When a leg of a bluewater journey takes hours, an electronic autopilot gives the helmsman a well-needed break from turning the wheel. The unit will steer a course that you tell it to, and even sequence with your GPS to navigate to a waypoint, correcting the vessel’s heading to allow for wind drift or currents. In the past, these systems have been on the pricey side for coastal fishing boats, but that’s changing. The question is, could you find a need for such a tool on your day-fishing trips out of your home waters? The answer is certainly.

Autopilots are helpful when you're short-handed and tending lines in the cockpit.

A common use for autopilot on a day boat is to free up the helmsman when either fishing alone or short-handed. How many times have you found yourself wishing you had one more person on board to help when it came time to leader or gaff a fish? Imagine yourself (and I know many of you have been here) alone at the final stage of a battle with a big fish that just won’t behave. He may be digging in, trying to go under your motors or circling repeatedly, taking you for a stroll around the deck. If you had someone to keep the boat moving ahead slowly, you could ease the fish alongside and get it under control. That scenario is fairly common when fishing single-handed. If it’s you and one friend, one would be the angler while the other would be driving and gaffing; at the point of no return the driver would leave the wheel and rush to the angler’s aid. This scenario is more manageable, but still would be much simpler with the autopilot doing the driving. This is especially true if you are fishing with multiple lines that need to be managed while you fight the fish, or in the case of multiple hookups.

Another time when autopilot lends a hand is when you need to leave the wheel to tend or re-rig baits, adjust lines or even clear a piece of weed from the baits. These tasks may take only a minute, but require you to leave the wheel long enough to allow the boat to go off on a search and destroy mission. With the push of a button, you could let the autopilot take over.

Is an autopilot worth the cost? You’ll have to decide for yourself, but surprisingly, the systems really aren’t a ton of dough compared to other equipment we commonly use. The good news is, if you only want an autopilot for the jobs listed above, you don’t need a top dollar unit with all of the bells and whistles. Sure, you can spend upwards of $3,000 for a really tricked-out unit, but if all you want is for someone to “take the wheel for a minute” you don’t need to spend much over $1,000. Think of the investment—like hiring an extra hand to help out that doesn’t talk back. This price point brings autopilots within reach of the small-boat budget. Here’s a look at a few of your options available. I’m sure there are others, and while they may not help clean fish or wash the boat, they are extremely useful once you’ve tried one.

The most affordable unit I could locate was available from ComNav (www.comnav.com). The ComNav 1420 is a very simple, compact device with a clip-mounted control head that can be used off the console as a handheld unit. The 1420 includes many of the features of a more pricey unit, including easy course changes from one degree to major changes with the push of a button on the remote. The most impressive thing is the $989 price tag.

Simrad Robertson (www.simrad .com) more commonly known for high end autopilot units, offers an affordable bracket-mounted, hand-held model. The Simrad AP12 is aimed at the small-boat market and features an NMEA interface to your GPS, facilitating navigation to waypoints. This unit starts at only $1,019.

Si-Tex (www.si-tex.com) reaches out to the 20- to 35-foot boat market with the SP-70 autopilot. The SP-70 is a waterproof unit that also features an LCD display to show you course, rudder angle and operating mode. A handheld remote is available as an option. It, too, features more of the functions found on pricier models and is available at $1,079 for the basic unit.