Autopilot OMG Help LOL

BSLucky

New Member
May 13, 2015
6
North Channel Lake Huron
Boat Info
1991 480 Sundancer Named BS Lucky Tender 12' Walker Bay with 50HP
Engines
Detroit Diesel 6v92's 550HP each
Hello all Sea Ray people,

Here goes my first post on here. I have got a new rig a 1990 Sea Ray 420 Sundancer. When I got the boat all of the electronics and such were of course circa 1990. I have been in update mode. I will list what I have done and where I am stuck in the hopes that I may get some advice. Off we go......

I have installed a new Lowrance HDS10 Plotter with structure scan, Lowrance 3G Radar, Lowrance Link 8 VHF, These work awesome!!!!

Still on the boat original Azimuth 1000 Digital Compass, Robertson AP200 autopilot, Tridata unit. The compass works great and the tridata works great and even the ap200 works for simple compass or straight line driving. Under the deck is a J101a box and a seastar hydraulic system. The steering is fully hydraulic. and the autopilot will control it for like I said simplistic things.

What I want to do is get the ability to output a course from my HDS10 to the autopilot and have the AP steer for me. All this said I have blew most of my budget buying the boat and all new electronics and inflatable already so I am on a shoestring now LMAO. Any ideas on an inexpensive way to accomplish with some of what I have and maybe some new stuff? Got this info from Robertson repair place..... AP200 by itself doesn't do Nav steering. You need an AP200DL Control Unit or the optional N200 Nav Unit for AP200 (also several cables & a D100 so it can all be connected) or a box to connect to my existing hydraulics and back to HDS10 Help please.

BS Lucky
 
I don't know how we can help.

The Robertson repair folks have given you the answer. You AP was never designed to take input from position fixing devices. It was the entry level AP and will only is only a hold course you enter.

Before you spend a bunch more money here, realize that Robertson was acquired by Simrad and the AP200 series equipment is no longer supported by the manufacturer. If you change the head to the ap200DL you will have to find a used one and used marine electronics are prone to be troublesome.....they for sale for a reason....but, there are some listed on eBay. Robertson AP's are commercial grade gear and were very good in their day so saving one might be the best low cost option here.

And, an added thought is that the communication language Roberstons read/use is 30+years old and pretty much obsolete in today's electronic world. Robertson used NMEA 0183, which is a single talker; multiple listener system and is slow by 2015 standards (it might take 20 seconds to register a waypoint change, where today picking up successive waypoints is almost instantaneous). Whatever piece of gear you want to interface with the Robertson AP is going to have to output NMEA 0183 and you will have to program both output and input sentences to get the plottter to communicate with the AP.
 
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I have all the latest and greatest navigation equipment. My AP will follow routes, initiate and follow various search patterns and more. BUT, 90% of the time I just use it to follow a simple compass course.

My problem with the AP following a route is that it always wants to be on the rhumb line course. If you alter course manually for a lobster/crab pot, oil rig, another boat, etc., the AP will work very hard to get you back to your original course. In most cases, I don't care if I'm 100 yards off my planned track and I'd rather not waste the fuel getting back there. If I do want to be back on original track, I usually, manually, do it much more slowly than the AP would do it automatically.

Keep what you have and enjoy the new boat.
 
I have all the latest and greatest navigation equipment. My AP will follow routes, initiate and follow various search patterns and more. BUT, 90% of the time I just use it to follow a simple compass course.

My problem with the AP following a route is that it always wants to be on the rhumb line course. If you alter course manually for a lobster/crab pot, oil rig, another boat, etc., the AP will work very hard to get you back to your original course. In most cases, I don't care if I'm 100 yards off my planned track and I'd rather not waste the fuel getting back there. If I do want to be back on original track, I usually, manually, do it much more slowly than the AP would do it automatically.

Keep what you have and enjoy the new boat.
I'm glad to hear you say this. I run mine exactly the same, and often wondered if it was just me.
 
I am in the other camp.

I use the route feature a lot as we travel the ICW in Florida. This part of it is pretty open and in large bays, plus, most port entrances are long and winding treks thru a lot of bouys and day marks. I find it easy to hit standby and jog around an obstruction, then use the compass feature to steer back to my route at my leisure before re-engaging the nav feature and resuming my route. But, I do have electronics that are several generations behind Jeff's which means I have stand alone plotters and GPS working independently but interfaced via NMEA to the AP and my AP allows me to disengage from a route to follow a heading then re-engage the route anytime before the next waypoint in the route.
 

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