Simrad AP28 Autopilot put to the test

There's always a bit of apprehension when installing new electronics, is it going to work when really put to the test. Our autopilot is one piece of equipment that we rely upon heavily as it give us the freedom to handle sails, navigate and move about the boat freely without someone having to manually steer all the time. Even a short 30 hour passage can be exhausting if one has to hand steer the entire time.

So when we left the San Blas Islands last month for the Colombian coast I was eager to see how our new Simrad AP28 autopilot would perform. The first 18 hours of our trip was pretty benign with winds not more than 10 knots and seas as flat as a freshly paved road. With conditions like this there was little effort needed for the AP28 to steer us towards our course on a straight and steady line. With our mainsail and staysail up and both rigged as self tacking sails tacking the boat required a push of button and the boat would turn on its new course quickly and smoothly settle in on its new heading. The AP28 didn't hunt around at all, and all this with the default settings in place.

With the calm conditions and plenty of time on our hands I had the opportunity to check out the different modes of the AP28. In its simplest mode, the Heading or Auto mode, the boat steered a steady course based on the heading we had set. Current and winds in this mode will cause some drift but the heading will remain consistent. With the sails well balanced there was little effort needed to keep the boat on course.

The No-Drift mode is similar to the Auto mode in which the autopilot steers to a set heading, however when a GPS is connected to the autopilot compensations are made for drift caused by currents and winds so that you sail to your destination without drifting off course. It actually worked really well.

In the past we didn't use the navigation mode of our previously installed Northstar autopilot because it didn't work very smoothly. With the Simrad AP28 it was amazing how well the autopilot steered us to our waypoint while keeping us on track, always compensating for any drift. When navigating a route the autopilot would ask us to confirm the course change to the next waypoint and when confirmed the boat would turn and head to the next waypoint. This Nav mode is now my favorite mode.

One mode we did not have an opportunity to check out was the Wind-Nav mode. This mode allows the boat to steer a set angle off the wind while making progress towards a waypoint and will tack accordingly (with user confirmation) at the right moment to ensure the shortest trip to the waypoint. If this works as well as all the other modes did it could be a valuable way of getting to a destination that is upwind.

The real test came at 3:30 in the morning, about 20 hours into our trip. We hit a very long squall line that quickly built up around us with winds to 30 knots and 4 to 6 foot confused seas coming at us from all directions. Despite the forces of mother nature both in the water and above the Simrad AP28 kept us on course with what appeared to be very little effort. Appropriate changes were made to the helm and it seemed like the autopilot knew what the boat was going to do and compensated for it so quickly that staying on course wasn't a problem. During the squall we made numerous tacks as we tried to find a course that would be comfortable and towards our destination. With the push of a button the boat would tack and steer us on the new heading giving me the freedom to confidently handle the sails and pay attention to what was happening around us. At one point I tried to hand steer but it was impossible to steer a course as straight as the AP28. This autopilot is my new best friend.

Once we were out of the squall four hours later we set the autopilot back into Nav mode and it steered us along our route to our destination. For the shallow and narrow entrance into Bahia de Cholon I hand steered as using an autopilot for this particular approach would not have been a safe thing to do.

The AP28 has numerous display pages most of which can be customized. This trip gave us the opportunity to change the data and layout of some of the pages to suit our needs, my favorite being the Highway page.

If our Simrad AP28 continues to perform as it did on this short trip we will be exceptionally happy with our decision to install this unit. Performance and Reliability are two very important factors for us. In regards to Performance the AP28 has proven itself. In regards to Reliability only time will tell.