EV-100 Auto Pilot Install

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Russ
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Re: EV-100 Auto Pilot Install

Post by Russ »

Thanks BOAT.

I should print this thread. It's still the best AP for the Mac EVER. I'm optimistic for Vic's AP....but I think I'm going with your solution. It looks to be best.

I was so upset when this site went down that I'd not be able to access this thread and all it's goodness. You may be a troll at heart, but you are the mod master on this forum.

--Russ
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kurz
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Re: EV-100 Auto Pilot Install

Post by kurz »

I think I saved the old one on pdf, when I was installing it in style of BOAT.

If someone needs it I can send...
Kopfjager
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Re: EV-100 Auto Pilot Install

Post by Kopfjager »

Hey guys I have a quick question. What method did you use to determine when the rudders are directly centered? I'm afraid I'm going to be off a few degrees if I eyeball it and drill the holes in the wrong place on my tiller arm. Thanks.
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BOAT
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Re: EV-100 Auto Pilot Install

Post by BOAT »

Kopfjager wrote:Hey guys I have a quick question. What method did you use to determine when the rudders are directly centered? I'm afraid I'm going to be off a few degrees if I eyeball it and drill the holes in the wrong place on my tiller arm. Thanks.

Hello there 'Bama! You doing the Tennessee River or haulin all the way down to the gulf?

If you doing the river it is important you get the dead center rudder position pretty close because it will effect your hard over time - a big deal when trying to plot a tack or come-about waypoint in a river - things get tricky.

I used a protractor and a two by four: put the 2 by four on top of the motor and line it up so it's equal with the transom on bother sides - then set your protractor or T square off that two by four to get the dead perpendicular angle off the transom - it's also a good idea to drop a string from the mast where is tits in the mast crutch and hang a weight off it. I do that to make sure the dead center angle I get from the board and protractor line up with the front of the boat (you use the mast in it's crutch as a line to find the front of the boat).

Once you know where dead center is just line up the rudders and put a piece of black tape on the wheel so you always know where dead center amidships is.

That's it.
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kurz
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Re: EV-100 Auto Pilot Install

Post by kurz »

I did some test rides on the lake.
finally was not too much convinced, same as you are.

So I did the best I could. And put different possibilities to adjust later. At the end of the ev-100 tiller I can adjust the ball by turning in and out.
And there where the ev100 tiller gets installed in the center below deck I put several holes.
Wo finally it got ok I think. But over all it will not sooo important later as you are thinking by installing it. The AP just puts more left or right till you get the right track.

Still remember when I studied raymarine papers raymarine givs the neutral position. But if you then pull the ap tiller completely in and out I noticed it is not exactely in the midle. So on the one side you have more than on the other. Nowbody has to understand... I guess...
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BOAT
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Re: EV-100 Auto Pilot Install

Post by BOAT »

The tiller pilot will eventually find the dead amidships on it's own that's not the issue - the idea is to give the pilot the same movement in both direction because it's already limited

It's good to make sure the you have equal distance of travel for the ram from port to starboard - when underway the pilot will decide amid ships on it's own and can steer a straight course - all you trying to do by centering the mechanism is give the ram equal travel distance in both directions.
Kopfjager
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Re: EV-100 Auto Pilot Install

Post by Kopfjager »

BOAT wrote:
Kopfjager wrote:Hey guys I have a quick question. What method did you use to determine when the rudders are directly centered? I'm afraid I'm going to be off a few degrees if I eyeball it and drill the holes in the wrong place on my tiller arm. Thanks.

Hello there 'Bama! You doing the Tennessee River or haulin all the way down to the gulf?

If you doing the river it is important you get the dead center rudder position pretty close because it will effect your hard over time - a big deal when trying to plot a tack or come-about waypoint in a river - things get tricky.

I used a protractor and a two by four: put the 2 by four on top of the motor and line it up so it's equal with the transom on bother sides - then set your protractor or T square off that two by four to get the dead perpendicular angle off the transom - it's also a good idea to drop a string from the mast where is tits in the mast crutch and hang a weight off it. I do that to make sure the dead center angle I get from the board and protractor line up with the front of the boat (you use the mast in it's crutch as a line to find the front of the boat).

Once you know where dead center is just line up the rudders and put a piece of black tape on the wheel so you always know where dead center amidships is.

That's it.
Thanks BOAT! I'll give that a try. I figured that was an important piece of the puzzle.

To answer your first question, we NEVER put in the Tennessee River. It's just too nasty. I won't put my boat in anything I won't swim in. We'll haul down to Florida and use her there but we also have a nice lake nearby that we can spend time on. Thanks again for the advice. You need to be in the Mac forum hall of fame.
apsaunders
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Re: EV-100 Auto Pilot Install

Post by apsaunders »

BOAT,
This must be the longest running thread on here since it started in 2015. It is so full of practical Raymarine Autopilot install for our boats that I have saved it and referenced it many times.

I have just completed my Raymarine Autopilot install but now I see I need to change out the D.C. Distribution Panel to accommodate new toys, which brings me to my question. On the bottom of page 8 of this thread, you came to the same conclusion so I was wondering what you decided to do.

Is it possible to send a electrical fish tape up the port side from under the aft galley compartment, straight up to the distribution panel? I am assuming there are 2 layers all the way up.

Anyone else that has done this mod I would appreciate any advice. If you posted it here in the forum section, please list the link. I have never been good using the "advance search" so please don't ask me to do a search.
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eodjedi
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Re: EV-100 Auto Pilot Install

Post by eodjedi »

For those of you with the old pedestal and EV-100 wheel autopilot.

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BOAT
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Re: EV-100 Auto Pilot Install

Post by BOAT »

apsaunders wrote:BOAT,
I have just completed my Raymarine Autopilot install but now I see I need to change out the D.C. Distribution Panel to accommodate new toys, which brings me to my question. On the bottom of page 8 of this thread, you came to the same conclusion so I was wondering what you decided to do.

Is it possible to send a electrical fish tape up the port side from under the aft galley compartment, straight up to the distribution panel? I am assuming there are 2 layers all the way up.
No not in my book because it would mean exposed wire from the lower liners to the upper liner - that is a classic wire issue with the M boats - the upper and lower liners have no place to pass wire between them until you get either all the way up to the head, or all the way back to the transom.

First off, I wanted my AP on a separate panel because I did not want it to shut down with the perko or any other breakers - I wanted the AP to keep going if I was asleep even if the power failed so I put it on it's own dedicated panel with it's own battery connection that is fed from a bus that has a breaker instead of fuses. I don't want to fumble for fuses in the dark when it comes to the bilge or the AP. I used to have all the electronics for the AP right in here under the dinette:

Image

I was re-using the old panel that came with the boat because I had replaced that one. This was "okay" and did the job but I really wanted to be able to have better access to the panel some day with the proper labels on the circuits - and that day came when I decided to install a combination shower / bilge pump and shower. All that stuff in there had to be torn out and redone a different way - so I moved it and later in a few weeks you will see why in a different post because I needed this space for a surprise that I will show everyone then:

Image

So, I tore everything out and you can see in the upper left corner of the photo above that I was creating a new pathway for wires to go from the lower liner to the upper liner there at the dinette.

Anyways - I do have a dedicated bus with a big breaker on it for feeding things that I do not want effected by a perko like a bilge pump or a AP or things that obviously you do not want to shut down just because your mast light shorted in the rain or waves forced water got into the forward nav light or something stupid like that. There are the devices you want to stay on even if other things fail so you need to give them their own power source. You can see that i have a separate bus working directly off the number 1 battery fed by a huge breaker - I always keep my number 2 battery clean with no stuff connected directly to it except a charger and a meter:

Image

I always try to protect one battery from equipment loads.
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BOAT
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Re: EV-100 Auto Pilot Install

Post by BOAT »

Now, as for that dedicated power panel you asked about - I did replace the old panel with a new one and put it up above where I could access it and I mounted it in a secure insulated fashion so that it could also be used as a vertical cable tray (riser) for ALL the wires that need to go from the lower liner to the upper liner - even the AC circuits. By doing this I eliminated about 20 pounds of copper from the boat:

Image

One wire feeds an insulated bus below the panel where all the panel feeds are attached - the rest of the wires go straight through up behind the panel into the upper liner and off to wherever they need to terminate. The is also the pathway for the AC lines to come down from the AC panel directly above to the lower liner and all the outlets below including the charger outlet. This made the whole wire system for the boat way simpler and eliminated at least 40 feet of wire.

The whole thing is accessed by opening the seat back that covers the dry bar:

Image

This is what it looks like when the seat back and cushions and the rest of the stuff is back where it belongs:

Image

The shower sump pump is also a bilge pump and I built the custom sump tank with a one way overflow port so if the boat starts to flood from water from outside the boat to the point that water reaches that overflow port (about 3 inches of water in the bilge) then the shower bilge pump will turn on and keep the bilge from flooding any further. It's really a secondary bilge pump in that configuration. I will be installing a primary bilge pump that drains to 1/2 inch of water after I finish the built in ice box on the other side (oops, I shouldn't of said that) - anyways - the AP has the panel mounted in that new location now.
apsaunders
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Re: EV-100 Auto Pilot Install

Post by apsaunders »

BOAT,
First let me say that is a clean install. I'm an old (really old) aircraft mechanic that appreciates someone that has the ability to make an install look clean and professional. I ordered a new panel from Defender Saturday and was just going to scrap the old 4 switch panel. Now I know exactly what I'm going to do with it. It will be a dedicated panel for autopilot and a couple of other electronic toys.

Thanks for the advice on the fiberglass upper and lower layers. I just wasn't sure if it was possible. My arms are pretty cut up from the fiberglass as it is. This normally wouldn't create a problem, but with the blood thinners I'm on, it looks like someone butchered a pig in my boat. The only thing missing is the crime scene tape.

Loved the teaser you let out of the bag on the next BOAT project.

Thanks to everyone on here that has given me ideas from your posts and helping me to implement them down through the years.
windsurfmt
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Re: EV-100 Auto Pilot Install

Post by windsurfmt »

Anyone have any detailed info about moving the tach below the steering wheel? Looks like i need to enlarge or create a new entry hole in the side of the binnacle. Is this a must?
And, any leads on the neato flip hinges Boat used to hold up the carpeted door hiding his great tiller arm work?
thanks!!
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BOAT
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Re: EV-100 Auto Pilot Install

Post by BOAT »

Cutting a new hole in the side toothbrush style helm is not required to relocate the tach. You can reach down pretty far below the wheel post from the stock side hatch.

You can see in this picture that the hatch is very close to the tach:

Image

The pedestal on 'boat' has a lot more stuff in it now since that picture was taken - I have not updated a picture yet but I added a rudder indicator and a wind gauge indicator since then - I am adding a ballast tank gauge also but it's not done yet.

On the first version of the rear door (the one in the picture in this post) I used black strap hinges on the flap over the steering assembly. It's the stock one they provide with the boat. It works fine.

Later I replaced the flap because I made a boo boo and ruined the original one. I made a new one out of plywood and covered it and that's' what is in the boat now - I also added mahogany trim above it to make it look better.

It's easier to see the black strap hinges in this video:

windsurfmt
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Re: EV-100 Auto Pilot Install

Post by windsurfmt »

Boat,
Would consider chatting with me about the project? Almost all of the pics on the thread don't show up, too old i guess.
My autopilot kit comes Wed.
Not sure if i can put my email on here, but...
[email protected].
Thanks...
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