I would like to return to the subject of self steering gear - I am doing a bit of a refit on little gilly just now and will be fitting some sort of ssg - as I sail a lot short handed this will be used mostly for getting the rig up and down - my last boat a SCOD had a TP10 the smallest in the range and it could handle most situations even with a fairly unbalanced boat like the scod - in a blow she could be a right pig - having read a bit about rigging ssg from the sheets ie a rope comes from the main or jib sheets to the tiller with a bungee working in the opposite direction if the sail luffs and slackens the main sheet the bungee pulls the tiller over thereby putting the boat back on the wind - this I am going to try - as for getting the rig up and down when under power I think a 2000 tillermate should do the trick - as you dont have the forces as when your sailing - and even with sails up i think it should be possible to balance the boat properly as you have so many combinations of sail - I am talking with limited expieriance as I have only had this boat for a little while but have been out in some weather and going to 1 reef in the main and leaving the staysail in the locker she seemed to handle very well - unless some one can tell me otherwise ?
self teering gear
My S100 ate batteries and complained to Raymarine who exchanged it for a new one which has been much better. After several minutes of inactivity it turns its self off but I still can control the autopilot from the buttons on the tillerpilot unit or press the standby button on the S100 to turn it on again and it regains control after a minute.
Colin
I've got the S100 remote too. It's very useful but has 2 major flaws...........the battery life is very short and there is no way of turning it off!!! It turns itself off after a few minutes in standby but if the battery voltage drops then the only way to regain the autopilot is to remove the batteries from the remote...this is not easy! Why the h*ll didnt they give it an off switch?
I have a Raymarine ST2000 on my Heard-23 and it works well but I would like to pass on two tips:-
1) Tillerpilots of the type that are self contained with the compass unit inside and the controlls on the main body are not very waterproof. Over the years I have had water ingress in both Simrad and Raymarine tillerpilots. The current ST2000 got water in it from heavy rain(!) a month after the warranty ran out. Raymarine admitted water had entered from the switches on top of the unit but still would not admit any responsibility and said it was "fit for purpose". I now have a fitted canvas coat on it to shed water.
2) I recommend the S100 wireless remote control from Raymarine as an excellent aid to the single hander. For example, when lowering the main I can hold both halyards in one hand and adjust course with the remote until the boom is directly over the gallows before lowering. No more frantic trips back to the cockpit to reset the autopilot if the wind changes direction. I keep the remote clipped to my lifejacket. It was well worth the extra expense.
Colin
Yes I use my autopilot all of the time. As soon as I clear the moorings until I return. It works on all points of sail. The only thing I would say is that you have to reef a little earlier than you would if you were steering by hand. This is because autopilots are sensitive to weather helm. So if you've got a full main in a strong wind the autopilot wont like it.
As a single hander I wouldnt want to be without the autopilot.
Broad reaching seems to be a difficult point of sail for gaffers in terms of weight on the helm - that big sail well out to one side generates so much off-centre "push" that I'm not sure that it's possible to lighten the helm much. The pegged helm isn't too bad, though, at keeping a reasonable course as long as the wind isn't too strong. I'm only talking about a few minutes at a time in any case, but this is really useful to pop below for something.
I know that Steve uses his autohelm a lot, but I was actually after something that would mainly be used under power - the single-handed sail raise/lower operations, for example, when Southampton Water seems a bit too busy to do other than maintain a straight line. If it's not too busy, I usually heave-to (and that's something that gaffers do very well!) but that also means dropping sails well before the marina where there's more space and motoring for longer than I prefer.
All very interesting. Molly has an old ST2000 but we have never used it as the previous owner reckoned it wasn't much cop except when motoring in a calm. Given the amount of welly it can take on the helm in any sort of wind, I can fully understand this!
We have a Spinlock ropelock fitted beneath the tiller - but I have so far failed to get Molly well-enough balanced to hold a course for more than 5 minutes or so, especially off the wind - which is a shame cos I really fancied trying out some of the sheet-to-tiller type ideas, and then maybe a windvane - but you have to get the boat balanced first. I can usually get most boats balanced up pretty well, but that big gaff main seems to just pull too much and I haven't cracked it yet. Fun trying though :-)
Oh forgot to say - the ropelock works fine under motor to keep you going is a straight line and would probably work for the short-spring single handed tie-up technique (which I always use no matter how many bods I have aboard).
