I'm about to upgrade my Raymarine autopilot from wheel drive to hydraulic drive. Has anyone connected the hydraulic arm to the drive wheel? I have the rudder position sensor already installed from the older version, but unsure about how to attach the hydraulic arm to the rudder drive (?) wheel without having to buy and install a short tiller arm.
Hydraulic Drive (EV-200) Install on H34?
- Thread starter Mike Oldak
- Start date
I don't think you will have any choice but to install a short tiller arm on the rudder post. That's what was done when I converted to a type 1 linear drive from a wheel pilot.
Do you happen to know the rudder shaft diameter? I'm out of town and want to order it before I get home.
Hi folks,
Slightly late to the chat here... but I am MOST interested as I have just excitedly taken delivery of a sweet little 340 down here... 'Down Under.' (1999 Hunter 340 'Malua") This boat has never had an autopilot so I'm starting with a clean sheet so to speak.
I'm learning all about her, but the 'rack and pinion' style steering set up appears to create a few AP challenges (Great pics and tips on the topic here so far thanks folks) I'm keen if poss to avoid the simple Raymarine Wheel mount system, as I would love to go with something more discreet.
Just wondering the options, Raymarine or otherwise, that might fit the bill. This EV200 looks the goods, but just wondering what I might need to know re installing mods etc.
Regards and thanks in advance for any tips and option advice.
- Mark Mac Brisbane Australia
Slightly late to the chat here... but I am MOST interested as I have just excitedly taken delivery of a sweet little 340 down here... 'Down Under.' (1999 Hunter 340 'Malua") This boat has never had an autopilot so I'm starting with a clean sheet so to speak.
I'm learning all about her, but the 'rack and pinion' style steering set up appears to create a few AP challenges (Great pics and tips on the topic here so far thanks folks) I'm keen if poss to avoid the simple Raymarine Wheel mount system, as I would love to go with something more discreet.
Just wondering the options, Raymarine or otherwise, that might fit the bill. This EV200 looks the goods, but just wondering what I might need to know re installing mods etc.
Regards and thanks in advance for any tips and option advice.
- Mark Mac Brisbane Australia
Attachments
Below deck autopilots are typically more robust than wheel pilots and consist of 2 main parts, a computer and drive unit. For the most part the drive unit is agnostic to the type/brand of computer, so there are more options here. The drive units typically connect directly to the rudder post with a short tiller arm.
It would be helpful to have photos of the rudder post and steering gears to better understand the limitations of your rack and pinion steering system.
It would be helpful to have photos of the rudder post and steering gears to better understand the limitations of your rack and pinion steering system.
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 22,220
Welcome to the forum @markymac1961. Your boat looks to be a beauty.
Your reference to "Rack&Pinion" steering sounds a bit different to the cable/chain and quadrant on most boats. Is it something the previous owner installed?
Pictures of your steering will help.
Your reference to "Rack&Pinion" steering sounds a bit different to the cable/chain and quadrant on most boats. Is it something the previous owner installed?
Pictures of your steering will help.
Yes I love the lines of these boats and I think this one is pretty good cond for a '99 build. I believe the steering system is a bit different on this model. They are all the same from factory. I shall be removing the cockpit floor panel soon to see how it works, and what might fit. Thanks for your comment cheers - Mark
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Yep thank you. I'm soon removing the cockpit floor panel to measure things up. I'll post some pics soon cheers
UPDATE: Okay so I've been pretty busy with this over the Christmas break, (Oh yeah... Merry Christmas everyone from Down Under)
Removed cockpit floor cover and have made a short vid of how the system works. Hopefully you can view it, (and sorry about the accent. Let me know if I need to add subtitles.)
It's a youtube link here:
youtube.com
It's actually a pretty clever system and particularly robust I think. With no cables or pulleys etc. I've also done my best to measure all the critical bits, and have sent my 'mudmap' and vid to the clever folk at Raymarine down here to see if I can install the EV100 system.
It's rated to 6000k displacement and my boat weighs 5000kg so might just do the trick if it all fits. Will possibly need a couple of mods like ball sockets on those offset 'Capstaney' things, and re-enforcing on the Ram mount points,
Anyway... see how we go and I shall keep those of you interested posted. Cheers - Mark
Removed cockpit floor cover and have made a short vid of how the system works. Hopefully you can view it, (and sorry about the accent. Let me know if I need to add subtitles.)
