Do you have a lanyard on your autohelm

[Polly1]

Hi
I have just bought a new autohelm and am worried about it going overboard. The screw in electrical lead might hold it if dropped but there is no fitting on the autohelm to take a lanyard.
What do you all do?

 

[morgandlm]

Autohelm security

I have no special security for my autohelm and must confess I had never thought about it going overboard. The locating pin on the coaming holds it very securely and I have a plastic pipe grip mounted on the transom to rest the drive shaft in when it is not in use.

Unless the gadget is really exposed on your boat and not secure when mounted then I would not worry about it.
Morgan

 

[VicS]

Yes I have a lanyard on mine. Just a length of light line tied round its mounting bracket ( it's a very old Autohelm) which I tie to the leg of the pushpit rail
Important with mine I think because it's mounted on top of the coaming and when not actually in operation stows along the top of the coaming with the end of the push-rod in a little support chock.
If it came adrift from its stowed position there is a 50% chance it would go overboard if not on a safety line.

 

[RobbieW]

When I had an autohelm like that it had a string 'whipped' around the body of the motor. That string becomes the lanyard

 

[Pleiades]

Autohelm on a leash

I have the Raymarine 4000 Tillerpilot -the tubular one, perches dangerously near the oggin at the stern rail. Cost an arm and a leg and if it can go overboard it will probably try sooner or later....... so - simple being best I have a light line onto it with a knot - held in place by wrapping some black self amalgamating tape tightly round the tubular body. Spring clip on the other end. When I pop the unit in place it gets clipped onto the pulpit. So even if pulled out of place by a fender, mooring line or locker lid etc it will live to steer another day.

Robin

Pleiades of Birdham
MXWQ5

 

[TQA]

When I had one yes there was a lanyard on the body AND a bit of bungee cord at the tller end to prevent the rod juming off the pin.

 

[Amulet]

This is my solution. (Click to enlarge.) It is a battery strap with a shackle sewn in one end. I then shackle it on to the backstay.

 

[Rob_Webb]

Hi
I have just bought a new autohelm and am worried about it going overboard. The screw in electrical lead might hold it if dropped but there is no fitting on the autohelm to take a lanyard.
What do you all do?

Unfortunately I have a Raymarine wheelpilot not tillerpilot so it is much less likely to go overboard until I save up enough to replace it with a decent unit - at which point I will delight in throwing it to deep!

 

[Lakesailor]

Anything that may make a bid for freedom (outboard, rudder etc...) is worth a lanyard.

 

[Wansworth]

Anything that may make a bid for freedom (outboard, rudder etc...) is worth a lanyard.

Wife!

 

[prv]

Mine is well inside the cockpit, below the level of the coaming, and fits pretty tightly in its socket. So I can't see any chance of it going overboard in less than a south-atlantic knockdown, whereas I mostly sail in the Solent . The power cable will act as a lanyard in extremis; the plug is quite hard to detach even when I want to!

Pete

 

[RupertW]

Bit baffled by this - surely the auto helm electric cable is enough to stop it going anywhere as that will be securely screwed into it's socket.

I did temporarily have a lanyard on the moving rod part of the worst auto helm I ever owned (a new Navico). At full extension it would unscrew itself and head for the open stern.

Changed it for a proper Autohelm at the end of that season.

 

[Cloven]

Never thought about it until you mentioned it - now its one more thing to worry about!!!

 

[prv]

Bit baffled by this - surely the auto helm electric cable is enough to stop it going anywhere as that will be securely screwed into it's socket.

Depends on the plug you use, I suppose. Mine doesn't screw in, it's just a tight fit.

Pete

 

[bbg]

When I had one yes there was a lanyard on the body AND a bit of bungee cord at the tller end to prevent the rod juming off the pin.

I just had a bit of bungee at the tiller end.

 

[Polly1]

Thanks for the replies.

 

[DaveS]

Just to give you another idea, I have a lanyard on my Autohem which consists of a bit of 3 strand 6mm terylene. It's got a wall and crown knot at the end which is attached to the autohelm using a small stainless jubilee clip ('ware lawyers ) fixed round the top of the mounting spigot. The other end is spliced on to a small carabiner: I pass it round a leg of the pushpit and clip it back on itself.

 

[wiggy]

Bit of a highjack, my spx5 tiller pilot falls off he tiller pin, it seems to just sit on the pin, my last simrad clicked on, is this normal for Raymarine?

 

[ghostlymoron]

Bit of a highjack, my spx5 tiller pilot falls off he tiller pin, it seems to just sit on the pin, my last simrad clicked on, is this normal for Raymarine?

The Raymarine units are just held by the weight of the unit - no click.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

If you are worried about your autohelm going overboard then either the rest of your boat isnt worth much or your autohelm is seriously expensive. Or both.

The whole cost of boating makes the cost of an autohelm fairly trivial and loss of it is what insurance companies are for.