VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

Tue, December 24 2024, 21:44 [ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, [4], 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: - Tuesday - 03/30/10 - 7:50pm
Author: Jared Kibele
Subject: Here's what I did
In reply to: kaizen m31 #148 's message, "looking to buy autopilot any suggestion on best and easy to install," on - Tuesday - 03/30/10 - 7:08pm

Here's my installation: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kibele/sets/72157608829826444/

I put quite a bit of detail in the photo captions. I have noticed in looking at photos of other mariners that the steering gear seems to have varied a bit and that the worm part of the shaft seems to sometimes be aft of the rudder post. That would change the configuration a bit.

Essentially, what I found was that whatever auto pilot you choose has to turn the wheel shaft since you can't move the rudder from an extra tiller arm. As far as I can tell that makes wheel pilots and rotary drive units the only options. The only wheel pilot set ups I've seen on Mariners have been pretty ugly so, for me, the below deck rotary drive was the only option.

The install wasn't easy but it was worth it. It took a bit of fiddling around to get the correct settings (spending the extra money for the gyro might have helped there) but it works great now and I'm really glad I've got it.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

-Jared

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> Autohelm 3000A -- Paul M31 #106, - Tuesday - 03/30/10 - 9:42pm

My boat is rigged for an external belt driven system. There's a disc mounted behind the wheel which accepts a notched belt driven by a cockpit wall mounted servomotor, controlled by an external mounted compass module - Autohelm 3000A (Analog)....

The picture below shows the disc, the small wood plate mounted on the cockpit side where the servomotor goes, and the small block (just visible athwarthships against the rear of the cockpit on the other side of the wheel shaft) with a dove-tail slide connector where the compass module is mounted.

The module plugs into the outlet (also shown) for 12V.

I am told (haven't used it myself yet) that this system works like a charm and, as you can see, it is easily removed when not in use (except for the disc wheel)

Photobucket

This is what the unit looks like - note the wind vane option to steer to wind rather than to course.

Photobucket

There are more modern (digital) versions of units similar to this - probably better in many aspects, though I doubt anywhere near as durable as this one….


[ Edit | View ]

[> [> thanks -- kaizen m31 #148, - Wednesday - 03/31/10 - 4:47pm

thanks i was thinking about using a wind vane .all the auto pilots are pretty exspensive .should i just spend more money and buy a vane .and has anyone used one on a mariner


[ Edit | View ]


[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-5
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.