We bought a spare autopilot at the time for our round of Atlantic with the Brandaan. Everything still new in the box. Toine will build this pilot in the winter of 2015/2016 as a second pilot. It is a different type than the pilot that comes standard on it. A so-called linear drive (hydraulic rod that sits directly on the rudder quadrant to steer the boat). Both pilots are completely autonomous and can be switched with a switch on the steering position. This is a bit of an exaggeration, the urgency is never so high that you have to switch very quickly between autopilots, but by making switching so easy, you use both pilots regularly.

In practice, both pilots appear to have a completely different steering behaviour. The original pilot (mamba drive directly on steering rods) has a somewhat coarser behaviour, which leads to relatively much steering and some restless behaviour before the wind course. The linear drive (the new one) steers much more refined and calmer. Nice to experience that! Meanwhile, the second autopilot is our first pilot as standard.