Auto Pilot & Radar Are they a MUST?

C

Capt. Chris 53

Member
Joined
May 29, 2011
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Fluid Motion Model
C-24 C
Non-Fluid Motion Model
Grady White 225
MMSI Number
338079033
Hello everyone,
As an inland river and lake boater, I have a question for my more well traveled friends. I am considering the purchase of an R-27 with the hopes of doing more cruising away from home and possibly the Loop. How necessary do you all think it is to have radar and an auto pilot? I do not anticipate having to go out when the weather is terribly foggy ( I can wait for it to clear) and I would imagine the boat could still be "hand" steered using the compass, chartplotter or both over longer distances ie Great Lakes.
I could be terribly wrong here and would love to hear what more experienced cruisers would recommend. Thanks for your help.
Chris
 
The autopilot is one of those things that once you have it you are glad you do. It comes in handy when alone and you need to divert your attention for a few minutes to do something. Of course you need to make sure conditions allow you to divert your attention. Autopilot will also allow you to run a much straighter course while navigating. Radar is one of those things that if you are in Maine it is a must. In other instances the first day you are out somewhere and the fog rolls in you will wish you had it. My opinion is, If you can afford it, get them.
 
Hi Chris: Both good questions of which you'll most likely get a varied number of reply's. We've done the Loop twice, once without auto pilot and once with......Although you can do the Loop without auto pilot I can honestly state it is much more manageable with it but it is not necessary. As far as radar is concerned it will be something you will not have to use on a regular basis however when it is needed you'll be glad you have it. If you had money to spend for only one of the two options I'd go for the radar every time. In my opinion I think it boils down to a safety factor as fog, dark morning departures, bad vision weather trump having the convenience of an auto pilot. If money was no object I'd suggest both.

Jim
 
Thank you both Kismet and Knotflying. Those are both good suggestions I will take under consideration. I also suppose that people looking for a used boat of this caliber would expect it to have both an auto pilot and radar.
I am a big fan of safety having spent 42 years in fire an EMS so I'll probably go with both.
 
Hi Chris, as a new boat owner I asked my self the same questions, but also being a bit of a "nerd" I like my electronic gadgets so it was not an option not to get it at the end, where I am getting at is this, this Sunday I got to cruise around in a friends R-29 and the "Heading hold" function of the auto pilot is worth the price of admission hands down, it makes cruising so much less strenous and allow you to focus on important tasks like watching for debris, traffic and what have you.

I personally am very pleased I choose the auto pilot (and radar)
 
Jurgen,
I have looked at both your day one and 4 with great interest. It's really great to see how the 27 is put together. Unfortunately living in KY I'm too far away to ever get to do that. I hope you enjoy your new Ranger and congratulations!
 
Hi Chris. I'll throw in my two cents. We used to live in the Cincinnati area and boated the Ohio river. At the time we had a Searay Sundancer. We had radar but no autopilot. I got a lot of comments from people about what a waste of money radar was for a pleasure craft on the river.

One time we were returning on the Ohio from Kentucky lake. Somewhere well below Louisville a storm came up suddenly. We were miles from the nearest place to get off the river. The sky turned absolutely black and visibility was zero. The radar was literally a life saver. We passed a large tow that was down bound and I have no doubt that had we not had radar we would have had a great chance of being run over. That incident paid for the radar 50 times over.

I had autopilot installed on the next boat (along with chart plotter/radar/digital fish finder) when we started boating the Great Lakes. We've had autopilot on every boat since then including our R25. Especially on long cruises I think it's the most efficient way to get from point a to point b since it holds the course much better then I can.
 
I am not a seasoned boater, but I've had a few and I've had a lot of expensive cars. My personal philosophy boils down to this: If you're going to spend over a $100,000, don't be cheap. Wishing you had an option after the purchase is self flagellation for as long as you own it!
 
Jeff,
I live in Louisville and that's where I boat when I'm not @ Cumberland. If I do get a 27 I hope to cruise the Ohio as well as the other inland rivers. I think you're right regarding the tow boats. Y'all have convinced me on the radar and auto pilot. Thanks for your help with this.
Chris
 
Well put Bernie, well put!
 
I'm with Bernie 100% in the way he described whether or not to get the Auto Pilot + Radar option when plonking down $100K+. I had to make a choice on this when we bought our R-25. I spent several hours posting the same question here and the overwhelming response was "get it".

Let me make a point... you're out one morning and visibility is very clear for miles. After some hours of cruising you find there's fog ahead and directly in your way. You have no RADAR and so you slow down such that you can stop in half the distance you can safely see. You simply are relying on other boats with RADAR for seeing you and also hope they have also slowed down as you have. The boat with the RADAR is probably feeling at ease knowing they can see through the fog with their RADAR whereas you are feeling very apprehensive. Having RADAR will make life a lot less stressful in this situation. The RADAR will have features that allow you to setup an area around your boat such that if another boat is detected entering this area or is within this area an alert will be sounded... its called SENTRY mode and provides a "guard zone" around your boat. Only yesterday I was experimenting with this feature in clear weather and I can tell you, it does work.

