pagoda
Active member
I too have just bought an autohelm.
I've not yet fitted it to the boat or tried it in anger, but I have to admit to being dissapointed that there's no clutch built in, so you have to unhook it when you want to manually steer,
If I had been designing it, I would have built in a simple dog clutch that disconnected drive and allowed the pushrod to move freely in and out so it could remain atached.
I guess that would add to the cost, but I can't see it would be that difficult, or that much extra mechanics.
I suspect this one little extra bit of inconvenience might restrict how much we use it, but I won't know that until I try it for real.
Very easy to use, handy for single handing - you can attend to sails etc without acrobatics. I doubt many people leave tham out of doors all the time, ours lives below until we need it.
There'e a splash proof power socket in the cockpit , a peg-hole for the fixed end in the cockpit bench-seat, and a small hooked peg on the underside of the tiller. Nothng else involved, you simply press standby and lift the tiller end off the hook to steer manually.
Get used to it before trying it in F5+ with a following wind and decent seas. Humans are generally much better in those circumstances!
Graeme