Navico WP5000 Autopilot

[NC-C320]

An associate has recently updated his autopilot with a newer model. He has offered his old Navico Wheel Pilot 5000 to me for my boat. In looking over the owners manual, I find that it specifies mounting the combined control/compass unit at least 39 inches from the boat's magnetic compass to avoid interference with the boat's compass. In looking at my boat and several other boats, this doesn't seem possible on most boats if you want the control unit in a position to activate it from where you can see the boat's compass heading (the control unit does not have a readout for it's internal compass).

For those of you who have experience with the WP5000, how far is your control unit mounted from the compass. Is the 39 inches real or a misprint?

 

[sailaway78]

39 Inches

It seems like most all electronic equipment like this has the same warning. Most say 36 inches. And many of them are virtually impossible to mount this far away from the compass. My Raymarine auto pilot said 36" and while it is roughly 24" to the control head, is not 36. My Garmin chartplotter is only a few inches from the compass. And don't have much deviation from either one of them. Less then five degrees at most. I would hold it up where you want to locate it, and see how much the compass deviates. Then if you can live with it, go ahead and mount it.

 

[Chuckbear]

Ours was mounted at the base of the steering pedestal and we had no problem with the compass. I can't tell what boat you have but I can tell you ours would only handle the boat in relatively calm conditions. As soon as the wind or seas picked up a bit the autopilot just could not handle it. Why did your associate update the pilot? Chuck

 

[Stu Jackson]

Nuts, it works everywhere in the cockpit, or else they wouldn't be sellin' 'em or people wouldn't be buyin' 'em.

It's a great piece of work, take it before they pry it outta my dead hands after I found out where ya be matey!!!

This was written many years ago, but still holds true except for the newer below decks mega $$$$ units.

http://www.c34.org/faq-pages/faq-autohelmwacky.html

 

[Joseph Shirley]

I think that Chuckbear is talking about his motor, drive pulley and belt tightening cam. I wouldn't think that the control unit would very practical if located there. I originally mounted mine on the starboard inside of the cockpit coaming aft of my helm position which is about 45" from my compass. I later moved it further away on my cabin bulkhead because I found I sometimes liked to sit in the original corner. The cabin bulkhead is much further away but I no longer access the control unit itself, because I bought the remote control unit which allows you to do much more with the wp5000. If you have the remote you too can put it further away, but if you don't, you will want to put it somewhere within your reach.
By the way it's a pretty good auto-pilot that's no longer made. to make it work better in bad weather you should get a spare belt and cut a piece of the spare to turn inside out and glue it all the way around to the outside of the big pulley on the wheel. The drive pulley is geared and has a lot of power but the big pulley is smooth. The tension applied by the tensioning cam is not sufficient to stop the wheel from slipping under load. Gluing this inside out belt mates the cut teeth on the belt with the newly made teeth on the big pulley and it won't slip very easy.
This tip was given to me by NAVICO many years ago but they never advertised it because of some liability fears. The wheel will slip if the load gets too high like if you are going to round up, but instead of just slipping the belt stretches a little and jumps along the backward belts rubber teeth. I have had mine installed this way since 1994 and I'm still using the same belt.

Good luck

Joe S

 

[NC-C320]

The boat is a Catalina 320 with wing keel and spade rudder. The boat is used inshore in rivers and sounds. When weather kicks up, we get a short steep chop, but it's not going to extremely rough as an offshore storm is. The helm is fairly well balanced, but in a following sea, one has to stay pretty active with the wheel, so the autopilot might have trouble here. I single hand and really want it for short periods when I need to go forward, such as when taking down sails. The unit comes to me at no cost, but with the warning that on the Hunter 340, it would occasionally go crazy and make an abrupt turn. If I can install it without lots of modifications, I would like to test it on my boat to see if the problem was in the previous installation (the owner found a loose wire connection when he was removing it, but was already on his way installing a Raymarine unit), or whether the problem is internal to this particular WP5000.

What I would like to do is install control unit on the upper part of pedestal (about 12-18 inches above the boat's compass) and the drive unit on the lower part of the pedestal (~24 inches below the boat's compass). Because of boat's control panel to wheel clearance, the autopilot wheel would be attached to the aft side of the wheel vs. normally in front of wheel, but this shouldn't give any operating problems that I can see. Locating the control unit anywhere else seems to put it in a place where it might get damaged or would be too far away to use as I would like. Also, the above installation requires the least modification to the boat and if it doesn't work, I can remove it without the boat having been messed up with lots of holes drilled in it.

 

[Chuckbear]

I think that Chuckbear is talking about his motor, drive pulley and belt tightening cam. I wouldn't think that the control unit would very practical if located there.

Good luck

Joe S

The control unit was mounted on the side of the lower section of the steering pedestal. Your mounting considerations is way to close to the compass. Chuck

 

[NC-C320]

If the drive unit and the control unit being located in close proximity to each other is not a problem (and I didn't see anything in the instructions to say that it would be an issue), then I could mount both the control unit and drive unit at the bottom of the pedistal, giving ~ 24+ inches between control unit and boat's compass. In this case, the drive unit would be off set at the bottom of the pedestal a little to starboard of centerline and the control unit off set at the boattom of the pedestal a little to port of centerline. The Catalina 320 is, in my opinion, laid out very well, but the helmsman's area aft of the wheel is a bit snug, so it's best to keep it uncluttered as much as possible. The above proposed installation would achieve that objective also.

 

[NC-C320]

Actually, in the alternate location just proposed, it might be closer to 30 inches from the compass card to the base of the pedestal where the control unit could be mounted. The boat has a 40 in. wheel, the compass card is mounted roughly 6 in. above the wheel shaft, and there is about 4 in from bottom of wheel to deck, but I would want to mount the control unit a little off the deck to that washing and occasion water in cockpit would drain clear to the open stern.

 

[Joseph Shirley]

Go for it. What do you have to lose. Chuckbear my apologies.

Good Luck

Joe S

 

[Stu Jackson]

We separated our ST3000 components

like this. Keeps me from being a slave BEHIND the wheel, can get to it fine from both in front or behind the wheel.

Don't know if it'll work for you.

 

[NC-C320]

Mounting WP5000 Control

Stu,

Actually I had looked at one location for the control unit that is almost identical to the location you show. I am limited in that area because of port and starboard lazerette lockers that open forward and would interfere in this area. On port side, the propane gas locker takes up the available area, but on the starboard side there is one spot that might work ok, but from the lazerette locker, it looks like there is a bulkhead in the way, but I will take another look. This would still not reach 39 inches, but is a bit better than at the base of the pedestal.

I think I will try a temporary installation with wires external and jury rigged supports to see how the unit wants to respond. That way, if it doesn't work, then I just out some time and a little money for the temporary install, and the boat won't have a bunch of unused holes in it.

To all:

Thanks for your input.