St1000 autohelm

[geehaw]

Well my autohelm became a drunken sailor on me last weekend. Couldn't keep that boat going in a straight line for anything. Well this was only like the forth weekend since I installed it. I checked raymarines web site for a repair facility. well the closest to me was like 400 miles away. I called them and talked to a guy and he had no experience fixing them. So I sent it to the factory. Now this came new in the box when I bought the boat in May. I installed it in June. I was wondering if anybody had dealings with Raymarine and how good they were on warranty. Not sure how old it is but it was just installed do I have a chance?

 

[Roger Long]

I thought the ST1000 was a TillerPilot. Is yours a tiller unit? If so, you'd better read this:

http://www.rogerlongboats.com/ST1000mods.htm

Raymarine did replace one of the units I burned up but they have been through so many changes since the buy out, I couldn't venture any opinion about how their service will be now.

There are a bunch of configuration settings you may have to tweak to get the best performance. These units tend to think pitching is a course change and hunt around a bit. Even sophisticated autopilots often have trouble keeping a perfectly straight course without a lot of adjustment. Mine often looks like it is wandering all over the place as I watch the bow swing back and forth but the GPS track comes out straight.

 

[higgs]

I had both a Simrad and a Ray at different times on my old Irwin 32. Both were inconsistent in their performance and sometimes would go hard over sometimes in flat conditions while powering. Both units were sent in for repair and makers could find nothing wrong. I never did figure out.

i did have to push Ray pretty hard on my present boat's system to get a new course computer that had gone out of warranty. I finally wrote them and asked for a discounted price on the item and they finally sent me a new one free of charge.

 

[seadaddler]

Great

I have found Raymarine to be great with warranty work,I have owned two new Hunters and both times needed warranty work.
I sent my Chartplotter back to them in 2002 to check out and did not find any wrong and also up graded the software no charge.
In 2008 my Auto went bad on my trip from NY to Florida and they repaird it no charge,both times my boats were under warranty,they have also been great helping me over the years when ever some thing I could not get working properly,thier techs really take you step by step to help you.
I am surprised you could not get a teck to help checking out over the phone,I have had them help me operate thier equipment over the phone and help diagnose the problem.
I did not know about the take over or new owners.
Nick

 

[alexco38]

You happen to have something magnetic in your pocket or nearby the unit? May be the flexgate compass inside got confussed. When the boat bitched the magetic material goes away and when the boat bitch back it mess it up again.

 

[higgs]

alexco: good point

 

[Mike B1026]

Bad install?

Two things come to mind. First, did you run a properly sized wire (see manual) and do you have enough voltage?? If you don't it will try to reset, like you turned it off and on. It will say "C1000" I think.

Another issue, did you properly adjusted it? (see manual - sailing around in a slow circle etc)

 

[Don12364]

I once had a drunken ST1000. I had set off in a hurry and stowed my outboard in the locker just underneath the pilot.
Mighty strong magnets in an outboard's flywheel!