Gut Wrench, all you boys need is Zeus pods with station keeping.
Doesn’t Merc have a similar feature called skyhook or something?
In all seriousness, nothing takes the place of a REAL anchor, rode and chain system. When you need seatow or the USCG to come to a certain spot and get you, you’ll understand…
You boys taking the skiffs offshore need to realize and respect where you can end up in just an hour or two if you lose power and don’t have a good anchor in the ocean.
I don’t think anyone is useing this as a replacement to an anchor. It’s just another fishing tool. And a very good one at that. This isn’t a safety issue in my eyes. You fish with spinning and conventional reels, right? That’s how I look at it.
The i-pilot is a great invention! I have the 24v 80# with the 60" shaft on my 2012 Key West 189FS. Have used the anchor lock to hold position in 2-3’ seas with a moderate wind and current for several hours of fishing at the Fripp 6 mile reef. Beats the heck out of trying to set an anchor to stay over the fish! After using it I would not want to fish without it.
I set up Dilly Dally (19’ Twin Vee) with one this year. I’ve been out in the 15mph winds on Lk Murray, Lk Wateree and Lk Monticello. The iPilot holds my boat to about 12’ in the 15mph wind without much problem. Pretty good targeting Crappie in the tops of trees or cats near the tree edges.
Some other things to consider: I can launch my boat and remote it to the dock by myself (current in salt water could be an issue there), I don’t have to anchor so fishing by myself is much easier and MUCH more quiet, it will follow a route (with or without my Humminbird), I can go for over 8 hrs on two 300+ AH batteries, my gas bill went down, it is quiet except the turning motor is a bit noisy.
I do have it hooked up to my Humminbird and that makes it even more fun and makes fishing by myself super easy. I plugged in some numbers, jumped on the inner tube and had Dilly Dally pull me around to a friends dock… they were freekin laffin so hard… impressive stuff but not so kind to the wallet!
Just had an iPilot installed on my Sea Hunt 211 Ultra. I got the 80lb thrust with the 60" shaft and on-board charger. Probably not the ideal boat for one, but I’m hoping it will significantly reduce how much I use the anchor. Plan to play with it a little this weekend.
