Raymarine Autopilot

[tetleys]

Having had a Raymarine pilot fitted 18 months ago the drive motor has failed for the fourth time !!
My boat has only done 120 hours since the original installation and failed after two weeks , second motor failed two hours into delivery trio from Torquay to North Wales, third motor failed after a few hours of local use, and now first day of a weeks trip to Ireland is has failed again after two hours into the trip. Not impressed.
My boat is a 34 Sports cruiser with twin VP Kad 300s expertly serviced by Volvo Paul when purchased and recently serviced by Volvo , both times including outdrives so confident all good with drives etc.
Pilot motor fitted is a universal sterndrive unit which operates the power steering , it just seems that the pilot motor is not man enough for the job as each motor when removed has shredded the gears inside.
I have had Raymarine gear on several boats and never has problems like this, has any one any ideas ??

Cheers

Tetleys

 

[RAI]

Is the autopilot drive fighting the manual connection?

 

[spannerman]

I have never had a Raymarine pump fail in this way, only through corrosion due to wrong mounting location.
Its strange as the pump itself does not move the drives, it only does the same job as the helm pump which is to operate the shuttle valve on the servo cylinder and its the engine driven servo pump which does all the work. So I would be checking to see if that is working correctly, how does the steering feel, it should be relatively light,. Try it engine off and engine on to see if there is much difference.
It could well be the pump is too small if all is OK with the VP parts.

 

[volvopaul]

I have never had a Raymarine pump fail in this way, only through corrosion due to wrong mounting location.
Its strange as the pump itself does not move the drives, it only does the same job as the helm pump which is to operate the shuttle valve on the servo cylinder and its the engine driven servo pump which does all the work. So I would be checking to see if that is working correctly, how does the steering feel, it should be relatively light,. Try it engine off and engine on to see if there is much difference.
It could well be the pump is too small if all is OK with the VP parts.

It's cable steering with a linear drive motor which I noticed on the first one was just cable tied to a bunch of wires !!!! Shocking job .

 

[tetleys]

It's cable steering with a linear drive motor which I noticed on the first one was just cable tied to a bunch of wires !!!! Shocking job .

Hi Paul trust all good with your new boat.

The pilot universal drive motor and cable where subsequently moved down into a better place in the engine bay and attached to a mounting plate, albeit with more cable ties. I really can't understand it as the steering is lovely and light and so no obvious signs of any other problems unless the ram type unit fitted at the rear of the engine is in some way faulty or incorrectly fitted

Cheers

Tetleys

 

[A_8]

I have the same setup since 2005 and I've done more miles than most over the last 9 yrs and never had a problem. If I remember correctly there was just one way to fit the universal drive so perhaps your answer is in how it is mounted on your boat.

 

[tetleys]

I have the same setup since 2005 and I've done more miles than most over the last 9 yrs and never had a problem. If I remember correctly there was just one way to fit the universal drive so perhaps your answer is in how it is mounted on your boat.

Thanks A8, I think you are absolutely right and have passed it back to Raymarine via my local dealer in my home port . It still doesn't help at this stage given I am one night into a six night trip with 3 to 5 hour passages.

Cheers

Tetleys

 

[A_8]

Thanks A8, I think you are absolutely right and have passed it back to Raymarine via my local dealer in my home port . It still doesn't help at this stage given I am one night into a six night trip with 3 to 5 hour passages.

Cheers

Tetleys

Did not realize you're in route, looks like you are in for some active driving then . I remember there was a fitting that was specific and a bit difficult to source, I installed it myself and it just snapped right in, worked fine without additional work and no need for cable ties other than one or two to route the cables to the controller.
I can probably remove the drive in like 30 seconds and put it back in another 30 seconds if that helps you compare the installations.
Mine looks like this http://www.hudsonmarine.co.uk/index.php?module_display=41&pid=141942 and the fitting is attached to the engine and then the actuator just snaps in.