Affordable Autopilots

[Neil McDonald]

Even by the inflated standards of the recreational boating industry, the Autohelm autopilots are expensive. I have a dying ST4000, which has done very well for its advanced age, but its time has probably come. Have gulped at the replacement cost, I did what I always do in such situations... started thinking about comparison shopping for a successor. Then it struck me.... can these people really have a monopoly? This would certainly explain the pricing. Are there not more affordable autopilot control head alternatives out there that would love to snuggle up to to the same wiring harness? Where are the reasonable quality affordable imports when you need them? Have I missed soemthing???

 

[Ralph18414]

I recently bought an ST2000 plus tiller pilot

for my Pearson 30. For me it was a no-brainer because Raymarine were the only ones that made a wireless remote. As soon as I clear the break water, I pull the tiller out of it's socket, which frees up alot of room in the cockpit, and steer via the remote. I feel it gives me tremendous freedom. I would not want to go back to being tethered to one location from which to helm.I, too, believe Raymarine's prices are excessive; however, if the competition is too stupid to come up with innovative solutions I guess that gives Raymarine the right to laugh all the way to the bank.

 

[Paul (Affinity C320)]

Raymarine ST4000

I just recently sent my control head to Raymarine, got it back in six days and it is like new and works like new. 200 Bucks.You may want to check it out on raymarine.com they have directions on how tosend it to the Repair Center. Call and speak with tech support to see if itmay be worth it. I don't know how an auto pilot "starts" to die, mine just quit working. When I called tech support, they said they could fix it and did.Good luck.

 

[Don]

Same problem

Neil, I have the ST4000 on a 92 -35.5 and it has quit on me as well. As the other post suggests I am thinking that repair is the more logical solution. My problem is that I just can't figure out what needs fixing. I have a new ST4000+control head that I bought on E-bay but it doesn't seem to help. What is even more frustrating is that it works periodically and than quits for no reason. (with the old control head)Do you know of a qualified repair tech in the area to troubleshoot? Do you know what part has failed on yours? If you do go for the replacement what cost and model are you looking at? Maybe I could buy your old one and salvage some parts. Regards Don

 

[capri 22 809]

Online Marine

Try onlinemarine.com Bought my Simrad TP10 from them. Cheaper than West Marine.

 

[Neil McDonald]

Repair of ST4000

The ST4000 display screen will only work if I apply pressure on the body in a certain way.... .and then only sometimes. The previous owner told me that Raymarine tried but could not fix this. However this was not a big problem because all I really wanted was for the autohelm to more or less hold a course so that the helmsman can rest. The recent problem is more serious in that sometimes it will steer properly and sometimes it decides to send the boat on mad gyrations - very disconcerting for all on board! I thought that it might be poor electrical connections at the back of the control head, but they all seem to be fine. Its encouraging to hear that Raymarine can sometimes fix these units. I just discovered that the Raymarine main dealer is located a block down the street from where I work. Don - contact me directly and I will share this info with you.

 

[Paul (Affinity C320)]

ST4000

Don - I had some advice with mine -- before you do anything else, just call Raymarine. That worked for me. In my case they swapped out the PC board. New buttons and new mounting hardware. Of course I had to re calibrate and swingthe compass. After that it worked perfect. If you do ship it out to themwrite down all the setup details so that you can set it exactly the way it istoday. (given that they are correct today). Neil -- OK, I understand. Sounds like you do need a new one. Thanks for sharing. You may want to go through the setup procedures just to be sureit is still set correctly. You may want to disconnet all the seatalk cables and try using it alone. Otherwise, I can't help much.

 

[higgs]

Good time....

..to go with a below deck instalation. You will never regret it.

 

[Bill Roosa]

on the cheap

Most boats can be rigged to steer themselves. A line from the jib clew to the helm and some surgical tubing to act as a bungy.