[Public-List] Electronic tiller

[Kris Coward via Public-List]

I've got some sort of old tiller pilot on Candy Cane. It was purchased
by a previous owner, so it's been running for 12 seasons and then some.
The design of it looks like it was manufactured in the 1980s, but I have
no real idea. The equipment list when I purchased the boat identifies it
as an Autohelm 1000, though the branding on it says "nautech". There's a
1/4" jack which appears to be a vane input, but I don't have a vane for
it.

Generally speaking, it works well. It's showing its age a bit though, in
that it doesn't like to steer in one direction (I can't remember which
right now, but I think it's to port) when it's hot and sunny out (it has
a black plastic housing, and I'm reasonably confident that I could make
the problem go away with a coat of white paint, as I think it's just
overheating).

At some point, the peg that the pilot uses to attach to the rudder came
out (along with the plug it was screwed into), but instead of replacing
it, I got a large bronze wood screw, screwed it in to pretty much the
same place, and filed its head down to have the same profile as the peg
(because I generally feel better about wood screw threads holding in
wood than I do about machine screw threads holding in wood, and the
original peg had a machine screw thread).

The other end of the pilot sits in one of two (brass)-lined holes in the
teak in the cockpit seats. The hole liners are about as deep as the seat
is thick, and it's clear that the PO drilled clear through the seat, and
then just glassed over the bottom of the hole. Since I had to redo the
teak in the cockpit seats last winter, I have to re-drill the hole, and
may take the same approach (though I'm debating whether I should
consider the issue with overheating in the sun to be a sign of the
pilot's end-of-life, and look at alternatives before disfiguring the new
teak).

Generally speaking, the old pilot has done a pretty decent job while
cruising. I can't say I'd ever race with it, and it doesn't hold a
straight enough course that I'd really beat to weather with it either,
but it's a life-saver if I'm single handing and want to do anything
other than steer (e.g. take down and fold the mainsail), and it also
works brilliantly for day sails with friends of the "we'll go where a
beam reach takes us and then come back" variety, if we don't
particularly feel like sailing.

So I guess that tiller pilots work well enough on A30s ;)

-Kris

On Sun, Dec 27, 2015 at 01:14:14AM +0000, Jay Davenport via Public-List wrote:
> Harry,
> I have a Simrad tiller pilot. Actually, it is a Navico, which was bought out by Simrad, but the hardware is unchanged. I have had it for more than 15 years. It just keeps on working. In my experience, it works both for motoring and for sailing. Of course, when sailing, it is not good when close-hauled, or when running downwind. I have it connected to my chart plotter, so it will navigate to a waypoint, or follow a route. Jay Davenport 
> 
> 
>       From: Harry Black via Public-List <public-list at lists.alberg30.org>
>  To: Public-List at lists.alberg30.org 
>  Sent: Saturday, December 26, 2015 1:14 PM
>  Subject: [Public-List] Electronic tiller
>    
> 
> Has anyone had any successful experience with tiller pilots on the A30? I had a Raymarine on my old C and C 27 and it never lasted all that long. I am told by Genco that a Simrad TO32 would work on the Alberg 30.  Does anyone have any experience with them? I wonder whether the height of the tiller might be a problem. Anyinfo would be much appreciated.
> 
> Harry Black
> Hull # 63
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad
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-- 
Kris Coward					http://unripe.melon.org/
GPG Fingerprint: 2BF3 957D 310A FEEC 4733  830E 21A4 05C7 1FEB 12B3

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