Brian is awesome! (Read to end.)

[PSutchek]

For Me ,,, its almost completely worthless !

upwind it may hold a course with wind.. BUT it does not hook up to NEEMA2000 that i know of and with converters slowing response times down ive heard its not worth hooking up...


but Downwind it cannot steer for SHIT ! and THATS where i actually want it to work ! it might steer plus and negative of a course 15degrees , thats a 30 degree fuckup !

unless theres a firmware patch , reprogramming or an update i think Palegic should give everybody's money back....

the best use ive found is to just push the buttons to where i want it to hold the tiller and NOT engage its brain... then i go forward and jibe my spinnaker...

anyways ,just my thoughts, YMMV
P

[solosailor]

Something is amiss..... either with the brain or setup. Although I've never used one with wind input it steered to compass fine and other have report the same.

[Intermission]

I'll bet you a dollar to a dog turd that a Pelagic representative could identify and rectify your issues. I almost put one on the current boat, I will certainly put one on my next boat.

[brianb]

Hi Paul,

Hope all is well. The Pelagic has been revised since your purchase. You might want to give Scanmar a call and arrange an upgrade. Or you can direct message me here.

Regards,
Brian

[GBR3068]

I have three Pelagic controllers. I have one hooked up to the small ram and my Monitor, two are spares. I had a dodgy button once and the Scanmar folks reacted quickly and got me a replacement, a spare and a spare for the spare. Unbelievable service and the fact the guys are local makes a huge difference. I cannot sail offshore without the Pelagic. It works fine on any point of sail and conditions I have tried so far. I really recommend you reach out to the folks at Scanmar, they will surely put you right. I also recommend you update the firmware, which is continually improving.

[johnkearney]

The Pelagic has been revised since your purchase. You might want to give Scanmar a call and arrange an upgrade.

Have folks had success with this? When I messaged Scanmar after I installed my Pelagic, they told me the unit was too old to be safely upgraded. This was 2 years after I had bought it but the first time I had used it due to the unit arriving after the end of the sailing season in 2018. My Pelagic had arrived without a manual - eventually I got a copy of the user's manual from one of the other sailors in the Express 27 class - who had bought a unit in the same era that I had in 2018. Maybe the support situation has improved since then and I should try again?

John

[PSutchek]

So , since I did start this mess... I'll come back into the Frey and add some information... i WAS angry when I wrote my first post... the Paligic, which I thought I could trust had sent my into dangerous conditions/circumstances while on course in a race.... it didn't bother me as much while not racing... it could hold a course while I motored and i would adjust every 5 min..... but when I spend a grand I kinda think a thing should work...

Now.. saying that... I have an old model, I'm guessing before Scannmar acquired it.... Brian graciously offered to look the unit over, even after I had thrown my fit....
Thank you Brian


And in my own twisted thinking..I wasn't going to tear out one unit without replacing it with a new one.... one days work vs two..... so I have Bought a new unit.. will replace the old and hopefully have a repaired and upgraded second set!

But also and at the same time... I'm concerned about others experiences with it not working as well as people like me expect... my second unit will tell the tale ! Can she get me to Hawaii. ???

[solosailor]

Well people who go with electronic pilots generally have 2-3 spares ready to use. I personally carried 3x brains, 4x drives.

[mpolkabla]

I had purchased a new heavy duty Pelagic system a few months ago with intentions to install on my Cal40 (tiller mount) but decided to do a different direction with my autopilot system for the SHTP event that is coming up. This Pelagic unit is brand new, never installed, in the box with everything the manufacturer included (including 2x programmed remote fobs). If anyone is interested please contact me and we can work something out.

Michael P.
(831) 264-3414

[jamottep]

Well people who go with electronic pilots generally have 2-3 spares ready to use. I personally carried 3x brains, 4x drives.

+1

It also important to keep in mind a few things about autopilots, regardless of the manufacturer and how much one pays for it:

1. They have to be installed properly (many things can go wrong here). Ask Brian, he has tons of stories on this topic.
2. They have to be adjusted for each boat and then adjusted for points of sail and weather conditions. That's why there are settings that the user can change. In my experience, this is the hardest part: figuring out these settings.
3. The actuator can only move so fast. If keeping the boat on course sometimes requires fast and large movement of the tiller, well, no autopilot can do that. One would need to adjust sails to keep the autopilot within its physical limitations. Again, regardless of the AP cost.
4. APs need power and battery voltage dropping will cause strange behaviors.

Well, that's my limited experience. I like a set and forget approach. But APs do require adjustments, just like a helmsman changes steering style as things change (sail plan, point of sail, weather, etc.).