Hi, Bruce — sorry for the delay; I just got back from Bermuda with the Rally to
the Cup (aboard Rick Brass’ Imzadi — thanks, Rick!).
Do you know what drive you’ve got on your boat? If you can get the model or
amp draw off the data plate, I can recommend the properly-sized Raymarine
system for you. The existing drive should be just fine, and will save you most
of the cost of replacing the system. A core system with remote and heading
sensor will be relatively affordable. For anyone on the C&C list, I can offer
dealer pricing on electronics gear, and that offer extends to you, too.
And I agree with the suggestions to stick with one manufacturer for your
plotter and pilot. Some on the list have had less-than-satisfied things to say
about the Raymarine pilot/plotter integration; let me just say that the
integration was never meant to allow full control of all of the pilot’s
functionality via the plotter. That’s what the pilot control head is for. It
was only to allow enabling and disabling of the pilot from the plotter as more
of a convenience. Raymarine never told you in the pilot installation manual
that you could put the control head in some inaccessible place (or install the
system without it) and use your plotter instead; quite the opposite. They make
it very clear that the control head needs to be easily accessible from the helm
position.
And I think for those who say they have to drill down through many menus on the
plotter to get to the pilot control: RTFM. Read the f*&#ing manual… :^)
Pilot control can be set up to be easy to access.
As to your plotter, the C90 is at least three or four generations old; while
Raymarine has been good about software updates for these older plotters, I
think you’d find the functionality of the newer plotters to be much better and
faster. You may want to think about upgrading in the next year or so to take
advantage of this. I think you’d find the Lighthouse II/III software to be
much more user-friendly.
Let me know if I can assist you further, either on- or off-list.
— Fred
Fred Street -- Minneapolis
S/V Oceanis (1979 C&C Landfall 38) -- Bayfield, WI
> On Jun 12, 2017, at 8:24 PM, Joel Aronson via CnC-List
> <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote:
>
> Bruce
>
> Keep the Ram.
>
> If you want full integration stay with Ray. I like their new autopilots.
> Fred should have internet in a couple days. I'm sure he'll weigh in.
>
> Joel
> On Mon, Jun 12, 2017 at 9:18 PM Bruce Whitmore via CnC-List
> <cnc-list@cnc-list.com <mailto:cnc-list@cnc-list.com>> wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I think I'm going to succumb and replace our Navico PH8000 autopilot. It is
> outdated to the point there are no replacement parts, the display on the
> wired controller is faded, and I just can't seem to get it to cooperate. Oh
> well, something had to substantially exceed the budget for upgrades... I've
> been pretty lucky so far thanks to many of you!
>
> So, I have a couple questions:
>
> 1). The hydraulic ram works well, with no leaks. I would just as soon not
> retrofit a different one. Is this reasonable and possible?
>
> 2). We have Raymarine instrumentation throughout the boat, including a C90
> MFD at the helm. Does this drive the decision to go with Raymarine for the
> autopilot as well?
>
> 3). What is your favorite (and least favorite) autopilot and why?
>
> Interestingly, I'm having a hard time finding an authoritative, recent review
> on autopilots. Does anyone know of a link to a good review> As a side note,
> I'm just finding the C90 difficult to learn. I had been used to Garmin, and
> just found it so intuitive, that the Raymarine is like trying to learn
> another language.
>
> Thanks for the help!
>
> Bruce Whitmore
> 1994 C&C 37/40+, "Astralis"
> Madiera Beach, FL
> (847) 404-5092 (mobile)
> bwhitm...@sbcglobal.net <mailto:bwhitm...@sbcglobal.net>
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