Someone told me that the wiggling.....

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U4

U4

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my steering wheel when the engine was switched off was the cause of my rather annoyingly out of sync rudder angle display.

helm.jpg

(props straight ahead)

Before I blame my 2 year old (who regularly sits at the helm wiggling the steering wheel whilst the engines are switched off) I thought I would check with you lot to see if there was any other explanation?

Actually (and far more importantly) does anyone know how to fix the problem in a nice, easy and cheap manner?

I'm not expecting much but thought I'd ask :confused:

By the way, the Raymarine Auto Pilot is also showing the rudder angle as a good few degrees to STBD when she is infact heading straight ahead.

Help!
 
haven't a clue apart from consulting the ever helpful Mr Google... have found this which may be of help even if your's is a different manufacturer, I'd suspect the adjust principle will be the same... if two gauges are reading the same, I'd suspect the sender unit if you're sure the rudder's midship as that would be a common factor:

4.) The last step in this installation is fine adjustment.
This is to center the gauge’s pointer (see Figure 4).
Only a small angular adjustment, if any, should be
necessary if your installation was done correctly. Be
sure the rudder is exactly amidships. With the sender’s
mounting screws loosened, rotate the sender slightly
to PORT or STARBOARD until the gauge’s pointer
indicates amidships. Retighten the mounting screws.
Your installation is now complete.
Click to expand...

http://www.maritim.no/pdf/2/Rorindikator giver.pdf
 
GaryO is correct, the sender unit is on the transom to the right of the port engine when looking into the engine bay. A green roundish device with a rod attached to it. Mine also reads exactly the same, but have never got around to adjusting it.
 
Yup, agree, you need to adjust the sender or link rod , next to the rudders/outdrives. Your 2 year old is entirely innocent, at least of this misdemeanor :-)

Wiggo, if only one of yours is out, you must have a different problem surely?
 
What will they think of next! I honestly never knew that there was such a thing as a rudder direction indicator. I just rely on the direction in which the boat is heading and twiddle the throttles or the wheel if I want it to go in a different direction.
 
Mind you, I can see that if you have a rudder direction indicator it must be mildly annoying if it points in the wrong direction. I suppose an easy solution might be a bit of gaffer tape over the dial?
 
They've been around since shortly after the earth cooled. If you have a tiller, it's obvious where it's pointing, ditto an outboard, but you really don't want to give it a fistful of throttle unless you know which way the rudder/drives are pointing.

The simplest ones just stick to the steering wheel boss (http://www.safety-marine.co.uk/Outb...udder-Position-Indicator-Gauge.htm?P5272-S28-) and use a weight at the bottom to record how far the wheel has turned, but most are electrical, using a potentiometer attached to the rudder stock to deliver a variable voltage to an electrical display. The OP's one is like this and needs recalibrating. As both of mine are driven from the same sensor, they should (as jfm says) read the same, even if they're both wrong.
 
you really don't want to give it a fistful of throttle unless you know which way the rudder/drives are pointing.
Click to expand...

I think I'll get one for the car. The acceleration from being parked is considerably more than the boat and I often have no idea which way the wheels are pointing.:D
 
Wiggo said:
No idea, John. I've never driven from downstairs so I don't know if it's right or not... ;-)
Click to expand...

That's cos you love your upstairs dashboard with sexy new raymarine displays ;-)

The Raymarine a/p display also has rudder indicator, bar graph thing across the bottom
 
You are kidding bjb?!! Most boats have a second one in the form of an LCD bar chart at bottom of A/P display. You got one of those?
Click to expand...

err, come to think of it I do have one of those. Must be having a blond day.
 
Having adjusted the rudder angle sensor so that the cockpit display reads straight ahead you will have to recalibrate the autopilot. If you dont the autopilot will thing the rudder has been shifted off centre and will start off by puttting the rudder into the old position which will now be with an offset. It should compensate but it will screw up the algorithms centre point.
 
nimbusgb said:
Having adjusted the rudder angle sensor so that the cockpit display reads straight ahead you will have to recalibrate the autopilot. If you dont the autopilot will thing the rudder has been shifted off centre and will start off by puttting the rudder into the old position which will now be with an offset. It should compensate but it will screw up the algorithms centre point.
Click to expand...


Hang on, that's only true if the rudder gauge on the dash and the a/p share the same sensor. Generally they don't. None of my boats has ever had a shared sensor - they've always had one for the a/p and a separate one for the gauge
 
jfm said:
Hang on, that's only true if the rudder gauge on the dash and the a/p share the same sensor. Generally they don't. None of my boats has ever had a shared sensor - they've always had one for the a/p and a separate one for the gauge
Click to expand...


True! My Raymarine A/P indicates rudder position on the A/P control head ( 6001 ) so I made an assumption. My bad!
 
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