I pilot anchor lock problem

[Just One More Cast]

I found that if the wind is whipping it up and I've had to pee for a while, as long as it locks on & keeps me out of the rocks while I'm getting the duty done, I'm good with that!!

[Fishduck]

I previously had a 55lb terrova with the gen 1 I-pilot on a 18 foot wareagle jon, and had the same problem. I was very disapointed with it as it had the same issues you are having. After a friend was raving about his gen 2 I-pilot, I purchased a 80 lb terrova with the gen 2 I-pilot when I purchased my new navigator. The new one works great, and I now love it and use it all the time. I don't know if it was a difference in the 1st gen v 2nd gen, or if my first unit wasn't functioning the way it should. It may have even been that the boat was under or over powered, but the new one is great.

[jeffbilodeau]

My GPS puck for the bow locator is mounted within about a foot of the Terrova....would that cause interference?

[Just One More Cast]

Originally Posted by jeffbilodeau

My GPS puck for the bow locator is mounted within about a foot of the Terrova....would that cause interference?

What is being interfered with? Your locator screen?

BASICALLY...GPS pucks receive transmissions but do not send. Kinda like your car radio.
(there are some that do, but not in the fishing world that I'm aware of)

[Fastcat]

Seen Chad Schilling launch his boat and send it out into the river, and put spot lock on, so he could go park his rig. That thing did not move but maybe a foot, I don't know if I would ever have that much trust in mine, but it was something to see.

[jeffbilodeau]

Originally Posted by Just One More Cast

What is being interfered with? Your locator screen?

BASICALLY...GPS pucks receive transmissions but do not send. Kinda like your car radio.
(there are some that do, but not in the fishing world that I'm aware of)

Not really interference like noise on the locator...just the spot-lock varying +/- 20 feet. Thought maybe the locator puck in close proximity might be interferring somehow with the gps on the Terrova.

[Jason Halfen]

I think I have a video clip from my new i-Pilot Link series that shows the configuration I run at the bow. I have an 1158-DI unit up there, with its own GPS receiver, in close proximity to the Terrova/i-Pilot Link combo. This little snippet will show you how I have things arranged. There's no editing or context here.....just take a look and see how my arrangement compares to yours.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE63RjFpAnw

Everyone should remember what Spot Lock's job is....its job is to return you to your locked location if you drift more than 5 feet away from it. Does that mean you zip right back once you break the 5-foot circle? No. It means that once you break the circle, Spot Lock goes through its standard procedure of setting a heading and dialing up the prop speed to get you back there. It starts at prop speed of 0.5, check for progress towards the location, and then dials up the speed as necessary. Sometimes that means that the boat will move beyond 5 feet....sometimes 10...sometimes 15....before i-Pilot adjusts the prop speed/heading enough to get you back to your locked location. It has to adjust the speed slowly to avoid tossing people out of the boat. Imagine how many people would get dumped in the drink if their trolling motor turned hard left or right and their prop speed went from 0 to 10 without warning. So, let me make this point again: Spot Lock is not designed to keep you in a 5-foot circle. It is designed to return you to a locked location if/when you drift more than 5 feet away from it, and to return you there in a safe, steady fashion.

With i-Pilot Link, new information has been added to the remote's display to show the user distance and heading fro the current location to the locked location. Yesterday evening, I fished some main channel wingdams on Pool 4/Mississippi River with i-Pilot Link's Spot Lock feature. We had some pretty gusty winds from the south and a fair amount of current (I was working the 1st and 2nd dams in a sequence). I watched my i-Pilot Link remote display to see the maximum distance I ever moved away before I started making progress back to the locked location. I never saw that distance go beyond around 20 ft.....just about a boat length.....pretty darn good for the tuna boat wakes, current and cross wind conditions I was asking i-Pilot Link to handle, and plenty good enough for me to avoid having to use a traditional anchor to hold me in place. I'll see if I have a screen capture of my tracks while I was locked on one of my Spot Lock locations from last night for us all to see; will post if I do.

(Side note: with gusty cross winds and tuna boat wakes, I'm willing to bet that an anchored boat would be moving around just about the same amount as a Spot Locked boat!)

[reddog]

Originally Posted by Jason Halfen

I think I have a video clip from my new i-Pilot Link series that shows the configuration I run at the bow. I have an 1158-DI unit up there, with its own GPS receiver, in close proximity to the Terrova/i-Pilot Link combo. This little snippet will show you how I have things arranged. There's no editing or context here.....just take a look and see how my arrangement compares to yours.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE63RjFpAnw

Everyone should remember what Spot Lock's job is....its job is to return you to your locked location if you drift more than 5 feet away from it. Does that mean you zip right back once you break the 5-foot circle? No. It means that once you break the circle, Spot Lock goes through its standard procedure of setting a heading and dialing up the prop speed to get you back there. It starts at prop speed of 0.5, check for progress towards the location, and then dials up the speed as necessary. Sometimes that means that the boat will move beyond 5 feet....sometimes 10...sometimes 15....before i-Pilot adjusts the prop speed/heading enough to get you back to your locked location. It has to adjust the speed slowly to avoid tossing people out of the boat. Imagine how many people would get dumped in the drink if their trolling motor turned hard left or right and their prop speed went from 0 to 10 without warning. So, let me make this point again: Spot Lock is not designed to keep you in a 5-foot circle. It is designed to return you to a locked location if/when you drift more than 5 feet away from it, and to return you there in a safe, steady fashion.

With i-Pilot Link, new information has been added to the remote's display to show the user distance and heading fro the current location to the locked location. Yesterday evening, I fished some main channel wingdams on Pool 4/Mississippi River with i-Pilot Link's Spot Lock feature. We had some pretty gusty winds from the south and a fair amount of current (I was working the 1st and 2nd dams in a sequence). I watched my i-Pilot Link remote display to see the maximum distance I ever moved away before I started making progress back to the locked location. I never saw that distance go beyond around 20 ft.....just about a boat length.....pretty darn good for the tuna boat wakes, current and cross wind conditions I was asking i-Pilot Link to handle, and plenty good enough for me to avoid having to use a traditional anchor to hold me in place. I'll see if I have a screen capture of my tracks while I was locked on one of my Spot Lock locations from last night for us all to see; will post if I do.

(Side note: with gusty cross winds and tuna boat wakes, I'm willing to bet that an anchored boat would be moving around just about the same amount as a Spot Locked boat!)

If youre ever been in the bow, with your Terrova pointed right or left and accidentally hit the rabbit button, youll quickly know what it feels like to be tossed..

[wobbie19]

Originally Posted by reddog

If youre ever been in the bow, with your Terrova pointed right or left and accidentally hit the rabbit button, youll quickly know what it feels like to be tossed..

I can second that!

[Just One More Cast]

Originally Posted by jeffbilodeau

Not really interference like noise on the locator...just the spot-lock varying +/- 20 feet. Thought maybe the locator puck in close proximity might be interferring somehow with the gps on the Terrova.

The GPS signals are strongest at the equator and get weaker and more horizontal as you move toward the N/S poles.

Look at your puck from a horizontal view all around the boat. If something (or someone) is blocking the puck it takes quite a while to gain enough signals to get a locate. Some rigs will mount the GPS puck on the highest point of the rig. That's where they work the best. And some that want to be spot on, mount it exactly verticle of the transducer & up on a mast.