Wheel Autopilots

[srm]

We use the Raymarine wheel pilot on a displacement of around 8000 kg BUT only for motoring in open water. When sailing we use the Monitor windvane. However, to echo @B27 on passages through the Caledonian Canal it never occured to us to use the wheel pilot. Hand steering all the way mainly due to the twisting nature of the waterway and on the more open stretches being able to respond rapidly to unpredictable hire boats.

 

[shanemax]

On the Thames I can well imagine your need to be on watch and steering all the time, especially with those fast moving tourist boats but lets take the River Stour in Essex. It runs in a straight line E/W, for about 7 miles, is very wide and you can see for miles and often there is not another boat in site. With that in mind there is loads of time to make a sandwich or a cuppa or even tidy the boat. You do become a bit of a meercat on guard, popping up every so often to find nothing has changed.

 

[shanemax]

What are you smoking ?

Good God.......I am anti Alcohol, Anti D _ugs and Anti people enjoying themselves.

 

[B27]

On the Thames I can well imagine your need to be on watch and steering all the time, especially with those fast moving tourist boats but lets take the River Stour in Essex. It runs in a straight line E/W, for about 7 miles, is very wide and you can see for miles and often there is not another boat in site. With that in mind there is loads of time to make a sandwich or a cuppa or even tidy the boat. You do become a bit of a meercat on guard, popping up every so often to find nothing has changed.

I'm sure there are waterways like that, and sometimes they are empty enough to leave the helm.
But how often is this the case?

I was under the impression that on the european waterways it's a requirement to have the boat steered by an adult at all times?
Clearly if there's no risk of collision, you're unlikey to get caught using the autopilot.

My autopilot is just a typical tillerpilot and would need the river to be really quite wide if you were going to take your eyes off the job for more than about 30 seconds.
On most boats, you can probably make it to the cooker and back just by locking the helm?

 

[shanemax]

Under the Col Regs it is a requirement to keep a proper watch at all times, I think this applies to all the seas of the world. so in theory you should never leave the helm. But if you are travelling at 3-4 knots and there is nothing in front or behind you for 1-2 miles and its a wide river no harm done. I always bear in mind speed boats or fast fishing boats doing 15-20 knots which can appear out of no where but they should under the rules only be doing 6 knots max. (seldom are) To give you an example I could set my auto steer as I leave Harwich heading down the Stour and not need to touch it for an hour and a half especially if I was sailing.

 

[stuartwineberg]

A simple answer to the OP secondary question is that it is usually a ram of some sort that acts directly on the steering quadrant if you have one but there are all sorts of variants so as recommended google some "autopilots for 40 foot powerboat" to see the broad idea and then have a chat to a yard you trust, they are generally not a DIY fit but please do take the advice here and forget wheel pilots

 

[shanemax]

For those who might misunderstand me I do not mean I could go below for an hour and a half but I could sit on my phone, in the cockpit, next to the tiller, listening to the auto helm making small adjustments and looking up occasionally.

 

[shanemax]

I notice this year my insurance (Navigator and General) said no single passage to exceed 24 hours if navigating alone. This must be to stop people switching on the auto helm and going off to sleep and continuing their journey when they wake up.
In other words you must stop for sleep some where every 24 hours ,so it must have become a problem.

 

[Tranona]

I notice this year my insurance (Navigator and General) said no single passage to exceed 24 hours if navigating alone. This must be to stop people switching on the auto helm and going off to sleep and continuing their journey when they wake up.
In other words you must stop for sleep some where every 24 hours ,so it must have become a problem.

That is pretty standard now - actually more commonly 18 hours. However completely irrelevant for the OP in the European waterways. His concern is using an autopilot to help steer a straight course on the type of boat that can be a bit wayward at low speed in a narrow canal. doubt he is going to leave the helm for a minute, never mind 24 hours.

 

[ylop]

Under the Col Regs it is a requirement to keep a proper watch at all times, I think this applies to all the seas of the world. so in theory you should never leave the helm. But if you are travelling at 3-4 knots and there is nothing in front or behind you for 1-2 miles and its a wide river no harm done. I always bear in mind speed boats or fast fishing boats doing 15-20 knots which can appear out of no where but they should under the rules only be doing 6 knots max. (seldom are) To give you an example I could set my auto steer as I leave Harwich heading down the Stour and not need to touch it for an hour and a half especially if I was sailing.

The actual wording is “maintain a proper lookout at all times” there’s nothing to suggest that the lookout should be immediately adjacent to the helm. It may well apply to “all seas of the world” but the OP is not at sea - although he almost certainly has similar obligations.

 

[B27]

The actual wording is “maintain a proper lookout at all times” there’s nothing to suggest that the lookout should be immediately adjacent to the helm. It may well apply to “all seas of the world” but the OP is not at sea - although he almost certainly has similar obligations.

Article 1.09 – STEERING
1. When under way, a vessel shall be steered by at least one qualified person of not less than
16 years of age.

 

[MontyMariner]

In other words you must stop for sleep some where every 24 hours ,so it must have become a problem.

Would hove too count
Or is AIS considered a proper lookout?

 

[MontyMariner]

I always bear in mind speed boats or fast fishing boats doing 15-20 knots which can appear out of no where

Not many of those in the middle of Biscay

 

[srm]

Or is AIS considered a proper lookout?

No.
In official publications it is "an aid to navigation" as are GPS, RADAR, etc.

 

[steveallan]

We found Raymarine wheel pilot on our 346 (same hull) was far too slow reacting and changing to linear drive transformed it.

Hi Graham did you keep wheel pilot controller etc also which linear drive did you fit?

 

[dunedin]

In my opinion the best auto pilot, I know of, when its gets a bit, windy, confused and rough is your arms and hands

You just have the wrong autopilot then
Nowadays the fastest race boats are helmed for 95% of the time by autopilot, if rules permit, as better than the professional crew.
Hence many fully crewed race rules ban use of autopilot- to give the humans a fair chance !

 

[shanemax]

That is pretty standard now - actually more commonly 18 hours. However completely irrelevant for the OP in the European waterways. His concern is using an autopilot to help steer a straight course on the type of boat that can be a bit wayward at low speed in a narrow canal. doubt he is going to leave the helm for a minute, never mind 24 hours.

"European waterways" I have seen some pretty hefty barges moving at a high rate of knots along these waterways and acting in a rather bullying manner. No , I would not switch on the auto helm, go below and make a cup of tea. My auto helme gets quite confused when confronted by a large wash. it reacts like its having some form of neurological fit.

 

[Graham376]

Hi Graham did you keep wheel pilot controller etc also which linear drive did you fit?

Hi Steve, didn't keep any parts, it was about 19 years ago. Fitted Raymarine type 1 linear drive and ST5000 controller, same as I later fitted on current M376.

 

[steve yates]

Could you please explain what is meant by proper autopilot?

I may be wrong bit I think terminology is the issue here. If you mean wheel pilot to be the equivalent of a tiller pilot for wheel steered boats, it is, kind of, but not quite
The replies are referring to a wheelpilot as a system that attaches a belt directly to a drum added to the wheel. The better system and the one you will need is a linear ram drive, and this attaches directly to the steering quadrant itself, and steers the boat like that, the wheel justfollows what the quadrant does.
Thats my roughunderstanding of it and I dont think anyone actually answered this question. Apologies if I have it all wrong.

 

[B27]

I read 'wheel autopilot' and thought of the Navico Wheelpilot (IIRC), these are quite low power things which mount to a spoked wheel. They do a job.

A 'proper' autopilot will be very powerful and use a lot of computing to helm a fast boat down big waves mid atlantic. You don't need that for inland pottering.