Auto Pilot

Btohvac

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I just purchased a 2017 Freedom 285.it has everything but an auto pilot. I was wondering what would be the best one for that boat? It has Simrad Nsv03 electronics.
Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks
 

Sardinia306Bimini

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I am not anymore a Simrad guy so I am not sure if any or what model of the Simrad autopilots will work together with your NSV.
However, it is usually the best solution to have same brand electronics as they should work flawless together and usually the autopilot and the chart plotter interact.

I never felt the need of a autopilot but that is mainly because I don't have to steer more than 20 nm by my self and honestly I enjoy steering, but that's me.
Also I consider a autopilot as somehow dangerous tool as it can lead to pay too less attention to what is in front of a boat,
but that's me too.

Chris
 

Doc Stressor

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Any autopilot that interfaces with your NMEA2000 backbone will work, regardless of the manufacturer.

I have a Furuno Navpilot 300 on my boat that is independent of my Simrad NSO EVO3. My neighbor has the same Simrad with a Simrad autopilot. Each has its pluses and minuses.

The Simrad autopilot interfaces with the MFD directly, so you don't need to add a separate display on your dash. You can tell it to steer to a waypoint just by touching the waypoint on the map display and telling it to go. I helped my neighbor set up his system, which was rather difficult and confusing. Simrad support was terrible. But once it was properly initialized after several attempts it worked fine.

My Furuno uses a separate 4.1" display that works independently from the MFD except that it acquires GPS information automatically from it to steer toward the waypoint. It senses when you have the MFD tracking toward a waypoint and automatically enables the navigation mode. Steering toward the waypoint only requires pressing 2 buttons, which is no big deal. The Furuno was easier to set up and Furuno support was excellent. They answer the phone and you talk to what seems to be an engineer who will walk you through the setup procedure. One big advantage of the Furuno is that it has a handheld remote that lets you operate the system from anywhere on the boat. This is very useful for dodging crab traps and other obstructions while trolling. The whole unit seems to be more robustly built than the Simrad even using metal connectors for the NMEA leads. The Furuno also has a Sabiki mode that holds your boat in a fixed position when fishing or getting bait. But I find that his only works well in calm water.

If I got a new autopilot, I would go with a satellite compass. They are worth the extra money. Both of the installations I did used the Simrad or Furuno fluxgate magnetic compass. It is challenging to locate these magnetic compasses in small boats without electromagnetic interference. In my case, I just had to live with 10 degrees of deviation on certain headings. This is not really an issue when following a GPS course, but it can be annoying if you are a perfectionist like me.
 

SkunkBoat

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I would add to what Doc said.
The pump matters.
The less expensive pumps can be fine for general navigation.
If you want to troll at 2mph get a better one.
 

Sardinia306Bimini

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The Simrad autopilot interfaces with the MFD directly, so you don't need to add a separate display on your dash. You can tell it to steer to a waypoint just by touching the waypoint on the map display and telling it to go. I helped my neighbor set up his system, which was rather difficult and confusing. Simrad support was terrible. But once it was properly initialized after several attempts it worked fine.
That is what I meant and I would prefer this solution except the autopilot and particularly the pump of the brand is known as troublesome.

All 306 CanyonsI saw had new Garmin electronics including the Garmin autopilot and all had also the small Autopilot display installed.
One reason for having a display able to show and manage the autopilot is certainly safety to see if the autopilot is on/off and what he is doing what is a a safety plus and probably more visible than have same data on the MFD.

Chris