Pypilot working on my Nicholson 44

[Phil_Shotton]

First sea trial yesterday. Wind 15-20kn gusting 30, and a very lumpy sea. Was mainly hand-steering but engaged pypilot several times on different headings and was amazed how well it held course for how little steering input even when being kicked around by a following sea. It appears that the small rudder inputs with pauses between average out the movement due to sea state remarkably well.

This was just a short sail to check things worked; no real opportunity to tune parameters but even the defaults seem good. After 3 years with no autopilot it was an absolute joy to be able to press a button and then leave the wheel to attend to other stuff. Much more playing to do but so far I've got a big smile!

This is on a Nicholson 38 ketch, Neco 12v motor drive, using Sean's motor controller to drive the Neco relays.