I pilot?

[catfishking]

Was wondering if any one was using the minkoda I pilot and if the anchor lock works good in the river

[johnr]

When I had one, I used it several times in the gap between the mainland and the islands down near the dam while they were pulling water and it worked pretty good. The current rips through there, and as long as it was steady the motor held me close enough.

[Yam]

I have been using anchor lock since it first came out. With any current or wind, it has performed great. It is not perfect but it has often times added serious value for croaker, flounder and cat fishing along with jigging for stripers. It's a mobile anchor and will hold you good enough. I would feel naked without it and use my anchor locker for storing everything but an anchor.

My new 2017 Ulterra has an even better anchor lock on it but it's still not perfect. I just installed a heading sensor that I have yet to test out but expecting perfection would still be a giant mistake.

If you are looking to be held at a dead stand still for hours, use an anchor.

[mwardncsu]

Yam - does the "new" version us and external heading sensor" Is it a NMEA heading sensor?


I will say we used the "old" version the other week in some good current in TN - worked very well as long as there were not wind gust - it does a good job once it settles in to a constant wind or current - but it's slow to respond to changes..... think this is where the newer version is "supposed" to help.

I use it on my boat when I'm doing tank maintenance and don't care if the boat is spinning around in circles - as long as I stay off the rip-rap....

[catfishking]

Thanks for the info guys

[Yam]

Apr 17, 2017 20:10:11 GMT -5 mwardncsu said:

Yam - does the "new" version us and external heading sensor" Is it a NMEA heading sensor?


I will say we used the "old" version the other week in some good current in TN - worked very well as long as there were not wind gust - it does a good job once it settles in to a constant wind or current - but it's slow to respond to changes..... think this is where the newer version is "supposed" to help.

I use it on my boat when I'm doing tank maintenance and don't care if the boat is spinning around in circles - as long as I stay off the rip-rap....

The heading sensor is a Bluetooth compass. I don't think it would need another protocol. But I really have no clue.

I also have yet to determine if the external heading sensor adds value to the spot lock feature although I would think that spot lock would benefit from knowing the orientation of the boat based on compass readings. Supposedly, the external sensor is only used for being able to jog the boat in 5 foot increments from a previous anchor spot. If this is all it does, then it might replace my underwater lights in terms of most useless gadgets.

[Brian]

In the older I-pilots, the GPS receiver is in the remote... So if you put it on spot lock and move around the boat with the remote, it is going to try to keep the remote stationary which means the boat has to move. Couple that with a control algorithm apparently written by non-engineers who have no clue about controls theory and it is less than optimal.

The external heading sensor moves the GPS receiver to a fixed point on the boat. That should help a lot, but I haven't played with one, so I don't know if they hired someone who can design a control loop or if it still uses the simplistic approach of the original.

[archenemy]

Apr 18, 2017 6:56:15 GMT -5 Brian said:

In the older I-pilots, the GPS receiver is in the remote... So if you put it on spot lock and move around the boat with the remote, it is going to try to keep the remote stationary which means the boat has to move. Couple that with a control algorithm apparently written by non-engineers who have no clue about controls theory and it is less than optimal.

The external heading sensor moves the GPS receiver to a fixed point on the boat. That should help a lot, but I haven't played with one, so I don't know if they hired someone who can design a control loop or if it still uses the simplistic approach of the original.

I agree the loop is garbage and should be redesigned. It does not check the coordinates often enough and has a tendency to over shoot the mark and then reverse back. In the wind and current you need to put your big motor in gear or you will pulling line off your prop.

Best bet is to set the anchor once you are completely stationary. Don't bang the remote around when on anchor lock. Push any button and it turns the anchor off which gets interesting when around other boats or structure.