Installing a Ray Marine Tiller Pilot below decks

[kurz]

THANKS Boat!!!

Today had the first test ride... , very slow wind, do waves...

All worked fine so far. Including your remote system!

Waiting for the madman wifi remote, and some smaller things to do of course...

[BOAT]

Yup - it should work great - the weak points in my system is of course getting lined back up with the tiller arm when you want to hook back up with the AP piston arm - that's why it's really really important to line up the wheel to exact dead ahead zero tiller angle FIRST and then put the AP in standby SECOND and THEN pull up the rope to disconnect - that way when it's time to hook back up you just turn the wheel back to dead ahead zero tiller and THEN drop the line to let the piston fall back into the socket. If you are not lined up when you do this the piston will fall and miss the socket and the piston will flop around trying to steer the boat and get all confused because nothing is happening on it's GPS and it will just get mad and stop trying to steer the boat and call out for your help by sounding the course alarm. Then you have to go below decks to fix it when that happens. It's not a major pain but I am working on a fix for it right now:

I am going to create a wooden cradle that the piston arm will connect to when you pull up the rope - that way the piston CAN'T move when disconnected even if it wants to because you accidentally turned it on - it will try to push against the cradle and won't be able to move and the AP "brain" will think it's got a jammed rudder or rudder lock and it will get mad again and stop trying to steer the boat and call out to you for help it by sounding the course alarm. Whenever the pilot "brain" can't do something it wants to do it will call out for your help with the alarm - it's pretty good about that.

I hope to start on the piston cradle in about a week (I hope) I'm just buried over hear with so many things I need to do. I'm trying to rebuild the inside of my camper van and I need stainless welders and benders along with my wood projects there and on top of that I need to put that rotating mast wind sensor I got from Chris here on the website in the boat, I also had major work on my backyard deck and all kinds of things to fix at home - I'm so far behind I feel like I am choking.

Hey kurz - i will go look at your other posts - I noticed you commented on several - and when i get the cradle done i will try to post some pictures.

[kurz]

well great idea about the "craddle".

If the disconnected AP is driving araound in nowwhere... Just an idea to get it back in middle position: Go on "auto" then go for an auto tack.
The piston goes to the end slowly. Then wanders back to middle. Then stop by press standby. Could work?

Just an idea. have no experience yet. Just in the basic installation you have to mesure the hard to hard time. In the german manual raymarine gave the wrong steps. I tried to mesure hard to hard time. but the tiller did the tack precedure. And stayed in middle finally. So this gave me the idea we could use this instead to hassle around down by pushing back the tiller manually...

[BOAT]

Yeah, if you can find a way to make the piston return to a set position that would be a very cool thing - I thought about "JOG STEER" but I never thought about the tack mode. I gave up on Jog Steer because I can't see the piston from the helm seat so I don't know when to stop pushing the JOG button.

[Highlander]

Yeah, if you can find a way to make the piston return to a set position that would be a very cool thing - I thought about "JOG STEER" but I never thought about the tack mode. I gave up on Jog Steer because I can't see the piston from the helm seat so I don't know when to stop pushing the JOG button.

What u r tellin me with all ur IT ability u can,t hook up a cheap cam monitor for that !

Glad I went with my wheel pilot !

J

[BOAT]

The wheel pilot is a lot easier to manage than the tiller pilot. (I did think about a camera down there) - really - the piston cradle to hold the piston in the up position will take care of the problem the best way.

It's important for people to understand that the MAC is not a tiller boat - there is no tiller on board - the Mac is a wheel boat - and the proper AP for the Mac is a wheel pilot. I have always said that and have been very clear right from the beginning that I have my own personal reasons for having a tiller pilot and that the correct pilot for the MAC is a Wheel pilot - NOT a tiller pilot.

I'm coming out of the closet - I am partial to tillers. I know I should not say that in a public forum like this but I just can't hold it in any more - I will never have a bagel - I just can't bring myself to hire one.

That being said - I installed a tiller pilot - (I will never ever ever install a bagel on my wheel) so for me it was the only alternative. Lets just say I am allergic to bagels, or I am deathly afraid of bagels, or you could say I have bagel bias, or I am intolerant of bagels - some might say I am a bagel bigot - and i agree - it's all true - I won't deny it. As long as i live in a country where it's not illegal yet to be a bagel bigot I am going to practice my intolerance - but I see the writing on the wall - I know that someday the goose steppers will be knocking on my door - I anticipate the day when the thought police will come and haul me away to jail (or worse: Florida) and on that day tillers all over the world will be silent one more voice - I know it's futile to fight the inevitable impending dominance of the bagel - I guess i will always be a rebel.

