Oh happy to help! I searched high and low for a video to show me how to install it. I figured other people may be in the same situation as me, so why not film it to share
@@highpointeoutdoors6958 I'm installing it on the s drive that I already have at the helm so it should basically be the same installation process. The rudder control module is what I was wondering about and you explained it perfectly. Thanks!
That's awesome, I sorta wish we had done that but we were eager to get something installed to hit the water right away. I can't complain too much with our currently auto pilot because it has been a life saver on the water for us and has worked great. How long would you say it took for you to fully install the hydraulic steering system and then the auto pilot?
@@ernesthorn1535 we actually had it go out on us on the very last trip of the season. Haven’t had a chance to pull it out and go through it. Hopefully it just needs to be recalibrated but I fear it’s the gear in the motor. Luckily it’s under warranty still. But besides that, it worked flawlessly for us and did everything we needed it to
Is this right enough for trolling? I just bought a 245 Starfire, which has a 5.7 MerCruiser in board Stern Drive. I really want to put an auto pilot on it for Fishing since the helm is so far from the back of the boat and I still wanna be able to fish with two people.
@@jakejacobson2999 we use our autopilot for 99.99 percent of fishing. We have used it to navigate back to the pier heads up and plane but trolling for walleye and salmon is our primary use of it. And it has worked well for us over the years
@@highpointeoutdoors6958nice, that’s exactly what I’ll be using it for on Erie and Lake Ontario. I’m pretty handy with working on my boats. So how difficult would you say this was? I wasn’t sure if these units were able to go on sterndrives or not but I guess this answers my question lol I have a MerCruiser 5.7.
@@jakejacobson2999 I would give the whole project a 7.5 out of 10 for difficultly. But that includes the research of finding out what parts I needed to work from our Garmin to the drive unit. Finally a marina on Lake Ontario confirmed that the octopus drive type R unit would work for stern drive vessels. When I asked Garmin, which where I bought the reactor 40 from, they had no idea what drive unit would work for our boat. The installation wasn’t bad, the instructions walked us through pretty easily
@@highpointeoutdoors6958 okay doesn’t sound bad. My boat is older however, it’s a 1990 so I may need a different part than you. I need to bring my boat home so I can figure out what steering system it has. What do you think the total cost roughly was?
Unfortunately no, our auto pilot doesn’t have the shadow drive feature that allows that. Shadow drive from my understanding is only applicable on hydraulic steering. Ours is a cable drive, with hydraulic assist. We would have had to convert our entire steering system to hydraulic. I hope this helps
If you have room can you just use the octopus type s drive that installs in the helm with existing teleflex cable to the motor instead of the remote (r) drive?
Yes, you sure can. I know the reason why we didn’t go that route was because our helm did not have much room behind the steering wheel to fit that apparatus
@@nickb8618 I guess that depends. Because on our boat, there’s still hydraulic assist to help turn the main engine. So the engine has to be on for the R drive to move the piston back and forth. Without it, it moves a lot slower.
@@highpointeoutdoors6958 thanks my mercruiser has hydraulic assist so that answers my questions to troll with the kicker get the reactor 40 kicker autopilot.
I'm fixing to add autopilot to my houseboat and this video helped clear up a few questions I had. Thanks for sharing.
Oh happy to help! I searched high and low for a video to show me how to install it. I figured other people may be in the same situation as me, so why not film it to share
@@highpointeoutdoors6958 I'm installing it on the s drive that I already have at the helm so it should basically be the same installation process. The rudder control module is what I was wondering about and you explained it perfectly. Thanks!
@@ew1421 happy to help! Goodluck with your install
I removed the mercruiser steering system completely and installed a hydraulic seastar cylinder and helm. Very easy and no rudder feedback required.
That's awesome, I sorta wish we had done that but we were eager to get something installed to hit the water right away. I can't complain too much with our currently auto pilot because it has been a life saver on the water for us and has worked great. How long would you say it took for you to fully install the hydraulic steering system and then the auto pilot?
