Rival 32. - Raymarine ST2000+

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Wandering Star

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Will a Raymarine ST2000+ tiller pilot be man enough to steer a Rival 32 with displacement of around 5400kgs for lengthy periods or is it asking too much of it? What other (better) autopilot options are there to consider? Thanls.
 
I know opinions and and experiences vary. This is my experience.
I have had 3 ST 2000 units. All 3 have experienced early faults. Under 100 hours of operation. It is a gery lightly built unit. The main problem seems to be the screw drive assembly, just isn’t up to the task. It breaks up. At one point they shipped me a new one that had a bad gyro, then shipped me a second with the exact same problem, brand new. They repaired them but then the rams failed.

I have now switched to a Pelagic tiller pilot. I have not used it extensively yet but the ram assembly is vastly superior to the ST 2000. It is not as “slick” but if yiu are not trying to integrate it then it is a great stand aline unit. And you can get a neat, cheap key fob remote.

It is a fair bit more investment but well worth the extra money. Now distributed by Scanmar.
 
Displacement is less of a factor than tiller load under your sailing conditions. If your boat has a lightish tiller load due to balanced rudder, minimal weather helm, good sail trim etc the ST2000+ should cope. There are a number of threads on this and other forums discussing ST2000/1000+'s and Simrad TP12/22/32's and comparing their strengths and weaknesses. If you can't find them, pm me for some detailed info (I am very familiar with the gizzards of my ST2000+ and TP22 having repaired both several times, and modified the ST2000+ with limit switches).

Cheers ,Graeme
 
hpeer said:
I have now switched to a Pelagic tiller pilot. I have not used it extensively yet but the ram assembly is vastly superior to the ST 2000.
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The OEM of the ram / actuator is Wuxi Hongba in China and they can be purchased for about £100 each if you can organise a group buy.

It can also be used with Raymarine autopilots - I've used mine with a SmartPilot and am shortly upgrading to an Evolution.

PC Nautic import them to the Netherlands and charge about £250 each, so I really think there's room for an enterprising Brit (perhaps a chandlery?) to do the same.

Full details to follow when I've tested these.

Looks like SmartPilots hold their value incredibly well on eBay, although there are probably bargains to be had if you're patient.
 
One problem with the ST2000+ is the absence of end stop switches - the motor continues to drive, gets hot, stresses the physical end stops which are pretty flimsy, and the whole thing deteriorates. That is if it hasn't let in water first. How Raymarine can sell a sailing boat cockpit instrument that has next to no IP rating beats me!
 
It copes fine with my Moody 31, which has a displacement (unloaded!) of 4521kg. However, I think the Moody is at the upper end of its capabilities. It does what I ask of it, and the main caution is to protect it from getting wet - I have made a canvas cover for mine.
 
I’d suggest that you’ll be asking too much of an ST2000.

I’ve used them on my Crabber 26 (4,000 kg) and the ST2000 struggled and was unreliable. When it got to the point that I was sailing with a second spare I decided to upgrade to the Raymarine EV100 which has worked well.

Hugh
 
awol said:
One problem with the ST2000+ is the absence of end stop switches - the motor continues to drive, gets hot, stresses the physical end stops which are pretty flimsy, and the whole thing deteriorates. That is if it hasn't let in water first. How Raymarine can sell a sailing boat cockpit instrument that has next to no IP rating beats me!
Click to expand...

Totally agree. I fitted limit switches to mine about 5 years ago and it works superbly. Prior to that I had countless fail
 
alahol2 said:
I'd go for the Simrad TP32, to my mind it's better engineered all round than the Raymarine equivalent.
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Yes, the Simrads all have end-of-stroke shut-off, so they won't grind away as described above. Plus it has a faster stroke and higher load capacity than the ST2000+. But it costs a bit more.

OP hasn't described his intended use apart from "lengthy periods", which could be 2 hours or could be 7 days, and the criteria are obviously more critical for solo sailing. If you can aford it, I'd go with the TP32 for coastal, or the Pelagic (or clever alternative as posted by KompetentKrew) for offshore.
 
I've use older versions of the EV100 on an R32 and an R34. Costs more but has never let me down and the more modern electronics that come with the EV100 and its ancestors do add benefit to the package
 
Presumably the overall displacement of the boat is irrelevant and the weight of / how balanced the helm is would be the critical factor?

I've sailed 20ft boats with a heavier helm than a 30ft-er
 
Minerva said:
Presumably the overall displacement of the boat is irrelevant and the weight of / how balanced the helm is would be the critical factor?

I've sailed 20ft boats with a heavier helm than a 30ft-er
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There are many factors that affect autopilot demands, but overall displacement is a very good basic guide and one used by all makers - with the usual caveat that other factors need to be considered, particularly at the margins and with "extreme" types of boats.
 
Thanks for all the very useful advice, I’d never heard of the Pelagic model before and It it does appear to be a much better and tougher solution. I’ve used the Raymarine St2000+ model on couple of boats and been underimpressed which is why I wanted the advice. If anyone finds a distributor for the Pelagic in the uk or if anyone decides to import a bundle of thee rams from China, I’d be interested in details.
 
I have had two R32s, both of which have had an ST2000 or 1000. They they cope with the steering quite easily if the sails a balanced, or under motor. I've motored for 15 hours or more at times.

however, if the boat had not been set-up for one I would not replace them again. As others have said, they are not waterproof if (I put a plastic bag over it when it's raining) and and if if it gets confused by anything then it will whirr and complain and give up the ghost.
 
onesea said:
Having had the Raymarine on my last boat I was never impressed.
Following seas it could never keep up, although that was a ior 3/4 toner.
Presently considering one of these:
https://pcnautic.nl/nl/autopilot/pcnautic-autopilot-detail
By PCnautic
Wondering if any one has any experience..
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The PC Nautic is a Wuxi Hongba actuator, the same as the Pelagic but with a 30cm stroke length instead of 25cm (Raymarine's Q047 is also 25cm), with a Pypilot controller.

I'm in the middle of an effortpost about Wx Hongba actuators - 2800 words so far, but got sidetracked last week.

If you search for "Pypilot" you should find lots to keep you busy.
 
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