Which Tiller Pilot Simrad tp10 or Raymarine 1000+

FWIW, my Raymarine tiller (can't remember the model) pilot started to become erratic. A bit of investigation revealed that it was altering course as I moved around the cockpit and went off at a complete tangent if I went forward to prepare the anchor. The culprit turned out to be my excellent German army knife, which had somehow become quite a strong magnet. It's now banished from the boat, and normal service has been resumed for the tiller pilot
 
oldharry said:
I invested in a Raymarine 2000 some years ago. It has never been able to keep a course for any length of time. I have spent almost as much as the original purchase price returning it for testing and repair. Load of old junk and I will never buy Raymarine again! Unfortunately the real problems didnt show up until the years warranty expired.

It can hold a course for several hours sometimes, then go haywire on the next course change. Other times it will be wandering off within 5 minutes of being set. The old AH800 it replaced still works fine so its not local interference. Sadly its not quick enough to keep up with steering under sail which the 2000 will when it wants to! The 2000 always comes up flawless on test. But anything from 5 minutes to several hours after being set it will start wandering off to port or starboard, and left untended the boat will just continue circling, sounding its off course indicator.

Sorry about the fred driff, but if anyone can find a solution! The XXXXXX thing has cost me best of a Grand already being 'fixed'. It still doesnt work, and Im not willing to throw any more money at it.

BTW those cover things, Im suspicious of those too: I got one to protect mine having heard of water ingress probs on Raymarine: Condensation gathers inside them rather defeating the purpose?
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I suffered 'haywire' behaviour and decided that if conditions are such that the piston hits one of its endstops the unit trips out and the helm is left locked at the extreme position, which then results in attempted circles. I have stripped both the Raymarine and Simrad products in the past and think that Simrad is more likely to be more waterproof. However, I now use a tillerpilot only for motoring, and a windvane for sailing.
 
Bru said:
Although I'm generally a fan of Raymarine kit, the Simrad tiller pilot is IMO better made than the Raymarine one. Still not as good as it should be but somewhat less prone to throwing a wobbly 'cos it's got a bit wet!

(It astonishes me that neither Simrad nor, especially, Raymarine, have addressed the vulnerability of a bit of kit that is intended to be used in the cockpit of a seagoing boat to the effects of some not entirely unexpected H2O)
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My Raymarine 2000 was two months out of warranty when it died. The quote to fix it was more than the new price. They told me I shouldn't have allowed it to get wet. I said that it was designed for cockpit work. They said I shouldn't have used an extension. I said they shouldn't have sold it to me.

So it's Sinbad the Simrad for me. If its wet I put it inside a clear bin bag.
 
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I took my two broke ST2000’s apart today to investigate. (See post above in how I got 2)

Older unit: there are rubber stops on the end of the drive stabilizer bars. Apparently the drive ran into them had and frequently enough that they distintegrated. Also there is a fancy rubbery plastic bit on the motor end of the drive arm. It too has disintegrated. The disintegrated bits found their way underneath the gyro interfering with its operation. I can probably find some o rings to replace the rubber bits but they too will get chewed up eventually. Also a bit in the lower housing is broken off.

New unit: under 20 hours service the rubber bits from above showing wear. I had one tiny bit of rubber under the gyro, I don’t think that’s why it went nuts. Also noticed the screw studs had been cracked. This unit had been sent back for maintenance because the gyro was dead out of the box. They must have replaced the gyro, which requires removing the circuit board. Then over tightened the board mounting when putting it back together.

So not only are the units not working, both lower housing shells have issues.

The OP says he want reliability. I would go with the Peligic unit, it looks a lot better built and can’t possibly be worse. N Cheaper in the long run.
 
ISTM that a tiller pilot that can't stand getting wet and dies in a couple of years is neither fit for purpose nor reasonably durable. Has anyone tried the Sale of Goods Act, or whatever it is now, on the suppliers?
 
I had an original - no digital display - Raymarine 1000 which worked very well, still does for the friend I swapped it with for a spinnaker.

Upgraded to Autohelm 2000; which lasted 30 seconds - really ! So they couldn't really argue, replaced FOC.

The current ST 2000 works brilliantly, has done in quite heavy qaurtering seas over the years and had a lot of use. And I don't trust it, just waiting for it to fail.

My favourite was the original Mini Seacourse though; when battery voltage ran low the thing died with a dramatic ' Urgh ' and shoved the helm hard over; you can guess the situations this was most likely to happen...
 
StormSignal said:
Hi All,

I recently acquired a 25ft Rebell Seaskip II here in South Africa.

It came with an Autohelm 2000 Micro but although the control box appears clean and sound and the windvane optional extra is never used and pristine it seems the push rod motor is not functional.

Are any of you able to help/advise regarding a replacement motor?
Autohelm_3000_stuurautomaat_tiller_helmstok.jpg
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It will have a model name on it. replacements can be found in the internet for sure. DC motors are cheap as chips.
 
Re The original question .I bought a Raymarine 1000 in the end, It has given good service steered me many miles without fuss . Survived being immersed for a few minutes in water after a knockdown filled the cockpit locker it was in.

Took me quite a while to set it up.On the factory settings it was wildly over steering.
 
oldharry said:
I invested in a Raymarine 2000 some years ago. It has never been able to keep a course for any length of time. I have spent almost as much as the original purchase price returning it for testing and repair. Load of old junk and I will never buy Raymarine again! Unfortunately the real problems didnt show up until the years warranty expired.

It can hold a course for several hours sometimes, then go haywire on the next course change. Other times it will be wandering off within 5 minutes of being set. The old AH800 it replaced still works fine so its not local interference. Sadly its not quick enough to keep up with steering under sail which the 2000 will when it wants to! The 2000 always comes up flawless on test. But anything from 5 minutes to several hours after being set it will start wandering off to port or starboard, and left untended the boat will just continue circling, sounding its off course indicator.

Sorry about the fred driff, but if anyone can find a solution! The XXXXXX thing has cost me best of a Grand already being 'fixed'. It still doesnt work, and Im not willing to throw any more money at it

When commissioning it did you set it for North /South hemisphere? I inadvertantly set mine incorrectly and it became erratic. Instead of N or S coming upon the screen during the commissioning process it just displays 1 or 2 It also took me quite a lot of wasted time before I discovered that when the process asks you for a quick press of a button it has to be a very quick press probably less than a second.
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