28 crowley beal autopilot ???

[GLA]

I purchase this last fall, and after a almost a year I am going to keep fishing it
really great hull, cruise is 16.5 knots burning 8.5 gallons an hour , Deere 220 hp mechanical

has hydraulic steering , capilano set up with a single cylinder

has anyone owned one with an autopilot?? can you tell me what was in it , and how the boat handled it?

I did price a AP44 with a pump, from Precision marine back in the spring, will buy a new one from them in time, excellent to deal with

boat runs very nice at 13- 14 knots , no disturbance in the wake, clean , from 1500 to 2050 same deal
at 2200 I get a normal disturbed wake, so I bet it would hunt at top cruise speed

after owning a boat with autopilot since the early 90's. this steering thing is fun but it takes a toll

 

[eb tide]

I have a 28 northern bay same steering set up as yours. I Bought a simrad ap from Chris 2 years ago and it is great. Installed myself and Chris sent everything i needed.

 

[WoundUpMarine]

Same boat here with the same style steering. We have a raymarine setup and the pilot holds true into the low 20s, I’ve never tried it at WOT. We cruise at 19knots at 8.5gph.

 

[xbskt]

Had a CB 28. Loved the look. Never loved the massive keel.
I had the AP 44 but never got around to linking it to the Furuno MFD.
It was pretty good but with the huge rudder and keel it always wandered a bit. I do admit it could have been setup issues but I doubt it.
I do wonder if the looped system with bypass for rudder control had anything to do with it but I doubt that also.
Will you be connecting the AP to your backbone or staying old school?
Never been a fan of letting the boat navigate so I am happy with my current AP35 dinosaur I bought used.
Good luck

 

[GLA]

thanks for the responces

with the pilots , on this boat, where did you mount the compass,

I installed a furuno sat compass on the last install and was happy with it

don't see enough room on the hardtop for mounting so it may be a normal compass set up

seems like it may be tough to locate a compass with 3 ft of clearance to metal