put an autopilot in it very soon, ASAP.  It has two hydraulic lnes coming from the steering wheel, that go to a hydraulic cylinder that is connected tot he 175 HP Evinrude outboard. Only two lines. I am having trouble find what units will work with this old system. There is no electric inlolved that I can see. The cylinder says "syflem" or something, "marketed by teleflex". The steering wheel has reservoir behind it that says put oil in it, and there is a small cap. Says use exxon univis oil.

 

Thank you for any advice you can give.  Seems like a simple two line system and the steering wheel just pushes oil through that cylinder mounted tot he motor.

[lost a lure]

You need a hydraulic type autopilot. It uses a pump to move the cylinder

[garrymny]

looks like Garmin GHP 20 or Lowarance, or a raymarine EV 100 (or 150?)  Hope I am right.

 

[Decoy Hound]

Congratulations on the new boat!! With a boat like that you probably won't be fishing alone anymore, everyone's going to want to go with you! Good luck with the autopilot!

[Little Crappie]

I just picked up a 86' chris craft with a 200 etec HO with the same steering, I'm going straight to hydraulic, for one no-feedback will make life soo much easier until I can put an autopilot on the boat as soon as I can. I can tell you that I put a raymarine ev100 on my 22ft proline I sold this year with a 200hp, and you have to make sure you get an autopilot rated for the size cylinder and helm you get if you go hydraulic. The ev-100 was not adequate, I mean it worked... but honestly I liked raymarine st2000 I had on my aluminum boat better. Im getting stuff of ebay and should have a hydraulic system for around $600+/-. Once you go hydraulic your options open. The lowrance seems to be a little bigger pump I think than the ev100 but havnt got that far yet. 

[Frogger]

Gary, I've got the EV 100 and love it. Does what I need when I need it. Have it hooked up to my raymarine 78 depth finder. Don't need it to run it as it has its own controller but it is cool to route when I need to. Motor is 115 so yes crappie is right if you have a 200 you'll need to check ram size for the pump capacity. They have a EV150 that is for larger engines. Watch out for lowrance as you will need an HDS gen 2 or 3 model unit to use it while still having to upgrade to a larger pump. Seems everyone is getting caught surprised that you can't steer it with an Elite or Hook model. I'm sure Simrad and Garmin might be better just more money. Just an opinion.


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[Andre wallyandre]

A excellent choice to reduce the cost is to use a Simrad in the Go series; it's in the same cost range of a Elite Ti but the Simrad can be interface with the Lowrance or Simrad Nac-1. The Go serie comes in 5-7 & 9". It's a touch screen, chirp, wifi,bluetooth etc.. and yes the Navico AP Nac1 can run on you're boat .

[garrymny]

Wow, thanks for all the replies.

 

I do want one with its own control head. Connecting to the GPS/fisfinder can come later. I use heading mode on my old boat with raymarine ST 10000 that I adapted to work, and it worked great. Won't work with this hydraulic system

 

After fishing with the autopilot not having one is not an option, I got spoiled.

 

LOWARANCE:  Looks like theirs will work. I have a lowrance elite 4 chirp, so I guess it won't work with the Lowrance AP. Not a big deal, I use heading mode all the time anyways. I could upgrade to a compatible Lowrance Fish Finder. 

 

GARMIN: Garmin Compact Reactor with control head looks like it will work, but their instructions only show hydraulics with a helm pump that has 3 lines, mine has only two lines.  

 

RAYMARINE  EV 100 I think will work, but I can't tell from their instructions if it is compatible with my 2 line system. Also, It doesn't say if has the "trolling patterns" that the AP will do, if you want to troll some programmed patterns. The Garmin and Lowrance I think will do this.  

 

SIMRAD: need to research that.,

 

Behind the steering wheel is a circular thing (helm pump) with two lines coming out of it. it says use exxon univis (110?) or Shell Tellus 10 oil, whatever those are. It is a teleflex system, , but the cylinder in the back connected to the motor say Sytem on it. 

 

Anymore input is appreciated.