It's a youtube link here:
Hunter 340 Steering system operation
It's actually a pretty clever system and particularly robust I think. With no cables or pulleys etc. I've also done my best to measure all the critical bits, and have sent my 'mudmap' and vid to the clever folk at Raymarine down here to see if I can install the EV100 system.
It's rated to 6000k displacement and my boat weighs 5000kg so might just do the trick if it all fits. Will possibly need a couple of mods like ball sockets on those offset 'Capstaney' things, and re-enforcing on the Ram mount points,
Anyway... see how we go and I shall keep those of you interested posted. Cheers - Mark
Merry Christmas to you, too!
Looks like you have a good plan to attach the ramdrive. Please let us know what the Raymarine folks have to say. (No issues with your accent!)
Roger that will do cheersMerry Christmas to you, too!
Looks like you have a good plan to attach the ramdrive. Please let us know what the Raymarine folks have to say. (No issues with your accent!)
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 22,220
Here you go. The Edson steering design diagram
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 22,220
The rod system looks strong. There is a bit of play in the rod as it moves on it’s arc to adjust the rudder. The linear drive rods for the EV200 appear to me to have a shorter stroke lengths than the Edson system rod.
Is this area water tight? Placing the linear drive motor in water would not be good. Is there room under the rudder tiller arm to attach a short second tiller arm to the rudder shaft? If so you maybe be able to mount linear drive motor under the deck and have the drive rod come out athwart ship to drive the rudder. (See diagram: pink box is drive motor. Black line is drive rod. Red arrow is a tiller arm affixed to the rudder shaft. )
During AP operations the boat is steered by the drive motor moving the drive shaft in/out rotating the rudder shaft as the tiller arm moves back and forth.
When helm is used the AP is off and the AP set up just floats as you control the boat with the Edson system.
This may work if you have the space on the rudder shaft to mount an AP mini tiller arm.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Is this area water tight? Placing the linear drive motor in water would not be good. Is there room under the rudder tiller arm to attach a short second tiller arm to the rudder shaft? If so you maybe be able to mount linear drive motor under the deck and have the drive rod come out athwart ship to drive the rudder. (See diagram: pink box is drive motor. Black line is drive rod. Red arrow is a tiller arm affixed to the rudder shaft. )
During AP operations the boat is steered by the drive motor moving the drive shaft in/out rotating the rudder shaft as the tiller arm moves back and forth.
When helm is used the AP is off and the AP set up just floats as you control the boat with the Edson system.
This may work if you have the space on the rudder shaft to mount an AP mini tiller arm.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
looking at your pictures I'm not sure that the RM linear drive will actually fit in the space provided. It is pretty massive. You might be able to put the larger part of the unit aft part of the area and parallel with the long steering shaft boat and then create a link between the linear drive shaft and the long shaft. I would also suggest a metal plate/starboard (??) piece attached to the bottom of the space in order to mount the linear arm and SPREAD out the torque (see my installation). I did this because I wasn't sure of the ability of the existing lazarette floor to sustain years of torque when the linear arm was engaged. Trying to turn the rudder, even in our slip, revealed how much torque is really required to move the rudder without any real sea conditions.
If it fits, it seems like locating it in parallel with the long steering rod would work, but you just need to fabricate some kind of attachment between the long steering rod and the linear drive unit.
If it fits, it seems like locating it in parallel with the long steering rod would work, but you just need to fabricate some kind of attachment between the long steering rod and the linear drive unit.
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The internet says the linear drive unit is 31 x 12 x 5 inches and weighs 17.3 pounds, so you can see it is quite large. Since your long drive shaft is attached to the rudder off of a small arm, it might be fine to fit the LD in parallel with the LD arm facing forward. I would fabricate an attachment piece wide enough to keep the LD shaft parallel to the rudder drive shaft when at midship. The RM directions call for a max 5-degree swing on the unit in order to keep the arm pushing forward and not at an angle. Again, the force required on the rudder (which is not realized when you have a huge wheel/lever, is pretty heavy even in the slide. In an actual heavy weather storm you don't want the autopilot being overburdened.
Yeah cheers for that... food for thought mate.
I'm going to wait to hear back from the RM tech people on a system that will work best. And although the area filmed here is not completely watertight, (its under the cockpit floor panel cover), if ever it was completely submerged, a failing AP system would be the least of my concerns... #thatsinkingfeeling
Cheers mate - Mark Mac
It is not the completely submerged scenario that is an issue. Over the long term, F\frequent spraying with salt water can be just as devastating to the drive unit as submersion.