Tiller Pilot Advice Please

[prv]

Unfortunately their website is a spec-free zone so it's hard to tell.

I'd be interested to know which actuator they are using; it looks like a similar design to the Linak LA36 series but the motor housing is different. The Linak is powerful, reliable, and available with IP68 waterproofing, but it's not officially rated for continuous movement like in a steering system.

They seem to have a different arrangement of heel pin mounting in almost every picture; not all of them look well-designed for substantial thrust forces. I think they'd do better if they mounted the actuator with the motor uppermost or to one side instead of underneath, thus reducing the length of vertical lever between the actual heel fitting on the ram and the pin socket in the boat.

They're pleased with their new version of control box which has a plug and socket for the cable instead of a gland and terminal block, but that means they now have a rigid appendage sticking out the back that will complicate mounting. If I were buying one, I think I'd ask them to make a special to the original design.

At the same time I'd ask them to spell "standby" correctly on the control panel

Pete

 

[prv]

How have Raymarine got away with selling leaky tiller pilots for so long? It’s ludicrous. Baffling really.

People keep buying them, I suppose. And nobody (at least, nobody well-known with good market penetration) sells a direct alternative that's any better.

Pete

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

On the subject of ludicrously priced accessories, does anyone happen to know whether the Simrad and Raymarine rod extensions are the same threads?

Obviously I'm fully expecting to hear that they're not, having been patting myself on the back for finding a cheapish used one on eBay and then noticing that the Google search had led me astray. It should arrive tomorrow, but the suspense is killing me.

 

[Beelzebub]

On the subject of ludicrously priced accessories, does anyone happen to know whether the Simrad and Raymarine rod extensions are the same threads?

Obviously I'm fully expecting to hear that they're not, having been patting myself on the back for finding a cheapish used one on eBay and then noticing that the Google search had led me astray. It should arrive tomorrow, but the suspense is killing me.

Navico extensions used to fit quite happily on Raymarine/Autohelm tiller pilots and were cheaper. Whether this is still the case, I don't know.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Navico extensions used to fit quite happily on Raymarine/Autohelm tiller pilots and were cheaper. Whether this is still the case, I don't know.

Well, that would be, as they say, a result. Doubly so actually, because the RM one is a 100mm piece - exactly what I need - whereas the Simrad do a 90 or a 120.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Just in case anyone refers back to this thread - Simrad tp extensions are an M16 1.25 thread, Raymarine are 17.2mm major, 1.2mm pitch - whatever that is in English.

 

[LittleSister]

I was previously unaware of Raymarine Autohelms' problem with water ingress, and used and abused various models extensively over many years without a problem. In fact I used to leave them in position day and night all the time I was on the boat, and they never missed a beat.

Curiously, it was only after I'd read of the problem on this forum when one of mine threw a wobbly on the way out of Boulogne, leaving me on the tiller in the rain for the many hours it took to reach Harwich. By the time I got there it had recovered, but it still got a few days in the airing cupboard for good measure, and has been fine since.