I've now taken off the tiller and there isn't a lug as such to stop rotation. There are some runs of weld along the part of the tiller inside the rudder head, though, which probably serve a similar function.
I have drilled and tapped the tiller stainless rod to let me bolt on the bracket (a standard Raymarine item) so I shall see how it goes!
Just filling in some details and another question...
I used the pinrail a fair bit during my "summer cruise" (a week pottering around the Solent) towards the end of last year and it worked really well. It would generally hold a reasonable course as long as the wind was not too gusty and I could regularly sit and watch the world go by for 5-10 minutes without touching the tiller. Given that it uses no electricity, does not need any wiring, and only cost a few quid to build and install, it is a real success. Compared with the fiddle of trying to set up tiller lines which never worked for me, it is a doddle to use. The hole spacing worked out well, with a tiny tweak on a sheet if necessary to cover any gaps between holes by changing the balance a bit.
However, I am still trying to get my S1 tillerpilot installed, although I am nearly there now. I have the tiller at home to drill and tap it to fit the bracket for the connecting pin, and I need to run the cables from control box to cockpit socket. Question for Steve/Aeolus, or anyone else with a tillerpilot fitted, though - the tiller has a single nut to hold it in the rudder stock, and there is nothing to stop it turning. This doesn't matter with normal use, but once the tillerpilot is pushing/pulling on a pin offset from the tiller axis, there is a turning moment and nothing except a bit of friction to stop it. I sailed on FWB28 Doris of Mylor a few years ago and I know that the tiller had loosened a little in the rudder stock. I could cross-drill and pin the rudderstock and tiller if necessary, but that might well need to be done out of the water and with the rudder removed. I shall try it and see but wonder if anyone else has relevant experience.
Steve - I still have no rudder ref unit, but shall be bearing it in mind once I have the rest of the kit working!
- Brian
Bill, take a look at http://www.brianneale.plus.com/victoriaruth/pinrail.jpg
It lacks sophistication but it seems to work. The wood is something like 4x2 iroko (size determined by whatever the woodyard had in stock and then planed to clean up!); the holes are something like 3/8"; the pins are 1/2" bronze turned for part-length to fit the holes. At some time I plan to turn either a recess in the top section to be wound with cord to give some padding, or just turn a slightly better shape with some grooves to give the fingers a better grip - this is all Mark 1 experimental. The zigzag pattern in the middle turned out to be a bright idea as it gives quite a fine adjustment over the range that is normally needed. Apart from those, the holes that are used most are the ones at the very end to hold the tiller when coming into my berth or hove-to - or just to park the pins while sailing!
I thought that it would be clever to get in some peaceful Solent sailing last year by taking a week's leave just after the schools went back - mid-Sept, quiet on the water and with a good chance of reasonable weather. It seemed to be blowing a hoolie most of the week; when it wasn't the rain was torrential and some days it did both... I wish you better weather! Should you happen to come this way and fancy paying for a night in Ocean Village, you will see Victoria Ruth on C pontoon. I am also back in the water but only underwater jobs done to date; shall wait for slightly better weather and a reduction in domestic duties before getting round to the rest!
Brian - so if the 4000 is not rated that high I might as well go for one that is half the price but not half the power and you don't need another hole in the wood work ! how have you made the pins for your rail ? I have a completely different setup in my cockpit so just need a piece of bronze plate to set the holes in . my email is payneb@hotmail.co.uk if you could send me some pictures that would be great - are you in the water at the mo - I am and am having a weeks sailing last week in march - might come down to your neck of the woods then !
Steve,
I followed up with Raymarine to confirm that the new S1 tillerpilot control box does contain a rate gyro. They have told me that it does, although "they do not talk about it". I think that the performance in terms of update rate is only about 5 per sec where the more expensive add-on is 10 per sec but it would work with a chart plotter/radar for synchronising overlay between the two pictures. However, more interestingly, they said that there is no rudder reference unit in the S1 and the gyro makes up for it in rough/quartering seas, which might tie in with your experience of needing a rudder ref box with the ST4000 - the two drive units look very similar and have identical specs. I would have assumed that this was built into the tillerpilot mechanics, but it seems not...
