Tiller pilot installation

[Joe_Cole]

I'm thinking of getting a Raymarine ST1000 tiller pilot.

My boat has an outboard mounted in a well and I am a little concerned that the tiller pilot will inevitably be mounted near to the engine and may pick up interference from (electrical or magnetic) from the engine.

The handbook warns about all sorts of things but makes no mention of this situation. Maybe its OK, but does anyone have any experience of this?

Joe COle

 

[theduke]

i also have an outboard in a well on my hurley ,
i also have a tiller pilot and have had no problems with it being located near the outboard .
tillerpilot is actually within 2ft of the engine.
hope this reassures you

 

[Trevor_swfyc]

You are right to be concerned, how about holding a hand held compass near the engine in the location that the tiller compass will be in. If the compass is not effected then all should be ok.
I did once put the hand held VHF under my autohelm 1000 it went immediatly hard to port luckily no harm done but its worth remembering, you have been warned.

Good luck
Trevor

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

Basics: a tiller pilot steers so that the effect of the magnetic field around it - be it terrestrial, metallic or electrical in origin - remains constant.
I would therefore say that, so long as you do not shift sources of magnetism (bits of metal, toolboxes, gas cylinders, VHF radios, Walkman's, hand-bearing compasses, a.s.o.) around, the tiller pilot will continue to steer the same relative course - which you would check on your main compass anyway. The readout on the pilot might well show something else but it's your main compass that shows you where you're going.
In my own case, my old Navico TP5000 is fixed on the stbd cockpit seat of my Centaur and I have two Gas bottles in the locker beneath it. The Gas things do not move around; nor will your outboard!

Wally

 

[Guest]

One of the main components of your handheld VHF is the loudspeaker _ a bloody big magnet. This has caught many people out in the past .. VHF .. broadcast trannys.. even portable phones .. all have loudspeakers so watch where you put them.

Brian