Autopilot advice for Roughwater 35 - Raymarine

Looking for advice for an autopilot setup for a Roughwater 35. Boat displacement is 14,000 lbs, Ford Lehman 120 single screw, steering is according to the last survey:

Single station, wheel to chain and SS7X19
cable to bronze quadrant attached to
rudder post, traditional-type stuffing box,
bronze rudder on SS shaft

I currently have a Raymarine Axiom 9 Chartplotter and would like to stay with Raymarine and connect everything through a network backbone including my Standard Horizon VHF GX2400GPS w/AIS to the network. I'm assuming I would use Sea Talk NG cabling with an NMEA 2000 adaptor to connect to the Standard Horizon VHF.

I've been looking at the Raymarine EV-100 Wheel Pilot:


Has anyone used the Axiom chartplotter for autopilot control or is the p70 autopilot control head recommended?
Any advice is appreciated.

2 years ago I swapped all my ancient equipment to raymarine
I installed 2 axiom +s, ev 400 , radar ,70s, raymarine sirius module , rs5, icom 510 ,etc etc
The integration was seamless , the calibration was painless and if you update your lighthouse the autopilot will now follow your course which makes long passages less tiring
The autopilot in medium seas (4ft 4s ) handles well
I don't use the 70s that much unless I want to alter my course by 1 or 2 degrees to avoid logs etc and mainly use the mfd to engage or disengage the pilot
You do need an active navionics to use the auto route and turn by turn features

The autopilot controls use up a little bit of screen space, which is limited already on an Axiom 9. I have the 70p and like having the autopilot controls instantly accessible. I'll go further and say that the sailboat version is preferable to the powerboat version, especially in the PNW. My reason for saying this is that the powerboat version has a knob to set course but no +/- 1 and +/- 10 deg keys. I use these constantly to dodge logs and detritus in the water. With the knob you have to give it a quick twist, then set it carefully back to your original course if you remember what that was. With the sailboat keys, you hit -10 say, then when clear of the log hit +10 and you're back on course. Both controls have the same capabilities other than that. I think the Axiom mini control window has those, but you have to bring it up and then dismiss it. Often I see a log at the last minute, and have to leap to the helm and adjust immediately.

Ttsaang said:

Looking for advice for an autopilot setup for a Roughwater 35. Boat displacement is 14,000 lbs, Ford Lehman 120 single screw, steering is according to the last survey:

Single station, wheel to chain and SS7X19
cable to bronze quadrant attached to
rudder post, traditional-type stuffing box,
bronze rudder on SS shaft

I currently have a Raymarine Axiom 9 Chartplotter and would like to stay with Raymarine and connect everything through a network backbone including my Standard Horizon VHF GX2400GPS w/AIS to the network. I'm assuming I would use Sea Talk NG cabling with an NMEA 2000 adaptor to connect to the Standard Horizon VHF.

I've been looking at the Raymarine EV-100 Wheel Pilot:

EV-100 Wheel Pilot | Boat Autopilots | Raymarine

Wheel drive Evolution autopilots for wheel-steered sailboats.

www.raymarine.com

Has anyone used the Axiom chartplotter for autopilot control or is the p70 autopilot control head recommended?
Any advice is appreciated.

Click to expand...

I do use the MFD for controlling the AP with Axion 9 on my FB, however the P70 in my pilothouse is often easier to use, especially if you need to disengage the AP very quickly like when you need to dodge something at the last minute. 1 step button, vs 2 steps on touch screen. I think the control head is worth it.

Used to be, you could control the AP from the MFD, but you needed the head to commission it. Don't know if that is true on the new ones.