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Singlehanded autopilot with boat that has no electrical system

T

Thom

New member
I used to race in the SSS events in my trimaran, Puppeteer. Had fun. Now, though, age gives me diminished capacity for being out for more than a few hours at a time. Also, downsized the boat so it is now even smaller (19' by 15' is the new one, old one was 24 by 18). Anyway, after struggling with the new boat for a couple years I decided to make my life easier by adding an autohelm. Yep, same Raymarine ST1000+. But today gives new options for daysailing electrical power. I already had a waterproof jump start battery that I only used once in 2 years. It has 18 AH of power stored in a 3 pound package. SO I velcro'd the battery on top of the autohelm. Voila! Works well.
 
Both my boats have minimal electric, Goal Zero batteries. I adapt them to the breaker panel, and both my Sherpa 50 & Yeti 400 power the autopilot all day. I use the ST-1000. At the end of the day my battery goes home with me. When out for days I attach my solar panel with Anderson or the duel solar connection for added power. The ST-1000 Uses about 15W that a little over 1 amp for amp folks.
 
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