getting raymarine to repair dead tillerpilots

If it's going to get wet. i.e rough or rain I use mine in a long plastic bag. The type walking sticks come in. My wife has access to plenty of them. The whole unit including ram and tiller socket goes in the bag.
 
I've owned the original Mk II Autohelm, a 1000 and 2 x 2000 autohelms and a Navico 80 and none of them has been waterproof. However the 4000ST that I fitted ib St Mary's in 1992 has lasted to this day (with a little maintenance) over a distance of about 28K nautical miles of single-handing.

No all-in-one autopilot, with or without cagoules, cling film or plastic bags is waterproof. A point agreed by the techies in Raymarine.
 
What it needs is a gator over the ram. The unit itself has a reasonable seal round the case. It's crazy having to consider ripping the arm off a jacket to keep the water out. It is 2015 and we have the ability to land a spaceship on a tiny fragment of rock/ice travelling at 40,000 mph FCS.
 
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dylanwinter said:
that is one of the facts to store under the category of

"amazing but true"

they obviously have a well oiled system for bringing them back to life when they do get wet though
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It happened to me two months out of the warranty period. The estimate to repair at the time was more than the price of a new unit. They said that I shouldn't have allowed it to get wet.
 
I can attest to the fact that the Navico/Simrad tiller pilots have not substantially changed their design for at least 15 years. I have an old Navico TP300 which came with a boat I bought 12 years ago, and it was not new then. Over the years it has gotten a bit beat up, but never let me down even though I never protected it from the rain. I happened to see a case for a Simrad TP30 (current version of the Navico) on e-bay which was obviously a display unit - looks like the real thing, but no guts inside. For a fiver I thought it worth the risk that the design had not changed over the years and the workings from my old one would fit inside. Sure enough everything fitted exactly as it should and I now have what looks like a new TP30!
 
ghostlymoron said:
What it needs is a gator over the ram. The unit itself has a reasonable seal round the case. It's crazy having to consider ripping the arm off a jacket to keep the water out. It is 2015 and we have the ability to land a spaceship on a tiny fragment of rock/ice travelling at 40,000 mph FCS.
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Long thin poly bag over the lot acts just like a gaitor as the arm moves in and out.
 
Does anyone remember the old Autohelm adverts in YM etc, "your wet weather friend". It only took me a couple of seasons to find that I had been misled. To be fair, my current ram has done fifteen seasons and spends much of the time in the open, though I put a little grease on the bar occasionally.
 
prv said:
They do still make a system like that, though the controller is now more installed into the boat rather than plugged into a socket and hung on a bracket. But I suspect the ram is the exact same one: http://www.raymarine.co.uk/view/?id=7679&collectionid=65&col=6603

Haven't checked the price but I suspect it's vastly more than a simple tillerpilot.

Pete
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It looks exactly like the Autohelm 2000 arm I fitted to my old boat many years ago, probably around 1987. Problems with the smaller 1000 units were well known even then and I also didn't think they were man enough for a 32' Southerly. I fitted the control box at the inside helm and the arm was installed below deck. The Southerly had a huge bronze yoke for the interior wheel (always left disconnected) and the autopilot arm dropped on that whenever needed.

I guess it had an easy life with both box and arm in dry environments and it performed faultlessly for many years. It only gave up after 10 years crossing the North sea when some internal bearing crumbled and little ball bearings were running around inside. It was repaired in Holland and was still working in 2011 when I lost track of the new owner.

I always considered the Autohelm 2000 to be one of the better built pieces of kit on board and was glad to have avoided the cheaper 1000 unit.
 
I've used Autohelm / Raymarine autohelms (ST1000 and ST2000) for years, in all weathers, without a cover and with no problems, and was surprised to read on here a year or so back of the trouble that other people had suffered.

Then last summer, in heavy rain, it packed up a few hours into 17+ hour passage effectively single-handed (crew out of action). Fortunately, after a couple hours rest below, ram downwards, it deigned to work again, and has been fine since.

Maybe I'll make a cover for it.
 
LittleSister said:
I've used Autohelm / Raymarine autohelms (ST1000 and ST2000) for years, in all weathers, without a cover and with no problems, and was surprised to read on here a year or so back of the trouble that other people had suffered.

Then last summer, in heavy rain, it packed up a few hours into 17+ hour passage effectively single-handed (crew out of action). Fortunately, after a couple hours rest below, ram downwards, it deigned to work again, and has been fine since.

Maybe I'll make a cover for it.
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I am going to make sure they are covered from here on in

I have to say the 2000 did fantastic service coming across from Shetland to the mainland

it was bloody rough - a reach with the wind on the beam and a quarter of a genoa out

wind against tide

really impressive

but then it packed up and never worked again

D
 
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Do they still repair the st3000 ?this is a wheel pilot btw.
ive tested it in the cockpit and it seems ok but ive known of a few that were veering off course.
 
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