Raymarine Mechanical Rotary Autopilot

[kmacdonald]

Can anyone comment on a Raymarine Mechanical Rotary Autopilot?Raymarine Smartpilot - Drive Unit Selection

I am considering that or a Mechanical Linear autopilot.Raymarine Smartpilot - Drive Unit Selection

I am leaning toward the Rotary system since I have the quadrant for one. I'm wondering about the power consumption and reliability.

[Flod]

I have the rotary drive and it’s been working flawlessly for 5 years. I only do vacation sailing and haven’t tried it on longer distances but it looks very robust and simple. If you have the appropriate sprockets to attach it to the quadrant already on the boat I would look no further

[Sailmonkey]

We’ve got one, it’s been flawless for 7 years.

Downside is if your helm isn’t really well balanced the rotary drive isn’t all that good at locking in offset on the rudder.

If I’ve got the mizzenmast trimmed too tight we may require 3-5 degrees of helm to counteract it. The rotary drive can usually do this unless the rudder is getting slapped around.

Otherwise current consumption is low, noise is non existent. I’m happy with it. It’s a type 1 rotary