Autohelm/Tillerpilot question...

Nov 26, 2017
64
Hunter 260 Mille Lacs
Hi All,
Having great fun with our new "to us" Hunter 260. Tried out the autohelm/tillerpilot that came with it this weekend. In general it worked well, and I suspect there's a solution to the couple of problems I had, or maybe they're just a limitation of the tool, I don't know. In any case, I just love that it frees me up to trim sails rather than having to ask guests on board to do things they don't know how to do (although that has a certain fun to it as well!!!! :)).

My two issues, both while sailing close hauled were.

1 - The pilot couldn't quite hold the line I asked it for on this POS, despite a very steady wind. It would constantly bear off a little too much and catch too much wind, heeling us over a bit more than I wanted, and then over correct and round up, not quite to the point of luffing, but enough to lose boat speed causing apparent wind to shift back onto the sail and heel us over again repeating the cycle. We were making way, but zig-zagging rolling back and forth uncomfortable. There may be a name for this phenomenon, but I don't know it. I experience the same thing when steering myself, but I can feel it about to happen and steer accordingly to "ride the edge" rather than let it zig-zag/roll. The pilot can't seem to do that. I came off the wind a few degrees and it sailed fine, but I hated to give away the pointing. Does this sound familiar to anyone, and if so any suggestions? I'm thinking maybe I could help the pilot by keeping one of sails' trim "in my hand". Didn't think of that until afterward, but will try it next time.

2 - Tacking performance was pretty poor. First time we tried it, we luffed up have way through and didn't make it around. Second time, I managed the timing of the head sail transition a little more carefully and made a successful tack, but it was slow. Main problem is the pilot doesn't have enough stroke to put the rudder hard over. I'm thinking this is probably just a limitation of the equipment I have, but if anybody has any suggestions for working the sails to optimize the autohelm tacking, I'd love to hear them!

Anyway, despite these problems, I am definitely a fan of the Autohelm. On every other point of sail it performed flawlessly. I'm not really in a hurry to try single handing, but it definitely allowed me to sail more comfortably with non-sailors for "crew".
 
Last edited:
Sep 7, 2011
116
Hunter H23 Southwind YC, Milford, Kansas
If your autopilot is a Raymarine ST 1000 or St 2000, the default is AutoSeaState or DeadBand Control. This causes the AP to ignore small movements of the boat and not correct them. It might be that the PO had this default off. You can check in the owners manual for the way to change it back to the default setting. If you don't have one, you can find them online.
As to tacking...my experience with the tacking mode on both ST1000, and 2000 is that it just does not work. They just do not bring you around quite far enough. Best not to try to use that mode and tack with the AP in standby mode.
 
May 1, 2011
4,189
Pearson 37 Lusby MD
The Raymarine autopilot thinks a tack is a 90-degree turn. In reality, this varies from boat to boat. On my boat, I need 110 degrees for a tack, so I do +/-10 twice, then hit +/-1 and +/-10 simultaneously. Works pretty well.
 
  • Like
Likes: justsomeguy
Jun 6, 2006
6,990
currently boatless wishing Harrington Harbor North, MD
AP also has to "learn" the sea/wind state. takes about 5 minutes to complete the learning process. Sailing close hauled is kinda problematical for learning as when you change POS even slightly it messes with boat speed, trim, ..... so the AP is trying to learn a changing situation which it just cannot do. As for tacking you do have to have enough speed on to make Outto's job possible. He is not that fast or smart but he is very consistent in following the procedure..FWIW
 
Nov 26, 2017
64
Hunter 260 Mille Lacs
Thanks for the tips guys. You've given me something to try on both fronts! I had no idea about the deadband thing. I just looked in the manual. For my unit the toggle is both 1 degree buttons simultaneously. Can't wait to give that a try. And clicking the +/-10 degree buttons a couple of times before the tack sounds like just the ticket between that and letting the headsail backwind for a second of two I should be able to get around. I don't really care that much if it's a slow tack. I just want to be able work the sails myself without having to hold the tiller at the same time. I do need to reliably get round the corner, though! LOL!

Thanks again,
Jeff
 
Jun 2, 2004
649
Hunter 23.5 Calgary, Canada
The autotack mode is usually 100 degrees, so some extra press of the 10 button is ususlly needed.

Is yours a wheel or a tiller?
 
