Autopilot - wheel or below deck

[shorty]

1985 Pearson 34 11,700 unloaded displacement. Coastal cruising, anticipate overnight passage across to Nova Scotia and along the coast up to Bras D'Or Lakes.My ST4000 wheel pilot is beyond repair. Raymarine has offered an attractive price for a reman S1. I am debating upgrading to a below deck linear drive unit, for which they also offer a, relatively, attractive price. It is basically another $2K once you also buy the Edson tiller arm for the rudder post. All that assumes that I am not paying for install, but doing myself.Posts I have seen say once you have a below deck, you would never go back.The newer wheel pilots now have rudder referencing transducers and look more sophisticated than the ST4000.Is DIY installation a dumb idea for the linear drive units? I not concerned about the physical installation, I'm a pretty good mechanic (professional woodworker). Raymarine says they should be professionally installed, but if I was Raymarine I'd say that too, too many bozos out there (not me, of course).It looks like they have about the same power consumption.Experience with any of the above? Comments?

 

[h37skipper]

Below deck given bucks.

Given the choice(read money) I would do a below decks unit. But I can tell you that my Simrad WP30 has never failed me, not in storms on Lake Erie nor the recent offshore around New Jersey. And my boat displaces over 19,000 as she sits right now. Besides cost the wheel unit uses less battery for the same distance, a minor point given most people's 12v supply.See the Related Link for a friend's installation of a below decks unit documented in the Photo Forum. Note that Tom has access to some good materials and equipment since he worked for NASA. But this should give you a good idea of the work involved. Room to install has been a problem on several boats that I have read about.

 

[Rick9619]

Auto pilot upgrade

Shorty, yes below decks is the way to go HOWEVER, it may be overkill on a boat like yours unless you just have free space in your lazarettes. You can upgrade to the MKII wheel pilot for under 500 and it is compatible with your control head on the ST4000 assuming it is still operational. I did. Got it on Ebay, fairly easy install. Works like a champ. It actually has a hole in the wheel mount for putting the frickin hose in to clean it. Now thats durable!Cheers

 

[RichH]

Belowdecks .... is better

but for a much better than 'typical' installation consider a separate bronze tiller arm (Edson, etc.) attached to the rudder shaft. If you attach to the quadrant and the quadrant breaks, etc. you lose all steering, if the AP is attached to a separate tiller arm ... you can still steer the boat.

 

[shorty]

replies

Thanks for the input.Both the (new MKII) wheel & linear drives are rated ~5A full load. The old wheel drive is half that. I have 210AH total. My major current draws are navigation equipment. LED lights, no refrig, TV's, AC etc. I thought perhaps the below decks might be more efficient because if it works better, maybe it does not have to work as hard. How's that for an amateur theory?There is plenty of room below because this boat is before the era of under cockpit saloons & squeezing every last inch from below. I do need to replace the control head. They told me $850 for the reman.It did not occur to me to attach to quadrant, I thought you needed a tiller arm like the overpriced Edsons.

 

[Maine Sail]

I have had both..

I have had both above and below and both work well. The below deck units are a bear to install and many times it involves fiber glass work. I chose to go with the new Raymarine S1, on this boat, and I can honestly say this is the finest autopilot, in terms of accuracy, I have ever owned below deck units included. I use my S1 to steer my 17,000 pound displacement vessel with NO problems at all. Save some money and try the S1. If you want to convert to below deck later you could always sell the wheel drive unit to someone with an older 4000 unit and buy the below deck parts.

 

[Bill]

Was the S1 install as easy as the manual suggests?

Main Sail,I was considering a S1 for my C27, looking over the install directions it appears quite streight forward.I am sure I will have to drill out the allen screws on my Edson Pedistal guard to remove the guard so I can feed the wires down the tube, and there are some concerns about removing the compass if I need to gain access to that area as it has been in place for about 10 years. Problems we can all anticipate.I am more worried about the things that I have no control over like:Is everything supplied with the S1, did you feel the 15' power cable was long enough, and are the rest of the connecting cables of sufficent length?Are the connectng cables of good quality?Does the rudder position sensor come with a mounting base, or is this something that I will need to fabricate in situ?Is there anything extra I need to buy?And foremost I need to mount the Control unit on the bulkhead near the companion way, (about 5' from my wheel) Is it pretty easy to set a course and is it relatively easy to disengage the AP in a hurry if I need to?Thanks

 

[sailingseadragon]

Below deck if possible

Installation is not that complicated but it is time consuming. The below deck configuration has several advantages over a wheel mounted unit, not the least is that it will still function should you have steering failure due to cable breakage or quadrant failure....Below is a link to the installation of Sea Dragon's (a Pearson 36 cutter) Raymarine autopilot.http://www.sailingseadragon.com/AutoPilot.htmIf I can help in any way, drop me a note.Good luckGarner

 

[Bad Obsession]

I have the S1

I have a Raymarine S1 on my Catalina 30. I like the unit but it was an absolute b@#%! to install. I ended up having a place install it and they had never installed one (That is a long story and it was a huge mess). If you have a tight rudder box than do yourself a favor and find an authorized retailer to install it!!!!I haven't had any problems with my S1 and it seems to steer well under sail. I have used mine for 8 hours straight and I didn't run down the battery either. All in all I like it.

 

[Bill]

Thanks Maine Sail

A picture is truly worth a thousand words!Do you by chance remember the aproximate length of the feedback arm on the RPS?