The device comes as it comes. It was on the boat when I bought it. Two failures in 18 years; none once I discovered and applied the solution about 16 years ago! Of course, we've never been all that far offshore where "loss" of the AP could really "hurt" if not repairable at sea.
It might be repairable at sea if the quadrant could be absolutely IMMOBILIZED. Otherwise, goodbye index finger, and now you'd have another problem.
Funny! I'm assuming the steering gear is still good, I heave-to and lock the wheel. The biggest challenge is getting the new linear drive to the right length to make the connection. Might require some wiggling of the wheel to accomplish.It might be repairable at sea if the quadrant could be absolutely IMMOBILIZED. Otherwise, goodbye index finger, and now you'd have another problem.
On my boat, to fix the problem I described, the wheel would have to be hard over to one side or the other and locked, as would be required if hove to. Unfortunately, the boat itself does not stably heave to; long story and explanation. I'd swap it for a Tartan if I could, so maybe I'd have one that could do some of these necessary things. Without a stable hove-to, it might gybe, tack, or go in circles; who knows?, and I might lose a finger or a part of my right hand.
Ah, too bad. My Tartan heaves-to pretty well. Honestly, I think the Catalina 36 was better! It's good to know, though, what the boat will and won't do, and plan and work around it. I saw a Bavaria at the Newport Boat Show years ago, and it is a beautiful boat!
I installed the RayMarine EV-100 last year. Very happy with it so far. It’s a simple wheel drive, but more than adequate for my needs, which is really just fair weather day sailing.
vintage as in not small plastic gears that break? If your looking for something that interfaces with windsensors or changes courses at waypoints then the CPT is not for you but the only time I needed to change course at a way point was while motoring which you should be at the helm anyway. As for the windsensor issue....it is what it is.
I don't use either of those features, but one I use all the time is "NAV" mode for steering, which adjusts the heading of the boat to sail a course I've put into the chartplotter; it corrects for current, leeway, etc. Of course, it's not necessary, but I find it very convenient.
Yes! It would be cool if CPT would offer just the drive components so you could interface it to a RM or B&G pilot. Is the clutch manual or magnetic?
the clutch is manual. There is a couple threads out there were people have taken the drive unit and combined it with other controllers. Spending my time in Puget sound with limited time staying on one course, I don't have the need. I need to keep straight when single handed and things get out of hand first. After that, its just for comfort and convenience. My CPT replaced a Autohelm 3000. It was the version one step above the round controller one which I believe was the first one. Worked great for the convenience side, not so great for the getting out of hand side. Actually sold it and some spare parts for $250.