Ah-Ha moment with autohelm

[paul culver]

I've been sailing a dozen or so years with a Raymarine autohelm and now I think the reason they put a split ring in the clevis pin is so you can attach a long floating line to drag off the stern, and when you fall in the water you grab the line thereby pulling the clevis pin, disabling the autohelm and hopefully bringing the boat into the wind so you can catch up with it. This is not mentioned in the manual -- maybe a liability issue?

 

[Christian Williams]

Well, maybe. But a sailboat isn't a Jet ski. There are better ways to have a shot at survival.

 

[Loren Beach]

As I recall, the quick release was to facilitate storing the drive out of the way when not in use. That design sometimes had the motor installed in places where it might get kicked. A long time ago I did some deliveries on boats with the 3000 series, and it would steer the boat very well.

 

[paul culver]

Well, maybe. But a sailboat isn't a Jet ski. There are better ways to have a shot at survival.

So true. Like not falling in to begin with.