@@highpointeoutdoors6958 it took two days. The hardest part was removing the old steering system. Everything else was easy
I’ve been running the Reactor 40 on my kicker and it works great!
That’s great to hear. This was our second season with ours and so far we have no complaints
I think the Amberjack is the best boat Sea Ray ever made.
I love your channel, keep it coming guys
Thank you! I got more videos coming, just kinda got busy getting into the deer stand but still lots more coming ASAP!
@@highpointeoutdoors6958 are you still happy with the autopilot, is that octopus R Drive working well
@@ernesthorn1535 we actually had it go out on us on the very last trip of the season. Haven’t had a chance to pull it out and go through it. Hopefully it just needs to be recalibrated but I fear it’s the gear in the motor. Luckily it’s under warranty still.
But besides that, it worked flawlessly for us and did everything we needed it to
@@highpointeoutdoors6958 thank you very much, I’ll keep watching to see what you find out. I’m going to follow your video carefully and install mine
@@highpointeoutdoors6958 can you create a route on your chart plotter, auto routing, and will it follow it?
Great video. Thank you!
Is this right enough for trolling? I just bought a 245 Starfire, which has a 5.7 MerCruiser in board Stern Drive. I really want to put an auto pilot on it for Fishing since the helm is so far from the back of the boat and I still wanna be able to fish with two people.
@@jakejacobson2999 we use our autopilot for 99.99 percent of fishing. We have used it to navigate back to the pier heads up and plane but trolling for walleye and salmon is our primary use of it. And it has worked well for us over the years
@@highpointeoutdoors6958nice, that’s exactly what I’ll be using it for on Erie and Lake Ontario. I’m pretty handy with working on my boats. So how difficult would you say this was? I wasn’t sure if these units were able to go on sterndrives or not but I guess this answers my question lol I have a MerCruiser 5.7.
@@jakejacobson2999 I would give the whole project a 7.5 out of 10 for difficultly. But that includes the research of finding out what parts I needed to work from our Garmin to the drive unit. Finally a marina on Lake Ontario confirmed that the octopus drive type R unit would work for stern drive vessels. When I asked Garmin, which where I bought the reactor 40 from, they had no idea what drive unit would work for our boat. The installation wasn’t bad, the instructions walked us through pretty easily
@@highpointeoutdoors6958 okay doesn’t sound bad. My boat is older however, it’s a 1990 so I may need a different part than you. I need to bring my boat home so I can figure out what steering system it has. What do you think the total cost roughly was?
hello. does your aitopilot goes from engage to stanbt mode if you turn the wheel? does the clutch senses it?
Unfortunately no, our auto pilot doesn’t have the shadow drive feature that allows that. Shadow drive from my understanding is only applicable on hydraulic steering. Ours is a cable drive, with hydraulic assist. We would have had to convert our entire steering system to hydraulic. I hope this helps
Merci beaucoup ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
I would like add this on my dual sterndrive chaparral. How much did everything cost you?
For the Garmin components plus the octopus, it costed about 3,500 if I do remember correctly
If you have room can you just use the octopus type s drive that installs in the helm with existing teleflex cable to the motor instead of the remote (r) drive?
Yes, you sure can. I know the reason why we didn’t go that route was because our helm did not have much room behind the steering wheel to fit that apparatus
Another question can u run the autopilot while the main engine is off if I wanted to tie my kicker to my out drive?
@@nickb8618 I guess that depends. Because on our boat, there’s still hydraulic assist to help turn the main engine. So the engine has to be on for the R drive to move the piston back and forth. Without it, it moves a lot slower.
@@highpointeoutdoors6958 thanks my mercruiser has hydraulic assist so that answers my questions to troll with the kicker get the reactor 40 kicker autopilot.
What year is the Amberjack. I have a 2009 and would love to put an autopilot in it
This one is a 2007. I believe everything should be the same to hook up for a 2009
Thank you very much, great video. I hope mine goes as smoothly as yours did.