 

Garry. 

[L&M]

Any hyd system/pump you install will need the 3rd static/return line added to your helm. The helm has a port for it but is not utilized for normal steering.

The new Simrad system you are refering to is the same unit as the Lowrance utilizing the same Nac-1 computer & can be controlled with the Simrad GO5 - 6 or7 units as well as the Lowrance Gen 2 or 3. 

 

[garrymny]

Just ordered the Lowrance autopilot and an HDS GEN 3 7 inch. The Garmin Autopilot said you have to buy the more expensive unit for good control at trolling speeds. 

[Little Crappie]

Let's me know how it works out, I have a hds 9 gen 2 touch and am in the middle of putting together hydraulic steering. Was planning to pick up a lowrance autopilot as well


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[slouiscar]

Looks like I might be a few minutes late but I figure I would add this anyway...

 

This spring I added the Garmin unit to a 24 Pursuit with a yamaha 250 and a 9.9 connected to the main outboard via the hydraulic steering with an EZ steer. 

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/533297  I can't speak to the other units, or the long-term durability of the garmin, but I thought I would share a few thoughts.

 

Very happy.  This was my first autopilot and after a week with it I knew I would never get another boat without it.  The install was virtually all done at the helm.  Tied into the hydraulics and then the computer unit was mounted down below.  I can hear the pump on occasion, if I am listening for it, so installing the pump in the stern might have been nice, but this made the install significantly easier and I can get to shutoffs and everything else if needed with ease, as opposed to needing to squeeze into a 15 inch hatch, on my back, with a flashlight in my mouth.  So I can live with the occasional hum.  Whatever pump came with the base unit works well for my application.

 

Setup took 5 minutes.  More or less, drive in a circle.  The autopilot heading differed from my compass by 5-7 degrees.  I toyed with it a bit and called support but after using it and seeing that that had zero impact on what I was using the unit for I pretty much stopped caring.  Anyway, support was good once you got a person on the phone.  They were knowledgeable and helpful. 

 

The garmin has its own unit that has a nice interface to control the autopilot.  Heading hold obviously but it also has a few pattern steering options.  Two big winners are "zig zag", which obviously is very nice on the troll, and "circle" to turn if I have a spread out.  You can adjust the angle and duration of the zig zag, or how tight/wide you want to circle.  I have used the autopilot while under way with the main engine, if I have to grab fenders, lines, or say a soda from the cooler, but 90% of the time it is used for trolling.

 

When I got the boat it had an older garmin gpsmap 740s gps/fishfinder which is an older reasonably priced unit.  I am not convinced on its sonar but it works too good overall to consider an upgrade and I like the touchscreen vs. buttons to navigate.  I picked up an additional garmin nmea cable for $20 and in maybe 2 minutes I had added the autopilot to the gps menus through the settings.  Now I can touch the screen on the gps and have the autopilot navigate to the spot, or set waypoints, drop markers to circle where we saw bait, whatever.  The gps unit obviously maps tracks, and you can navigate a course, see distances to a waypoint, see if you are off course, etc.  If we just ran a nice stretch I will drop a waypoint, tell the auto pilot to circle, hit goto waypoint and without thought we can troll the same line back.

 

I got the ShadowDrive unit.  Meh.  I mean it works, I can take control of the wheel while holding course and then when I stop it will hold the new course.  But the sensitivity varies, and at times I prefer to just hit the standby button.

 

In 2 foot chop on cayuga, with the kicker moving at 2.5 mph, it has to work a little to hold course depending on whether you are trolling into or with the current, but it gets it done.  More than that and I am usually not fishing anyway.

 

Overall, I'd give it a B+.  It would be an A if I didn't have to listen to music for 30 minutes to get a person on the phone. 

[dawg]

I have been running a Hds 9 gen 3 with lowrance outboard pilot since spring and love it nice to be able to leave helm to net fish or help on back of boat if needed


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[Andre wallyandre]

From my Gen3 many fishing pattern available same on the Simrad Go

can't post pic

 

[garrymny]

Just got my HDS 7. Of course the transducer Cable is too short. autopilot should be here tomorrow. I hope it has the nema cable to go from the NAC 1 to the HDS7.