[BOAT]

I wanted to post this follow up mostly for kurz and anyone else that has or was considering this tiller pilot:

The problem: you forgot to put the pilot in standby while it was disconnected from the steering and now the piston has moved from the center position and your having a hard time finding the piston and hooking back up from the helm - so you go below decks and hook it up by hand and that is a hassle, (Am I right?)

I did find a way to reset the piston position to dead center from the helm using the jog mode. It's easy - just jog the tiller all the way in and then jog back out to the middle of the rudder indicator on the screen: Viola! the piston is now dead amid ships! Now turn the wheel to center and drop the piston and it falls right onto the tiller connector! Easy peasy.

That was easy.

[kurz]

ok, seems to be good idea. Will check out soon.

Another idea you gave me with your "craddle-system": Instead making a craddle to stop the piston. Why not instlling an electic switch that stops the piston when you pull it out of the working position. As soon as the tiller motor comes down it presses the switch button and the 12v are back.

Well I didn't check out so far. Maybe the accu100 will notice an error when you disconnect the tiller motor?

[BOAT]

Yeah that's a good idea too - or I would check out that guy that makes the after market remotes - he may be able to put in a centering mode

[vizwhiz]

I anticipate the day when the thought police will come and haul me away to jail (or worse: Florida)

Ha ha ha! You'd like Florida - we have more coastline than California and there are lots of places to sail, and places to sail to.

[BOAT]

I already like Florida more as a pure sailing destination. My problem is that I have become lazy in my old age and no longer want to negotiate a lot of bays or navigate shallow waters - I have become a really lazy sailor - I want to just set the auto pilot and lay around on the deck in the sun drinking beer for hours on end. I guess I'm a skipper who wants to be a passenger. All I do now is cruise the open ocean with no care of direction and no need to look for traffic or obstructions - there is just nothing out there. Even in a big bay like San Diego I feel "hemmed in" and I seldom ever sail in there. I just prefer the wide open ocean now that I am an old man.

If I were 20 years younger I would be towing 'boat' to The Keys at least once a year.

[Highlander]

Mark
That,s no excuse I,m 67 & I hauled my boat 4500km to Victoria BC


Over the Rockies was exciting to say the least , Glad I replace new brakes on the trl before I left
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab1/ ... 2tbhzu.jpg

on the ferry to the Vancouver Island BC
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab1/ ... vyyhip.jpg

New Home when I take her out of storage


J

[BOAT]

Uh, it's 5,816 miles from Oceanside to Key West and back again - (that's 9,360 km)

Sounds like a better trip for a Macgregor 19 than a 26.

[MikeFloutier]

Hi BOAT, I'm just planning my installation and wondered if you could help me.

I'm following your plans but my drive has an 11/16" female thread on the end and I'm struggling to find any bolts or indeed anything that will fit (apart from a car track rod end - I did think about how I might use that but of course it wiggles)

Will some sort of tapered nipple work do you think, or would that not just ruin the thread?

[BOAT]

Hi BOAT, I'm just planning my installation and wondered if you could help me.

I'm following your plans but my drive has an 11/16" female thread on the end and I'm struggling to find any bolts or indeed anything that will fit (apart from a car track rod end - I did think about how I might use that but of course it wiggles)

Will some sort of tapered nipple work do you think, or would that not just ruin the thread?

I used a tapered standard pipe plumbing threaded nipple - I believe the plumbing size is considered 3/8" or something - it's the next plumbing size below 1 inch. Try nipples in the electrical department - I think they call that nipple that is smaller than 1 inch a 3/8. The nipples in the plumbing department should work also but I think I used a 3/8 by close electrical nipple. Try a 1 inch too. (Not sure what drive you have).

I'm pretty sure all those piston drives use plumbing sized tapered threads. (Or what we would call Electrical Conduit tapered threads) It would make sense because IEEE would give that kind of thread both electrical properties and mechanical properties so it would be rated for it's bonding strength for both structural and electrical.

Makes sense I guess - but I am no aeronautical engineer so I have no idea what standard those airplane guys use to design their 'stuff'. Whatever you use it's probably going to be a lot stronger than that cheap plastic threaded fitting that comes with the unit, (talk about stripping threads!). I guess that's the designed point of failure to prevent damage to old wooden boats and lawsuits for RayMarine. ?