I'm making some progress on the Autopilot front thanks in part to some input I've recieved here. I seriously considered the Alpha 3000 but, in the end, shied away from the possible frustrations of having to ship parts to the US West coast for service. I decided to go go with an electric-hydraulic linear drive and a more mainstream AP. To that end, I scored an excellent deal on a nearly new drive unit from NKE ( L&S makes them) and am looking to match up the AP. Raymarine and Simrad are the 2 obvious choices but there is also Comnav and Si-tex. There are quite a few dealers for Si-tex and Comnav around here since they provide gear to a lot of the fishing fleet and they seem to have a good reputation for durability and reliability. The Si-tex unit SP-36 is basically the same as the Comnav P-2 with an excellent 3axis compass available. Neither are NEMA2000 or are able to steer to wind as far as I can tell. The Simrad and Raymarine have much more functionality and are widely available. Both factories recommend their larger unit for my drive.
I have a pretty basic electronics setup on the boat now, Raymarine ST60 Speed and depth, no wind instruments, old cathode-ray radar and a CP180 plotter. Is NEMA2000 the way to go? How often do you use the steer to wind function? (I also have a Monitor I like to use) Is Simrad so much better than RM that I should ingore the compatibility with my existing Seatalk instruments or is Raymarine the way to go. Afterall, they are the market leader and have some really nice looking gear coming out that interfaces with thier AP's. I'd like to hear what you folks think about the options and hear of your own experiences in going down this road and, as always, appreciate your help.
David