Autohelm wander

[marchhare]

I have fitted an ST4000+ WP but have quite a bit of wander, worse when wind is aft of the beam. The boat weight is on the lower side of the working range, 3850kg, (upper limit is 3 times that weight), so would not expect that to be the problem. I have adjusted the Rudder Gain down from 5 to 4 to 3 on the passage but it does not seem to make much difference, if any.

Have gone through the set up procedure for deviation, no problems and the tacking function works ok. I have checked the sensitivity on the 40 degree tests for both port and stbd and behaves ok.

I do not have the rudder reference unit fitted, which I accept would probabley make the performance improve, but surely the thing should be able to steer in a reasonabley straight line in 10knots of breeze or on the motor.

Any words of wisdom?

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[oldestgit]

Can't realy advise but looking at the same installation I have been heavily advised to also fit the rudder reference unit. However I agree with you it should hold a reasonable course given your details.

Andy @ Cactus quoted £125 for the Rudder feed back mechanism, which seemed plenty.

Would appreciate any advice on where to buy the 4000+ for less that £639.

All the best .. Peter.

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[paulrossall]

Are you sure your electrical supply is big enough? Try measuring the volts at the terminal where you plug the autohelm in when it is working. Your supply should be 2sq.mm or more if connection is any distance from your battery.

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[oldsaltoz]

G,day marchhare,

Not sure if your model has it, but most have an adjustment that causes the rudder to move more, or less, when off the required heading; have you got this?

I hope this helps. . . . .




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[Ivy]

My 2000+ wanders a lot when off the wind but I( think this is mainly due to waves catching the quater and turning the boat suddenly before the autohelm has a chance to recover, Try auto sea state if you have it on yours (+1 &-1 together when in auto mode).

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[snowleopard]

where are you based (your profile is empty)? if you are far north there is a problem with 'dip' and the fluxgate compass which causes massive snaking.

otherwise you probably have the same problem as my st5000+ which oversteers manically. like you i've tried tweaking the tuning to no avail at all. the man on the raytheon stand at the boat show implied that i was a complete idiot if i couldn't sort it out myself, so having spent over £1K i'm stuck with a system that steers like a drunk on speed.

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[duncan]

Re: wandering

...which should only really cost about 30 quid a time instead of a grand up front!

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[gerryl]

Had the same problem, now fixed. You need 'response' set to 2, rudder gain to 2 and rudder damping to 4. then try it. The deviation needs to be less than 10 degrees, so you may need to check this first.
The Raymarine website is very good and has a technical forum. www.raymarine.co.uk.

P.s. mine's a Westerly Seahawk at the top end of the weight range.

hope this helps.

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[Piers]

Try calling the Raymarine guru on Autohelm - Dave Wellcome. He's helped many from the forum. 02392 693 611 extension 1614.

Piers du Pré
http://www.dupre.co.uk