Auto Pilot

[Jack Loekken]

Thanks Bob,
How about the rudder position sensor? For my purposes (lake sailing) I wonder if I even need it. Did you install it? Will Otto work without it?

Otto won't work without the rudder position sensor, at least not the S1. I tried it, and Otto would just turn the wheel all the way until it hit the stop.

Jack

 

[Bob Robertson]

S1 Installation

Yes, my cockpit locker and Nav station are on the starboard side.

My S1 computer is mounted in the cockpit locker on the forward bulkhead near the wireless antenna. The S1 control head is mounted in a pod at the helm.
It was recommended that I run #8 wire from the main panel to the S1 computer, so that's what I did.

The antenna is relatively small and is very easy to relocate if your initial installation location isn't working out. Everything easily plugs into the S1 computer.

I also tried to avoid mounting the rudder sensor, but it is a good thing and it is required on the S1. After I thought about it long enough the rudder sensor installation went pretty well.


No problem on asking questions, I'm always happy to help.

Enjoy,
Bob

 

[Loren Beach]

more AP info

I was reading thru some commentary on the Singlehanded Sailing Society site and found some great discussion of AP's and wind vanes.
(There are several Ericson sailors in this group with thousands of sea miles experience, by the way.)

http://www.sfbaysss.org/index.html

Cheers,
Loren

 

[Kenn Porter]

Autopilot

I am the proud owner of a 36C and am wondering if any other owner has installed an electric autopilot [ what brand and any other details or problems] the way the steering is laid out I think direct to the shaft behind the helm is the way to go - any and all info appreciated - 'ERICSONS FOREVER' - Kenn Porter - anyport@rogers.com

 

[Jack Loekken]

Jack - any feedback on the S1? I'm looking at it for my 32.

I am sorry it took so long to get back, but I have now done some serious testing of my Raymarine S1. Overall I am very impressed by the performance.

The real acid test was when I was broad reaching under a double reefed main and a 10 sq ft of jib rolled out, wind was 30kn sustained gusting to 36, waweheight 15ft (don't ask why I was out there under those conditions ) Of course a broach would have been disastreous, so I was sitting next to the wheel ready to take over should the AP lose it. That turned out to be unnecessary, as the AP responded quickly enough to prevent the boat from broaching. Of course it did weave 20 degrees to either side of the set course, but any human helmsman would have done the same under those conditions, and on "average" it kept the desired course.

The only conditions I have seen sofar where the AP was unable to keep course, was when the boat was moving slowly in very light and fluky winds, conditions where it takes a lot of rudder to correct course deviations. The AP simply didn't use enough rudder to correct.

There are a number of parameters that needs to be set during seatrials/setup. It is important to set these correctly, and it toook me half a day of experimenting before I got it right. It is possible that further adjustment can improve the slow speed/light wind performance, but then again I don't know if it is possible to find a setting where both light wind and heavy weather performance is good. Should I wish for an improvement from Raymarine, It would be a simple software change that would allow me to predefine and store a number of settings that could be recalled by the touch of a button. That way I could have one setting for heavy weather, one for light winds, one for motoring etc.

 

[Kim Schoedel]

Thanks Jack for the update. I am on hold for now as we are in the process of having a Bimini, side curtains etc being built at this time. The next $$$ update will be for Otto. It sounds like the Raymarine S1 is working just fine for you. It doesn't surprise me that it isn't good in the light wind. In fact, there are a few humans out there that are not real good at the helm in light/fluky wind. Thanks again,