Hey Larry, I'm pretty happy so far with the cetol natural teak. I bashed it pretty good a couple of times while setting up the boat without noticeable damage. Funny how after you finish something you then have to bash something into it when you never did before it was finished. You are right, though, how it weathers the AZ sun will be the test. The tiller-pilot we were using was an old Auto-Helm AH-800. Came with the boat. It does pretty good and in the ocean swell is a godsend as it works the tiller back and forth in time with the swells instead of your arm! If the boat is balanced ok it has no problem. By the time we got to Anacapa Island we were pretty overpowered and heeled about 20 to 30 degrees. The boat handles it just fine but the weather helm really builds and I don't ask the tiller pilot to deal with that. It's my fault anyway cause if I'd just get off my lazy a## and either reef down and/or put on the right headsail everything would be honky dory again. Case in point....after reaching Anacapa, we tucked in close to the island to shield us (a little ) from wind and swell. I We switched to a working jib from the 150 we were running. The autopilot took us all the way home on the main and working jib at 5 -6 knots and never missed a beat. Of course we were reaching also, which makes it a lot easier. I bought the TP-10 on Ebay 'cause it was too good of a deal to pass up but have to get and extension for it before we can use it. I think it's probably the superior of the two as it's much newer. Hey, Start planning NOW! Only 22 month's till San Juans 2009!!!! Woo hoo!!!! Sean ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour