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Below Deck Autopilot Installation

carmine

Long Island, NY

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May 21, 2012 - 4:18 pm

Member Since: November 7, 2009

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My NAVICO WP 5000 wheelpilot finally gave up the ghost last year - just before my annual cruise. I managed a drop in replacement using a WP 4000 that I found at a local marine consignment store (Marine Consignment of Long Island). After mulling things over I decided to upgrade to a below deck autopilot rather than invest in a new wheel pilot. My reasoning:

1) the NAVICO was undersized from day one and was easily set of course when things piped up a bit - especially with a quartering sea - a new wheel pilot would also be undersized (maximum rated wheel pilot 16,500 lbs. disp.) though would probably do better given advances in the technology

2) a reliable autopilot is getting more important given that my wife prefers spending more time below deck cooking and reading -

3) a below deck autopilot connected to a separate tiller arm provides for an instantly available emergency tiller in the event of a failure in the cable drive

My plan is to install a Raymarine pilot with a linear drive located starboard side aft just below the floor of the lazzeret locker. . Installation requires some beefing up of the mounting bulkhead (quarterberth) and fabrication of a custom mounting bracket - a fairly complicated job given my skills and the tight quarters.

Any comments or recommendations will be appreciated - anyone interested in the technical details of installation pipe up also -

anyone interested in the NAVICO pilots let me know - I have the makings of at least one functional pilot given some electronics skills - includes spar belts, wheel drive, mounting hardware. I will send the lot to you for the cost of packing it ip and shipping.

Regards,

Carmine

S/V TOPAZ, DE 38 Cutter

Scott Carle

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May 22, 2012 - 2:05 am

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Wish I had the skills to fix it I would take you up on that but component level repair is just a little beyond me for most stuff. We had a autopilot system on our boat but it locked up? and the prior owner pulled it apart to free up the steering. Still have the parts but same problem.. I haven't figured out how to put it back together and troubleshoot and try and fix it. It is some wierd old brand that I didn't recognize the brand.

Scott

Scott Carle DE38 Cutter s/v Valkyr

svbodhran

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June 1, 2012 - 3:49 am

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Forum Posts: 84

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I installed a vintage raymarine Autohelm 6000 with type II linear drive that I picked up at a consignment store in New Zealand a couple of years back. I installed the drive under the cockpit locker on my DE32. I glassed in 1/2 piece of ply above and another on the underside of the locker to give it a bit more structure. So far it's been holding up fine. I drilled a hole in the quadrant to attach the other end of the linear drive. I keep meaning to have a separate tang built to attach to the rudder post to the linear drive, but just haven't got around to it.

I'm at an internet cafe in Fiji right now, but I'll see if I can't get some pics up in the next couple of days.

Jason

DE32 Bodhran

mcgypsea

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August 13, 2012 - 8:18 pm

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carmine said:

My NAVICO WP 5000 wheelpilot finally gave up the ghost last year - just before my annual cruise. I managed a drop in replacement using a WP 4000 that I found at a local marine consignment store (Marine Consignment of Long Island). After mulling things over I decided to upgrade to a below deck autopilot rather than invest in a new wheel pilot. My reasoning:

1) the NAVICO was undersized from day one and was easily set of course when things piped up a bit - especially with a quartering sea - a new wheel pilot would also be undersized (maximum rated wheel pilot 16,500 lbs. disp.) though would probably do better given advances in the technology

2) a reliable autopilot is getting more important given that my wife prefers spending more time below deck cooking and reading -

3) a below deck autopilot connected to a separate tiller arm provides for an instantly available emergency tiller in the event of a failure in the cable drive

My plan is to install a Raymarine pilot with a linear drive located starboard side aft just below the floor of the lazzeret locker. . Installation requires some beefing up of the mounting bulkhead (quarterberth) and fabrication of a custom mounting bracket - a fairly complicated job given my skills and the tight quarters.

Any comments or recommendations will be appreciated - anyone interested in the technical details of installation pipe up also -

anyone interested in the NAVICO pilots let me know - I have the makings of at least one functional pilot given some electronics skills - includes spar belts, wheel drive, mounting hardware. I will send the lot to you for the cost of packing it ip and shipping.

Regards,

Carmine

S/V TOPAZ, DE 38 Cutter

Scott Carle

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August 14, 2012 - 9:17 am

Member Since: October 10, 2009

Forum Posts: 1480

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I believe that Mike was trying to reply to you above Carmine and just didn't get his message included. Here is the message he left me. You might drop him an email and see if you can clarify what he needs 🙂

Hello my name is Mike Ronnlof and I live to sail and my wp5000 striped the gear on the motoe and I am in neede of a

email at me mcgypsea@juno.com

Scott Carle DE38 Cutter s/v Valkyr

carmine

Long Island, NY

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November 23, 2012 - 10:33 am

Member Since: November 7, 2009

Forum Posts: 20

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This is a follow up to my post -

I am very happy with the installation so far - the performance is better than expected since my only experience was with older generation pilots - the pilot steers more consistantly than I can under most conditions. The new technology is definetly much better. So far have only used it in moderate conditions (25 knots/6 foot sea) which it handeled easly.

My only concern now is the level of integrated marine elecctronics complexity that using a RayMarine product conspires to drag you into. For example, the Pilot control head is a type of multi- function display that can show pretty much any parameter that is available on a connected network and the Pilot computer is compatable with the the old and new RayMarine proprietary networks (seatalk and seatalk ng) plus NMEA 0183. I am inclined to try and keep all critical the electronics stand alone and use the old NMEA standard where some integration is advantageous - e.g. VHF radio connected directly GPS to enable DSC distress feature. Maintaining a KISS attitude is tough when all things are possible.

There were a lot of little rinkles in the actual physical installation so anybody interested in tackling this project should e-mail me at cmpizza@optonline.net. I should have photo documented the project in process but did not. I will take some pics next time I open the locker.

Best Regards to All