Your trip sounds like a wonderful idea.Though a good below deck autopilot is a great thing, I believe for many reasons that a mechanical self-steering windvane is likely to be your most dependable and indispensable crew member circumnavigating an E35 short handed. There are many options for used units and homebuilt inexpensive vane systems. I would want both systems, but would definitely not depart without the vane. I'd be happy to discuss this with you. Feel free to private message me.
Mike Jacker
There is some excellent info in this thread. We're on our second year of full time cruising including many open water passages and have had so far excellent experiences with our setup. We've also met dozens of cruisers and heard their stories good and bad. Here are what we've found:
1) Certain Windvane systems are exceptional for boats like ours. By far the most common system we see is the Monitor wind vane. It is what we have on our boat and it has worked nearly flawlessly for almost all of the 15,000 offshore miles we've sailed since leaving San Diego. If you can only have one autopilot I strongly recommend a windvane, specifically a Monitor.
2) When the windvane does not work (no wind, motoring, etc) our hydraulic autopilot works well and we're glad we have it. In fact, it's worked perfectly so far (knock wood) although we have many friends out here who have constant problems.
3) Personally I think it's a mistake to rely on OpenCPN as your primary plotter as computers use a lot of electricity and tend to not do well in the environment out here (salt, impacts from falling, etc) If you do not want a dedicated plotter then you may want to look into an iPad with a Lifeproof case to make it waterproof. This is the most popular solution we've seen and it seems to work well in real world although nowhere near as well as a dedicated plotter. The most popular iPad apps seem to be Navionics and iSailor. We use OpenCPN for route planning, especially using Google Earth overlays, and for weather interpretation (grib overlays, fleet code, etc) but underway we use our Zeus2 with our iPad running iSailor as backup. the Zeus2 is an INCREDIBLE unit! Well worth the cost. To get nav data to plotter/iPad/computer we use vYacht wifi multiplexer that takes 0183 data and puts it on wifi. Simple, reliable, inexpensive and let's you use OpenCPN and/or iPad from anywhere in the boat. Our Zeus2 can also be run via our iPad using GoFree (the Simrad,B&G wifi module). To run a ram you will need an autopilot "brain" separate from (but possibly integrated with) your nav system powerful enough to run whatever ram you choose. We have a Simrad brain running an Octopus hydraulic linear actuator (the ram). It is controlled by a stand-alone Simrad autopilot control that is networked to a backup Garmin GPS and our NEMA 2K network but usually the brain is controlled by our Zeus2. We chose systems designed to primarily handle boats with greater displacement than our E38 and that has proven to be a good decision we meet many people who chose systems designed for their size boat who have failures when conditions become rough or otherwise stress the units. All our autopilot systems have worked flawlessly so far.
4) If you're on a budget and looking for the most reliable, robust, energy efficient, simple system that combines the best of all worlds I would consider purchasing a Monitor "windwave" then adding a simple modification to attach an inexpensive electronic tiller pilot to steer when there is no wind or you're motoring. Basically the tiller pilot connects where the actual windvane attaches to your Monitor thus allowing the mechanical advantage of your monitor to turn the rudder instead of a hydraulic ram. This is a simple functional proven solution that meets your needs and is way less expensive than having a dedicated separate electric/hydraulic autopilot. It's so cost effective that you can purchase two tiller pilots (for a spare) and still spend less than a dedicated system. It's easy to find more info online.
5) As others have pointed out remember to factor in the cost of producing the extra power you need to run these computers, autopilots, etc. Including increased engine maintenance, solar panels, batteries, etc.
6) See #4...
If you're interested we have a YouTube channel with videos from our voyage. In a few weeks I'll be uploading one that has footage of our monitor steering our recent passage from the Tuamotu atolls to Tahiti. The channel is
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs3WnQG-QeLq1ebfr0gBUhg
If you need more info we'll have internet for a few more days.
Good luck!
