SmartPilot X-5

[whewididit]

Happy Holidays to all!
Concidering installing a Raymarine Smartpilot x5 in my Catalina 36. Anyone have any experience or knowledge regarding performance?
Capt Rags

[geoleo]

Pretty good for thr money

[wilsodf]

What is the displacement of your boat? The X5 is rated for boats up to 13,000 lbs according to Raymarine's website. The X5 GP is rated for boats up to 16,500 lbs

[Jimbo2010]

it is regularly used on 36.7's without problems

[roverhi]

Displacement has little to do with the functionality of the X5. Helm force is the real limiting factor., Have the X5 on my Pearson 35. It willl steer the boat under power and light air sailing. It won't handle the forces needed to turn the unbalanced barn door rudder as boat speed increases much above 4 knots. The motor will shut down and give a stall error message very quickly. If you have a boat with a balanced rudder and/or one that doesn't have much weather helm, the pilot will probably steer just fine.

I've used it continuously for 36 plus hours when powering and it never complained. Really like the compass function when it's on standbye.