minn kota i pilot - gotta luv it!!!!

[netmaker]

hi all,
new i pilot arrived thursday and fitted it friday morn. been toey ever since waiting for the wicked weather witch to bugger off. well today there was a window so i jumped at it and headed to peel at 6.30 this morn.got there and dropped the lecky. switched it on. all good. lets go.started recording a track around one of the sunken reefs and minutes later it switched off and wouldn't come back on. picked up and motored round to cucumber pt where old mate bruce was anchored fishing baits. made a coffe, had a chinwag and fished a couple of hours for not a single creature - not even one of them dead rockfish. decided it was time for a plastics sesh so bruce jumped onboard and i bypassed the switch courtesy of some insulation tape. started recording a track and kicked back. when we had covered about half a k just pressed a button and this little baby just started heading back along the line on the gps. magic piece of equipment. the only adjustment it requires is the speed as not enough revs and it is wind/tide affected. bit of experimenting saw us cruising along at a half knot plugging plastics towards the reef. we caught about 10 squire of which two 37 cm specimens were introduced to bruces frying pan and the rest were too small, along with a sweetlip and numerous grinners - tho some grinners weren't too small. another feature of the i pilot is the electronic anchor which enabled us to stop when onto a fish and then hit the same spot again. also found out that i could record a track with the lecky in the cradle and using the outboard. pretty handy considering you can record up to 2 nautical miles. only downside is those in love with their footpedals can no longer use them with i pilot. i found this a whole lot more accurate (and insanely easier) than i would ever be with both pedal and copilot i can see myself doing a huge amount of hours with this thing. i have installed a second deep cycle and now go out with 240 amp hours. im gunna use it too!
cheers
davo

[Peter4]

Yeah, gotta love the i-pilot...

One correction to your post though, you can have a foot pedal connected with i-pilot and you can use either the foot pedal or the remote as you see fit. Foot pedal is an optional extra for around $200.

This is if you buy the minn kota with i-pilot and not if you retrofit the old co-pilot...

We bought a foot pedal and have barely used it since we got comfortable with the remote...

Cheers

Pete

[netmaker]

oops. yes. sorry. i have riptide series and have retro-fitted. not that i am a foot pedal fan, well not anymore anyway.

[Mossy247]

Nice work Davo. Bad luck on the rock fish, I'll show you my secret

Can't wait to stalk your lines off mud island. hehehe Should be skipping across sunday at this stage, will have to set some lines over mossy reef hey ???

tight lines

[netmaker]

sunday looks good mate. think ill put in at fishermans and have a go along the rock walls on the way home. no doubt we'll have to check out mossys reef too

[OODIES]

Can't wait to see how many of us line up behind you at Mud Davo, once we see you lay a track...lol
Will give you a call Sat if I don't go to Bretto's and cheers again mate, appreciated.

Bingo

[Richo1]

Thanks for your report on the i Pilot - I thought the co pilot was good. Looks like I'm going to have to add one those to my wish list now!

[netmaker]

well i liked the old copilot too but i wont miss it at all. only thing is the copilot remote in its holder, zip tied to the rod was a great way to manoeuvre whilst on a fish. i pilot remote is rather chunky and hangs off a lanyard around the neck. toying with the idea of rigging up a holder to attach it to the rod anyway. have a look around. mine cost $389 including freight, or pm me and i will provide more info. a little bit of mucking around removing old autopilot (if fitted) from inside motor head but instructions are clear and fairly simple. took me about an hour to absorb and perform. also video instructions available at minn kota website along with youtube demos of it in action.

cheers
davo

[Repete1]

Mate I luv my I-pilot also... the best thing since sliced bread I say.
The anchor function is the shiz. I use it all the time especially around Harrys and off shore. Once you have had I pilot you cant go back.