Mind you, a large wave occurring within your SENTRY collision zone or for that matter, a large dorsal fin of a killer whale would/might also cause the alarm to sound as the RADAR would/will conceivable detect this as an object. In fact I would venture to say, very rough weather with big waves and fog is a dangerous combination to encounter -- even with having RADAR.

Of course, if you are ever caught out on the water and darkness descends having RADAR would be a BIG plus.

Auto Pilot is a real blessing and removes a great deal of dedicated helmsmanship steering the boat on long straight portions cruising. As others have said, you can briefly leave the helm to tend to other things while the Auto Pilot steers the boat. I find Auto Pilot is a very nice feature in rough wavy waters. Steering manually is a constant back and forth with the wheel for keeping your course heading and this over time is very tiring. With Auto Pilot all of this tiredness and the effort on the wheel adjustment goes away. The Auto Pilot does a wonderful job IMO. One other feature I truly like that requires Garmin's Chart Plotter software and the Auto Pilot combo is the ability to plot a Safe Course to your destination. Once this is set and you engage the Auto Pilot -- then presto, the boat will be guided safely along the course line. I use this feature a lot in my PNW area.

So, if you are already spending $100K, $150K, or $180K I would say Auto Pilot & RADAR is a MUST have option. You will not regret it. I know I haven't.

Oh... and one last point or two...

1)
If you have RADAR do not spin it up within your marina as it can harm humans close by... (as stated in my User's Manual)

2)
As we are all responsible for avoiding collisions on the water using all means possible, then if you have RADAR you should be using it to comply with this.
 
If I may interject sales experience in to the discussion , the radar and A.P. are very poular options anywhere . While a generator or heater or air conditioning might be optional due to climate and cruising preferences , safety and ease of navigation are popular everywhere !
I have tried the "price point" experiment a few times and it is not a good seller . Folks want the tools!
One important feature the radar has is an overlay feature that as I explain it to new users , overlays reality [the radar return] over the picture [the chart] Its easy to see the value when you are approaching a bouy and it's significantly differs in position from radar return to chart location.
Another point is radar is not that expensive when you consider what it can do for you . It is less than half the price of the A.P. and if I had to choose , like Jim, Ill take the radar.
The autopilot is great for all the reasons mentioned, and the whole Garmin interface is very intuitive . The "shadow drive " is a great feature , and it mostly steers better than you can.
As for resale, they definatly both are helpful as you can choose to not use them , but if you want them , they are there . The great percentage of used boat buyers see alot of value there and want both.
Marc
 
Thanks to everybody who has taken the time to respond and share their knowledge with me. I am now a believer in both the practicality, resale value, and safety benefits of both the auto pilot and radar. My next boat will definitely include both!
Thanks again to everyone.
Chris
 
now lets start the conversation on AIS 😀
 
jpichler":26qvmq49 said:
now lets start the conversation on AIS 😀
Click to expand...

...and why not as ActiveCaptain ("We love AIS") has just issued a short lived discount (ends next Tues April 2nd) for an AIS product offered through Defender.

There are several Tugnuts that have this AIS system installed and from what I've read many, if not all, applaud its capabilities. Maybe we can get them to start off or respond to such a discussion topic on the AIS benefits.

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Identification_System

Then of course we already have a slew of AIS supporting topics & discussions to work from as well...

Ref: http://www.tugnuts.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2491&p=18138&hilit=ais#p18138

Ref: http://www.tugnuts.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2385&p=17167&hilit=ais#p17167

Ref: http://www.tugnuts.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2196&p=15817&hilit=ais#p15817

Ref: http://www.tugnuts.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1318&p=9305&hilit=ais#p9305

Ref: http://www.tugnuts.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1245&p=8686&hilit=ais#p8686

Ref: http://www.tugnuts.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=941&p=6740&hilit=ais#p6740

Ref: http://www.tugnuts.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=54&p=242&hilit=ais#p242
 
Baz, can you link to the defender product and / or the Active Captain discount info? I'm not seeing anything on Active Captain about it.

Gini
 
OK, I'm going to say about the same things the others have but for emphasis - I bought Sea Dragon with radar, but no auto pilot. Operated for over 2 years this way, then got a ride on a friends R-29 with auto pilot..... I immediately bought autopilot and had it integrated into the Garmin suite.... I absolutely love the autopilot for so many reasons, and while I did not read anyone expounding the use of the remote control, it is a must for a single hander. I use the sentry mode on my radar (discussed earlier by another post), and it is also great for a single hander. It has spotted obstacles that I would not have seen in the water, and I was able to avoid while cruising at higher speeds. I will take the occasional false alarm, or the detection of a mylar baloon in the water for the peace of mind of another sensor looking out. Of course at night or in weather, it is great.... So ABSOLUTELY I would recommend the Radar and the Autopilot with remote control.
 
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