On a previous boat I used a tiller pilot connected to the emergency tiller on the Hydrovane self steering as a second steering alternative. This worked well as a low current draw alternative to the main autopilot in light conditions when there wasn't enough apparent wind for the Hydrovane etc. The tiller pilot was a Raymarine ST4000 which was a bit of overkill for driving the relatively small Hydrovane rudder.

I am planning to set up my current boat with a similar arrangement and was wondering if anyone had experience of using such a setup with a smallish tiller pilot as I would like to limit the current draw as much as possible without compromising performance. Would for instance a ST1000 be man enough for the job?

The boat is a 40' longish keel cruiser around 10 tonnes displacement.

Thanks
Colin Campbell

I used a Raymarine ST1000, which was fine for steering the boat with the Hydrovane rudder in fairly calm conditions, but it occasionally got overwhelmed when the waves picked up, especially from abeam. I subsequently sold my boat, but if I were to do it again I would probably go with the ST2000.