Installing a Simrad

[DaveB]

It's Christmas morning and I'm reading the instructions for new Simrad TP10 autopilot. In regards to the placement on the tiller, it's suppose to be 18" from the "tiller stock". Any thoughts on what that means? I would assume it's from the pintles or (hinge point) of the tiller, or it could be the back of the tiller, which ends at the back of the rudder. Thanks.DaveB

 

[Glenn Bollin]

Merry Christmas

Hi Dave,Measure from the axis of the rudder. Received a TP10 last Christmas and had to make several modifications to get it to fit my 26.5 like adding an extension to mounting arm and embedding the mounting cup into the top of the seat locker. Good luck.Glenn

 

[DaveB]

Thanks Glenn!

Glenn,I suppose the axis is the "hinge point" where it meets the stern.Did you mount the autopilot over or under your tiller? My tiller is around 4-5 inches higher than the seat and I really hate to have a mounting bracket sticking up from the seat as it would render the seat useless. I was thinking about purchasing (or making) the tiller bracket to go under the tiller. This way the autopilot mounting cup could be flush with the seat.Dave

 

[David Foster]

Hinge Point

It's the point around which the rudder rotates. On our '77 h27, its the center of the rubber post. If the rudder is mounted off the stern, it would be the pintles, or "hinge" hardware.As I understand the mounting for the seat, you can unplug it, leaving a flush fixture that you can sit on. Our tiller is high enough that we may mount the tiller pilot on the cockpit wall. My brother and I are going up to Sandusky the Saturday after New Years to measure the installation.Merry Christmas,DavidLady Lillie

 

[Ron]

Cockpit Floor Mounting

If you don't want to mount the autopilot on the seat area, you might want to consider mounting on the cockpit floor area near the swim ladder. I have had mine mounted there for several years (based on idea from an owener in England) and it has worked out very well. Electrical line goes into side and underneath to battery. Just another possibility.

 

[Glenn Bollin]

Take it to the boat

and hook it up to your battery. You want to make sure that when centered the travel length of the tiller pilot arm will push the rudder far enough over to do an efficient automatic tack. I think the travel distance of the arm is something like 10" from center. On my 26.5 the tiller lays between the seats and that limits how far the TP can push the tiller. The other consideration is to mount the unit horizontal to allow the autocompass to work correctly. On some boats its an easy installation and on others you have to play around with it but its very handy to have if you solo or troll and hook into a nice fish while under sail.Glenn