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[Andre wallyandre]

Just read what is in the box and there is no ethernet with the Lowrance AP; it's a NMEA 2000 network

Be sure also the you got the latest update on you're HDS; it's not because you just purchase it that his got the latest software update

http://www.lowrance.com/en-US/Products/Auto-Steering/Outboard-Pilot-Hydraulic-Pack-en-us.aspx

 

For the update just check the video on the bottom of this page: http://www.lowrance.com/en-US/Software-Updates/HDS-Gen3-Software-Upgrade-v-50/

[pjprod]

I have heard nothing but good from raymarine ev100 and now 150 owners..  they have been saying very reliable at salmon trolling speeds and in rough seas... has nmea2000 capabilities so can talk to many units out there for waypoint locations and tracks. This is the unit I will be buying.

[Andre wallyandre]

I was trolling yesterday for lakers at 1.8mph using my 9.9 under a 20mph with my Lowrance and he was going straight as an arrow.

[garrymny]

13 hours ago, wallyandre said:

I was trolling yesterday for lakers at 1.8mph using my 9.9 under a 20mph with my Lowrance and he was going straight as an arrow.

Good to hear. I should get he AP today and hopefully it will install with no problem. The HDS is supposed to sue NMEA to connect. I hope they gave me a cable. I will be one mad hombre if this unit does not work well, because the ST 1000 Raymarine I put on my old boat worked perfectly in 3 to 5 foot waves. It only cost $353.  I just could not adapt it to the hydraulic steering. I cut and spliced the transducer cable made it an extra 5 feet long. Shame they don;t sell them with 25 foot cables.   

[Andre wallyandre]

I also use a S1000 in the past; forget it there is no comparaison at all!

[garrymny]

4 hours ago, wallyandre said:

I also use a S1000 in the past; forget it there is no comparaison at all!

Did you install the unit yourself? Mine is supposed to be here tomorrow 8/24. After work I will start installing it. I need to get it done before Saturday Fishing. My biggest worry is my old hydraulic steering gizmo behind the steering  wheel. It has a little fill cap on top, and when I look down in there it looks like a small ball held by a spring. I guess I will have to rig some type of filler tube that maybe pushes the little ball? Also, worried they won;t give me the right TEE fittings for this old boat. Also I hope they give me the NMEA cable to go to the HDS7. If not, I will be scrambling around trying to get more parts.  Oh by the way, I updated the software, Thanks for that info.

Edited August 23, 2017 by garrymny

[Andre wallyandre]

The trickiest part of it is the hydraulic bleeding; very important that you don't have any air in the system.

Look at the link there is a description of the part nclude with the kit. The fittings can be tricky too because seastar change the type of fittings in 2014 I think.

I saw a post the other day on how to bleed a hydraulic I will try to find it.

Very important that you look at the 2 videos made by Jacob Scott from Navico. Following those you will know where to go.

[Andre wallyandre]

If you can access this link: http://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-forum/819270-bleeding-hydraulic-steering-yourself.html

[garrymny]

42 minutes ago, wallyandre said:

The trickiest part of it is the hydraulic bleeding; very important that you don't have any air in the system.

Look at the link there is a description of the part nclude with the kit. The fittings can be tricky too because seastar change the type of fittings in 2014 I think.

I saw a post the other day on how to bleed a hydraulic I will try to find it.

Very important that you look at the 2 videos made by Jacob Scott from Navico. Following those you will know where to go.

I watched his video on the installation. Looks easy enough. He is doing a newer boat, and he had a fitting that screwed into  a threaded port on top of the steering unit. Mine is not threaded. Just a rubber cap you remove, and there is a very small hole, maybe 1/8 inch to 3/16 diameter. down in the hole I can see a ball, and the spring pushing it.

[Andre wallyandre]

What year is you're boat?

Are you sure you got a Seastar? Maybe a Morse?

What motor?