Autopilot for a boat?

Help & Support Robot Parts
1

Hello all,

I’m trying to add “AutoPilot” to my pontoon boat.

20200517_121230
20200517_1212304000×3000 2.5 MB

I was thinking of mounting a motor on the side rail to control the throttle, and another on the steering wheel to turn the boat. But I have no idea where to look for such a motor - what should I search for? Any have experience with a project similar to this?

6

@rkarlberg Welcome to the RobotShop Community. We’ve certainly helped with many car conversions to remote control, but not many boats.

  1. If the skipper falls overboard, what happens?
  2. Does the throttle have a button which needs to be pressed before it can be moved?
  3. How hard is it to rotate the wheel? How much of an angle does it need to rotate?
  4. What failsafe measures are you considering? Manual override?
  5. How waterproof does everything need to be?

There are commercial autopilot systems on the market, though most seem to be for much larger boards and cost… a lot.

7

Thanks for the reply. I was hoping that lessons learned from car conversions could be applicable to boats.

  1. This is a large enough boat that nobody will fall overboard, and the lake does not have large waves.
  2. No button on the throttle, but I would have to start the engine manually with the key.
  3. This is a good question - I’m fairly sure the typical small motors used in robotics would not be adequate, the wheel turns moderately easily, but I’m not sure how to measure the force required. The throttle seems to require more force to push or pull.
  4. I had not thought about this, but probably a kill switch would be smart. Turning off the key would also stop the boat.
  5. Nothing needs to be waterproof. There is a canopy covering the area, but I would want to take everything off in case of a storm.

Thanks again for the help. I think this could be a fun project, and a great learning experience.

8

Consider a standard linear actuator for the throttle (you’ll need to devise mounting), a powerful servo motor for the wheel (assuming it’s restricted to ~300 degrees of rotation).

Standard Actuators: https://www.robotshop.com/en/standard-actuators.html

Ex:

With:


Servos: https://www.robotshop.com/en/misc-servo-en.html

Ex:

9

Ok, great! I think my best bet is to start with one of these, and then go from there. Thanks again for the help!