ST 50 Wind Direction Thingy Jammed

cardinal_mark

cardinal_mark

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 Oct 2004
Messages
513
Location
UK
Visit site
Hi all

Quick (and probably daft!) question...

A couple of weeks ago the direction flappy bit at the masthead of my Autohelm ST 50 wind seized up without warning, so at the moment we get wind speed but not direction on the cockpit display. This last weekend, sitting in Yarmouth watching the wind speed go bonkers, I noticed the direction was also beginning to move... Alas, when the wind dropped back to sane levels so the direction display stuck again.

So here's my question; before I risk life and limb scaling the mast, does anyone know if this is likely to be a quick squirt of Sailkote and a bit of a twiddle, or should I take a new transducer up with me? I understand that if the speed seizes then that's usually a replacement job but no-one I've spoken to so far seems to know if this applies to the direction vane.

I've only just recovered from a masthead trip from three years ago so, if at all possible, I dont really want to make the trip more than once to sort it out!

As always, any advice / opinions are much appreciated.

Mark
 
A new masthead unit is ridiculously expensive. You should try the squirt of WD40 first but the likelihood is that the bearing is worn. You can renew the bearings and whilst it’s not cheap it is cheaper than a whole new unit. We had the speed one done earlier this year for £50 (didn't sort out our low speed reading problem mind! – anyone know why my ST50 should read 2/3 of the real wind speed?). Raymarine will do it for you or if there's a Raymarine dealer locally it's a 30 min job for them.

Sounds like you’re going to have to go up the mast then – twice in fact!
 
Didn't anyone tell you that going up a mast is a compulsory annual trip even if there is nothing wrong? You should check all stay terminals, clean pulley blocks and make sure everything is free of corrosion. The tranny just simply unplugs. Bring it down. Don't spray it with WD 40 you will make it all sticky and all the crap in the world will stick to it. Probably a knackered bearing, but might simply be seagull poo. Get yer ass up there whimp!
 
Blast!! I have exactly the same problem. I was told that it is normally the bearing surface has deteriorated. I have only had mine ,a Silva, three years. The last one a Stow lasted 13 years!
 
Are you saying the vane itself jammed? It's possible that the display head might be at fault if it's an analogue needle type.

In my experience the potentiometer track and contact wear out on most of these things, on the masthead unit. Really you should take them down when not sailing, but who does?
 
Potentiometer?

Don't think you'll find a potentiometer or contacts in many wind transducers - they usually use simple Hall effect sensors.
 
Yes, its definitely the vane that's jammed. But the really great news is that I've just heard from Raymarine that no compatible replacement part exists anymore! Surprisingly (not!) their advice is to up-grade the whole shooting match to ST 60!!!

Am now praying its just a bit of seagull crap!

Mark
 
I'm surprised. As I said we had the speed bearing done just about 2 months ago. I think the ST50 and the ST60 masthead units are the same (although the ST60+ ones look different) so they should still have spares. You might be asking the wrong question! You really need to get that masthead unit down and get it into your local Raymarine shop. Suggesting you spend £500 on a complete new system when the problem sounds straightforward to fix seems something of a liberty. They've obviously got boat show fever and are assuming everyone else has as well!
 
If you\'re feeling rich...

You could always ask Alan Williams at AW Marine in Gosport. He's got a lot of Raymarine spares on eBay right now, and his eBay ads claim that he can rebuild ST50 masthead units with "supportable parts".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

Lightwave395
Raymarine ST5000+
Replies
0
Views
120
Lightwave395
Lightwave395

Share this page

Top