Just picked up one of these in great condition from a local swap shop paper for $140 complete - I'm happy. The previous owner bought a lobster boat with this "installed" on a wheel steering system - I didn't see the installation but it must have been interesting. I have Raymarine ST-40 Wind and Bi-Data on the boat now, so I think this should be a good addition. Having never owned a tillerpilot I have a couple of questions if anyone has first hand experience: 1. Maintenance - anything I need to do? The unit seems to work well in my garage, I'm thinking some lubrication of the shaft may be in order. 2. Power consumption - I have no on-board charging and rely on two deep cycle marine batteries: how long can I expect to run this thing before I kill one? 3. Anyone with experience using this to hold an apparent wind angle in conjunction with a wind instrument - what kind of reliability can I expect? I'm thinking light air will be more challenging maintaining the proper course. 4. Any general usage suggestions - I like to singlehand my O'Day 25, and I'm thinking this will make my life significantly easier. My first thought is running the outboard, I can head up and set the pilot to keep me into the wind while raising sails (I do this from the cockpit so the safety police can relax). Really looking forward to getting on the water - winter sucks. As always, thanks to all who respond, I've learned a lot from you guys over the last couple of years.
Raymarine ST-1000+ New Toy!
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tiller pilot
I had one on my last boat, it was a Mac 26S, it worked great, held a course once I figured out the propper settings, and didn't seem to draw alot of power. I had shore power and an on board charger and plugged in every time I got back to the dock.
I had one on my last boat, it was a Mac 26S, it worked great, held a course once I figured out the propper settings, and didn't seem to draw alot of power. I had shore power and an on board charger and plugged in every time I got back to the dock.
St 1000
Muised- DO NOT lubricated the piston arm. Just wipe the unit down and store with the ram completly drawn in. There is provided lubricant built into this unit to take care the ram. I have that unit myself and I can go out for two days of genberal use without running out of juice. I too have shorepower to charge my batteries and dont really worry about DC usage. I can not comment on how the unit works when sistered with wind instruments. I will say by itself it is a wonderful piece of equipment. It works fine, until the wind really starts to blow then it just cannot handle things quick enough. Rob Hessenius
Muised- DO NOT lubricated the piston arm. Just wipe the unit down and store with the ram completly drawn in. There is provided lubricant built into this unit to take care the ram. I have that unit myself and I can go out for two days of genberal use without running out of juice. I too have shorepower to charge my batteries and dont really worry about DC usage. I can not comment on how the unit works when sistered with wind instruments. I will say by itself it is a wonderful piece of equipment. It works fine, until the wind really starts to blow then it just cannot handle things quick enough. Rob Hessenius
I have been looking ag tillerpilots also
particularly the Raymarine ST1000 & ST2000. My boat weighs in at nearly 4 tons so I figure I need the ST2000 but for boats under the weight limit (I forget the number but Raymarine's website gives the cutoff weight for ST1000,2000 & 4000) the ST1000 should be fine given a reasonable sea state. You got an excellent price for the unit, congrats! As per batteries and amp hours and all that, you might consider adding a solar charger panel (ours attaches to the stern rail and is removeable) that will trickle charge the batteries. I see you are in Nova Scotia but these panels do produce a charge with diffuse sunlight (read fog, cloud cover and even rain). We did this and had no issues with the batts getting drowzy or sluggish all last season. We also have an alternator on our inboard. Cost of 1 panel, mount, wire, regulator around $350 self installed. We also keep our deep cycle batts plugged into a trickle charger over the winter. As for lubrication, check the Raymarine website and see if you can get a manual and see what they reccommend for lubrication and usage. I can only say that the only boat I was on that had one of these (J-24 I think) sailed beautifully on upwind beats with the tillerpilot engaged and I was truly amazed at the performance of this little machine with no other gear attached to it. I do not think that I would trust this machine in a dead downwind run but any other point of sail it can be your Captain Sur (rogate).
particularly the Raymarine ST1000 & ST2000. My boat weighs in at nearly 4 tons so I figure I need the ST2000 but for boats under the weight limit (I forget the number but Raymarine's website gives the cutoff weight for ST1000,2000 & 4000) the ST1000 should be fine given a reasonable sea state. You got an excellent price for the unit, congrats! As per batteries and amp hours and all that, you might consider adding a solar charger panel (ours attaches to the stern rail and is removeable) that will trickle charge the batteries. I see you are in Nova Scotia but these panels do produce a charge with diffuse sunlight (read fog, cloud cover and even rain). We did this and had no issues with the batts getting drowzy or sluggish all last season. We also have an alternator on our inboard. Cost of 1 panel, mount, wire, regulator around $350 self installed. We also keep our deep cycle batts plugged into a trickle charger over the winter. As for lubrication, check the Raymarine website and see if you can get a manual and see what they reccommend for lubrication and usage. I can only say that the only boat I was on that had one of these (J-24 I think) sailed beautifully on upwind beats with the tillerpilot engaged and I was truly amazed at the performance of this little machine with no other gear attached to it. I do not think that I would trust this machine in a dead downwind run but any other point of sail it can be your Captain Sur (rogate).
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