st 4000 and rudder position

[Tally Ho]

What is the advantage of knowing the rudder position? I don’t have it on my boat, no sensor.
cheers

For me, it was more about the AP knowing where the rudder is.

On my set up, particularly in light winds, the AP would steer, but no steerage as boat wasn’t moving, and AP kept trying to turn, past the stops…and it kept trying.

With the rudder sensor, AP knows how far it can turn before hitting the stops.


Greg

 

[DaveJ]

That makes sense, in very light winds, with almost no movement.
I was also thinking, it would be good to know that you were over sailed and not balanced in higher winds and your rudder was acting as a brake. But that can also be felt at the helm…. and I have a wheel with an insignia at the ‘top’. With the AP on, you wouldn’t feel it but would notice the position of the insignia.
Thanks for the comment.

 

[Tally Ho]

That makes sense, in very light winds, with almost no movement.
I was also thinking, it would be good to know that you were over sailed and not balanced in higher winds and your rudder was acting as a brake. But that can also be felt at the helm…. and I have a wheel with an insignia at the ‘top’. With the AP on, you wouldn’t feel it but would notice the position of the insignia.
Thanks for the comment.

It also seems to help the AP in heavy winds, when I am over canvassed. Also keeps the AP from trying to steer too far.

Or in really big seas, where the AP is struggling to keep course and tends to oversteer.

Greg

 

[PlaneTom]

If you want to go really super hi-tech, put a wrap of red tape on the port side of the spoke and a wrap of green on the starboard.

My wife did a version that transfers between boats.

 

[PlaneTom]

I've never owned a boat with a rudder position sensor/indicator, other than a tiller, but I can see it being useful just as a centering mark of some sort on the wheel.
But if not correctly installed and calibrated it can drive you nuts under sail.
We had a bareboat in the BVI with lots of cool electronics on board. I had a heck of a time getting the sail balance right on both tacks, it always took more rudder displacement on the indicator on one tack than the other to maintain heading, no matter how much we fussed with sail trim.
At the first anchorage I centered the rudder on the display and frictioned it down. Into the water and under the stern I could see the rudder several degrees to one side. I had someone on deck verify that the indicator was still centered.
I had them release the friction lock, I centered the rudder and had them lock it down again. I marked the new center indication with a pencil and sail trim made a lot more sense after that.
On our 310 the tape on the wheel works just fine.

 

[Tally Ho]

I've never owned a boat with a rudder position sensor/indicator, other than a tiller, but I can see it being useful just as a centering mark of some sort on the wheel.
But if not correctly installed and calibrated it can drive you nuts under sail.
We had a bareboat in the BVI with lots of cool electronics on board. I had a heck of a time getting the sail balance right on both tacks, it always took more rudder displacement on the indicator on one tack than the other to maintain heading, no matter how much we fussed with sail trim.
At the first anchorage I centered the rudder on the display and frictioned it down. Into the water and under the stern I could see the rudder several degrees to one side. I had someone on deck verify that the indicator was still centered.
I had them release the friction lock, I centered the rudder and had them lock it down again. I marked the new center indication with a pencil and sail trim made a lot more sense after that.
On our 310 the tape on the wheel works just fine.

I wired my motor backwards when I installed a new AP.

Boat kept doing crazy Ivan‘s….finally dawned on me why

All good now.

Greg

 

[dlochner]

I wired my motor backwards when I installed a new AP.

Boat kept doing crazy Ivan‘s….finally dawned on me why

All good now.

Greg

About 20 years ago there was an error in the Raymarine AP installation manual. The control wires for the AP motor were mislabeled and reversed.

 

[john2]

After some diy stuf, i got it working. The autopilot now displays rudder postion, also in standby mode.