Tiller Pilot Installation

[SlowlyButSurely]

I'm thinking of fitting a tiller pilot, mostly to be used when motoring as I can get the boat to steer itself quite well under sail. Problem is that my boat's length/displacement is well over the maximum specified for the smaller (and cheaper) ones. I was wondering if I could move the attachment point of the tiller pilot arm further down the tiller to give it a bit more leverage. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Guest]

most boats have about same effort to steer .... think about it ... if the tiller effort was related to boat size - we would all have dinghy's !!
The time it becomes a problem is when the weather picks up and you / it would struggle to steer .....

Obviously it is foolish to buy smallest ...... talk around other boaters in your locale .... see what they use .....

It is possibly one of the best bits of kit on a boat - after a GPS / Echo-sounder .... marvelous and well worth the fitting .... leaves 2 hands free ... one for beer - other for .......

Don't forget most have tacking function as well ... so no need to steer for tacking as well !!!! Fantastic.

 

[aluijten]

Don't buy the Raymarine ST1000 plus. The build quality is not impressive. There are two rubber bands inside used for driving the rod, but they tend to slip as the autopilot reaches a far extreme of the movement (motor is not switched off at either end point). When that happens it eats away the rubber bands, causing failures in the long run. The ST2000 Plus has a different mechanism, much more rugged (so I've been informed).

Cheers,

Arno

 

[PhatBuoy]

Please do not try moving the centre of effort forward on the tiller! Firstly it will limit your hard over angles and secondly it will make little difference in reducing the torque applied to the tiller pilot. Get the most powerful unit you can afford and shop around to find the best deal.

 

[wooslehunter]

I have a much smaller boat than you & I fitted a Raymarine ST2000+ at the beginning of last season because it's faster & better built than the 1000+. Nice bit of kit. It took a bit of setting up to get the time constants & dead band right but now it's fine.

This winter, I have to re-site the attachment points. I had a very old Autohelm unit previously & this seems to have a slightly longer throw on the piston. The result with the 2000+ is that the pulling power is far more than I need but the throw is not enough causing the unit to stall out before the rudder is right over. It's a good idea to have this happen anyway but not as early as mine does. That's because the unit will pull/push (from memory) 70kg. I'd rather it was pushing this against itself than against the tiller before stalling out.

Hence re-position closer to the rudder but not too close.

ST2000+ should be fine for your boat - take a look at the boat specs. Also if you're used to setting the boat up so it'll sail itself then the load on the tiller has to be fairly small.

 

[SlowlyButSurely]

Thanks very much for the advice chaps. That's answered my question and a few others that I hadn't considered.

 

[hightech]

Don't even think for one minute that saving money by buying the lesser model should come into the purchase of a tillerpilot, if you get it wrong and skimp, it WILL let you down! Always buy bigger than you need, as the day you really need the pilot to help you out will be the day it lets you down, all users are guilty of pushing their boat and their own limits further when they have a pilot, after all that is why they are bought in the first place.

All tillerpilot control algorithms assume that the installer has done his/her job properly and got the measurements as per the book +/- a few mm, even going back to the original "autohelm" unit of the 1970's. The designers have then with modern electronics given a small adjustment in the form of rudder gain to compensate for the foibles of each boat variaion, but they still rely on the installer getting the measurements about right.

Then comes the extra load on the gearbox/motor if you go too close, this then reduces the life of the unit and causes premature failure including belt slippage.

Having worked for all the major autopilot manufacturers in the UK, and seen the wrecks that customers have sent back for repair both in and out of warranty, it seems that there are few people tha /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gift can neither read or measure!

Get it per the book or expect the worst! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[Anonymous]

I had a ST2000+ for nearly five years and was very happy - most of my sailing is, in effect, single-handed so I use the pilot a great deal. I agree with all of the comments made here so far. Just one point - do make sure that your fixing points are strong; the forces are quite high and since the drive is mechanical it isn't as smooth as a human touch. If necessary, reinforce the area around the deck fitting and don't let it move or it will wear the tiller pilot's mechanism due to slop in the overall linkage.

The ST2000+ will interface via NMEA (or Seatalk) to a GPS to give 'track' mode which is very handy at certain times so do make sure that you run all the wires back even if you hadn't intended to use that function. Once you have it, you will.