Nov 26, 2017
64
Hunter 260 Mille Lacs
It's a tiller, at the moment, although I'm contemplating a wheel conversion. I realize I don't really need a wheel on a 26 ft boat, but they just look so darn cool!!! LOL!

I can't wait to try the extra +10 press(es) thing. I won't get back to the lake til Labor Day, but I suspect that's going to solve my tacking problem.
 

Joe

.
Jun 1, 2004
7,999
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
It's a tiller, at the moment, although I'm contemplating a wheel conversion. I realize I don't really need a wheel on a 26 ft boat, but they just look so darn cool!!! LOL!

I can't wait to try the extra +10 press(es) thing. I won't get back to the lake til Labor Day, but I suspect that's going to solve my tacking problem.
First of all... don't waste your money on a tiller/wheel conversion. The boat will sail way better with a tiller.. and besides... since you like the tiller pilot so much... go price what a wheel pilot will cost... not worth it my brother. No body will care whether you have a wheel or a tiller, I promise.

Now... regarding the autohelm... If it says autohelm on the unit... it is the old UK version before Raymarine took over the company... there was an Autohelm 1000 unit included with my 1977 C27 when I purchased it 19 years ago! Anyway, make sure you read the section on "sea state"... page 13 or 14.... it will help you understand why the boat was wandering off course and how to re set it. If you can find anything on "calibration" then go ahead with that initialization process. It may help with consistent operation.

One very important thing you need to understand.... the tillerpilot needs the boat's sailplan to be balanced, trimmed for neutral helm, if you will. It is not designed to carry heavy, unbalance loads for long periods of time.... especially the older Autohelms.... that will also play into why your boat was wandering off course.

Finally... I never really liked the auto tack feature because it was much easier to steer with the tiller between my knees while I used both hands to change the sheets.... another advantage of a tiller! So I recommend you at least give that method a try... and save the autopilot for maintaining course.

An autopilot is a great tool on a sailboat... have fun.
 
Nov 26, 2017
64
Hunter 260 Mille Lacs
Thanks for the input!!! I definitely don't want to launch a tiller vs wheel convo! I've read through lots of those. If I ever do the wheel conversion it will be knowing full well that I'll get absolutely nothing for it other than the idea, in my own head at least, that I look cool standing behind the wheel. LOL!

Thanks for the info on the Tiller pilot. I know it's a Raymarine, but I don't know what vintage. Previous owner did include the manual, so I'll study the parts about sea state, and I'm sure I didn't have the boat truly balanced, there was definitely some weather helm before I put it in Auto, not a lot, but I can work on that too.

Thanks again,
Jeff
 

Johann

.
Jun 3, 2004
420
Leopard 39 Pensacola
Well, I had an ST1000 tiller pilot on my H23.5, and then a SPX-5 wheel pilot on my H336. I can say that the the ST1000 was better at holding heading than the wheel pilot.
 

jviss

.
Feb 5, 2004
6,745
Tartan 3800 20 Westport, MA
needs the boat's sailplan to be balanced, trimmed for neutral helm, if you
I would say that a well balanced boat has a slight amount of weather helm; otherwise the keel won't be making much lift to windward. But generally I agree, you must balance the sails for the pilot to work well.
 

Ward H

.
Nov 7, 2011
3,645
Catalina 30 Mk II Barnegat, NJ
Ditto on the extra +/- 10 button pushes prior or after an auto tack. Needed to do that on my Oday and I still do that on my C30 with ST4000.
 
Sep 15, 2018
18
Hunter H240 Richmond
I bought a Hunter 240 that a prior owner installed a wheel. Something I would never have done. I hate the cutouts in the fiberglass that were made for the cables and that it takes up so much space in the lazarette. Has anyone made a conversion back
to a tiller and would this be difficult? How expensive (difficult) is installing an autohelm on a wheel?
 
Sep 22, 2018
1,869
Hunter 216 Kingston
I had both a autohelm and a “Tiller clutch” on my C&C 24 as I single handed a lot. I installed the “manual” unit after the autohelm drained my battery one day. Eventually I found that I rarely used the autohelm after the initial fun of learning how to use it wore off. However it was a lot of fun (yes I’’m a gadget guy), the only flaw I found with the auto unit was the force I had to use to override it in an emergency. Power boat cut me off one day and I had to gybe

http://www.wavefrontmarine.com/