Sailing 101 and Autohelm Question

[Melody Miller]

Hello Everyone:Two part question. When I am sailing very close to the wind on one tack, how can I anticipate how close I can sail to the win on the subsequent tack? For example, if I am sailing at 270 degrees on a port tack, what will my projected course be when I tack to the starboard - generally a difference of about 45 degrees? ( I press 1& 10 simultaneously on the autohelm to tack.)Sometimes have trouble maintaining a course close to the wind immediately after tacking in one direction and frequently have to continue adjusting the autohelm to avoid getting "stuck" pointing into the wind. The need to adjust autohelm occurs about the time my hands are full trying to pull in the headsail that just came around. As a singlehander, this makes me a little crazy.So my second question is, can I adjust autohelm so that the 1+10 combination gives me a larger turn through the wind?ThanksMelody

 

[Ken]

Adjusting Self Tack feature

Your autohelm comes from the factory with preset limits for the self tacking feature and for rudder gain (how quickly you boat comes around through the tack). The preset on the self tack should be 100 degrees and the rudder gain should be set at 5 on a scale of 1 to 10. In the owners manual there is a section on how to readjust the factory resets. My ST5000 came with the rudder gain set at 2 and the tacking set at 40 degrees. I reset the gain to 7 and the self tack to 100 and found that for my boat (36 MKII) this was perfect. I hesitate to say this after the last conversation about vents, but if you don't have a manual for your autohelm I would contact the mfg or ask for photocopies of the pages you need. Hope this helps.

 

[Chuck]

Another Question

I installed a ST400+ on my Cataline 30 Tall Rig. I have been unhappy with its performance thus far. It seems to hold a heading for a while then starts searchng. Each correction becomes larger and larger. I cannot use the A/p for more than a few minutes. Any ideas? A Raytheon rep says it is searching for a rudder reference, which we do not have. I've gone through the setup several times and am still having problems.

 

[SEAN]

CHUCK-Another question

I've used an ST4000 for the last 5 years and have been very happy with it. It is very fussy about get a good solid current. Make sure it is connected directly to the battery and the inline fuse is making perfect contact. I stretched the spring. Also, last week mine started slowly drifting to starboard. I pulled the plug on the steering attachment and squirted wd40 into the plug and the problem was fixed. I hope this helps. Sean--Carnaby Street