Anyone have any experience wIth raymarine wheel pilot on the

Pilotocopilot

Pilotocopilot

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Jan 7, 2012
112
Hunter 37C Lucaya, Grand Bahama
Anyone have any experience wIth raymarine wheelpilot on a 37

I recently had water ingress in the control head of our Simrad Wp30 during a driving rainstorm shorting out the circuit board.
Simrad apparently has no interest in helping as its a discontinued model.
So my question is, has anyone mounted a new Raymarine wheelpilot on their 37c,which, fully loaded exceeds the 16,500 lb recommended maximum by a couple of thousand pounds, and if you have how has it worked.
As well since there is no other option than the CPT wheel pilot has anyone had any experience using this particular model.
 
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kappykaplan

kappykaplan

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May 1, 2011
5,030
Pearson 37 Lusby MD
Re: Anyone have any experience wIth raymarine wheel pilot on

I had one of the newer Raymarine wheel pilots on my Pearson 37 and was very disappointed with it. I installed a type 1 linear drive - v. happy with its performance.
 
Pilotocopilot

Pilotocopilot

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Jan 7, 2012
112
Hunter 37C Lucaya, Grand Bahama
Re: Anyone have any experience wIth raymarine wheel pilot on

Ultimately the best solution unfortuanetly the 5k installed is beyond my budget. The WP 30 would steer through any condition without issue it's a shame there's but two company's that make wheelpilots. If anyone has a WP30 that's functional that they want to part with message me.
 
B

Blaise

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Jan 22, 2008
359
Hunter 37-cutter Bradenton
Re: Anyone have any experience wIth raymarine wheel pilot on

I have used the raymarine wheel pilot on Midnight Sun for six years. It does a fabulous job! It steers the boat in 30+kts without a wimper. My boat has been weighed and comes in at 23,300 pounds. The autopilot has more than 5000 miles on it. Now saying that, it hasn't been without the occaisonal maint. issue. Gears in the motor twice and the drive drum once. So far we are still on the original belt. Coming back from Key West a few months ago, we fried the original drive motor. I have another on order. Its not so much the weight of the boat, but the balance and helm loads. Our boats excel in both areas. (At least the deep draft model) One thing you do have to do is install the drive pin bracket with monel rivets instead of the supplied screws.
 
Pilotocopilot

Pilotocopilot

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Jan 7, 2012
112
Hunter 37C Lucaya, Grand Bahama
Re: Anyone have any experience wIth raymarine wheel pilot on

Thanks Blaise that's what I figured, I've never felt any undue wheel force on this boat even with badly trimmed sails. Can you tell me which unit you have, based on the age is it the X5 model?
What's the reason for the Monel rivets?
 
S

sandpiper10471

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May 31, 2007
773
Hunter 37 cutter Blind River
Re: Anyone have any experience wIth raymarine wheel pilot on

Bought an older, used one for my boat. Works really well. Too bad Simrad stopped production of their wp.That was a really good unit.
 
ben solomon

ben solomon

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Jul 27, 2013
298
Hunter 37.5 1065 Rock Hall, MD
CPT autopilot

I just installed a CPT autopilot on my Legend 37.5 and I LOVE IT!! It is strong and does not make a sound. You can see it sailing my boat if you go to YouTube and search Sailing Dawn Kite Cam. The boat was being steered by the CPT in 15 knots and full sail out. Straight on the rhumb line. I have a close up video, too.

Ben
 
njlarry

njlarry

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Sep 23, 2009
1,475
O'Day 34-At Last Rock Hall, Md
Re: Anyone have any experience wIth raymarine wheel pilot on

I recently installed the new Raymarine evolution unit. I plan to post more detail with pics later. Bottom line is it was a bear to install, instructions were haphazard and incomplete, the cables have several issues including their large size connectors that make it impossible to run the two needed inside a single pedestal rail etc. Took me two days.
It works well but the wheel unit is very noisy and gives a very cheap plastic impression.
We do not get large seas on the bay so have no experience with that.
 
B

Blaise

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Jan 22, 2008
359
Hunter 37-cutter Bradenton
Re: Anyone have any experience wIth raymarine wheel pilot on

I think mine is the first edition wp4000.
 
Pilotocopilot

Pilotocopilot

.
Jan 7, 2012
112
Hunter 37C Lucaya, Grand Bahama
Re: Anyone have any experience wIth raymarine wheel pilot on

Well as it happens I've found a used WP 30 on EBay with a 30 day warranty. Will be using the old one as a parts source for the new one. What I did find on Simrads/Navico documentation is that the circuit board used in their tiller pilot units TP20-30 where identical to the Wp30. Since I have a TP20 kicking around I'll have someone swap out the boards and if it works it may be a solution for repairing damaged WP30 units and provide a back up unit to my new one. Simrad was horrible to deal with when it comes to out of production units, but I guess that's probably true of any company who's in the business of selling something new. My issue with the Raymarine product was, as mentioned above, the time it takes to install the unit, having been quoted a day @$95/hr from a certified Raymarine installer. So it's not a stretch for it to take a couple of days doing it yourself.
 
P

Parrott

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Aug 29, 2010
10
Hunter 37.5 Legend Delaware River
ben solomon said:
I just installed a CPT autopilot on my Legend 37.5 and I LOVE IT!! It is strong and does not make a sound. You can see it sailing my boat if you go to YouTube and search Sailing Dawn Kite Cam. The boat was being steered by the CPT in 15 knots and full sail out. Straight on the rhumb line. I have a close up video, too. Ben
Click to expand
t

That is so Kewl love it!
Watching it on a return trip up from Cheasapike Into C&D canal.
 
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