Bill, I posted a URL to some pictures in my other self-steering thread. The whole thing including bronze pins only cost around £15 or so, although I do have the facilities for machining both the wood and the iroko so I just had to buy a "slab" of wood and a length of bronze bar. Give me a shout if you do decide to go this way - it beats lashing the tiller hands down, and in a steady breeze (at least if forward of the beam) doesn't do a bad job in my limited experience to date.
In theory even the ST4000/S1 is under-powered based on displacement, but as you say, when motoring you need a lot less grunt on the tiller than when, say, broad reaching in a F4-5 and for us single-handers keeping the boat straight when motoring is a bit of a challenge.
Hi Brian - nice to know that someone else does the 'M3' thing now and again - I was thinking of a large red boxing glove on the end of the bowsprit - just to keep things in persective - you understand - my last boat was a SCOD south coast one design and weighed 4 ton - I was using a simrad 1000 which if I remember corectly was rated for half that weight but I could be wrong - but anyway it handled fine under power which is when its realy neaded for the quick spin round and head up to get the sails down - I know it all takes a bit longer with the bowsprit but I have a rather nice furling gear on the staysail and martin on the jib so only realy worrying about the main - which comes down a treat - I think I will also have a go with the pinrail as that is all they would have had years ago and some I'm sure had no engine and no crew - after all oysters didn't fetch much back then .....
Bill, as you may have seen from some of my posts, I am also playing with the whole self-steering thing. I am almost always single-handed and like you would like to have a way to keep the boat pointed in the right direction while pulling strings and things. With a lifting bowsprit, I can spend a fairish bit of time on the foredeck and while I can keep lookout, I don't want to have to wander back to the cockpit just to tweak the tiller.
One thing that I have found is that I can heave-to pretty well under staysail alone. That keeps things reasonably under control and at least in modest wind strengths, the boat does not wander too far. However, it does need enough water to be able to do this and is not a good trick for narrow channels! The other thing that I fitted towards the end of last season and hope to try further this year is a tiller pin rail. I have tried lashing the helm and never managed to do so successfully. Knots would slip, especially if the tiller was flapping about a bit and jerking the line, and I found it very difficult to adjust with any accuracy. The pinrail is very quick, has built-in fine adjustment, and doesn't slip. It is also great to use when hove-to (as above) and invaluable when using my favourite coming-alongside-single-handed technique which involves a pinned tiller, a bit of slow-ahead on the engine, and a springy nylon spring line with a large soft eye in the end. Textbook stuff, really, but it does work.
I have been thinking about a ST4000 (especially as Steve keeps recommending it!) but in fact I'm glad that I haven't as the new S1 replacement is effectively the same mechanics with a new control unit which contains not only a fluxgate compass but also a rate gyro which would help with the radar/chartplotter setup. However, my local dealer has quoted me the "special boat show price" as a year-round deal, so I'm in no rush at present. Steve - how have you fitted your ST4000? I have seen Heards with a tiller pilot fitted in such a way that the wooden tiller has rotated on the metal tiller rod because the connection to the tiller was offset below the tiller axis. Have you done anything clever to avoid this? Pictures would be good...!
Bill - I am based at Ocean Village, just round the corner from you, so to speak. I have only visited Chichester Harbour once, and I do remember thinking that I would like a self-steering mechanism as it felt rather like dropping sails while driving up a busy M3 - long procession of boats with me desperately trying to slow down with the wind behind me, and unable to leave the tiller for long enough to do much about it!
Hi Bill, well I hope you sort out the self steering....perhaps an ST4000 is avail on ebay?? If not, many people get by with a rope holding the tiller for short periods.
As to the teak decks, just scrub gently with a brush or one of those green synthetic pan cleaners. Dont use a pressure washer!! Use plenty of water---sea water is best--and be gentle, they will look like new.
Regards, Steve.
Hi Steve - i'm sure your right - but i just can't run to the expence of a 4000 - i'm sure the 2000 -which is only rated at 3000 lb less will allow me to get the rig up under power and as for sailing - a wind vane would be the perfect answer but they are a fortune as well - as this is a new boat this season i have lots of other things to spend money on - have you seen the web sights on rigging warps from the sheets to the tiller ? www.blueanarchy.org/selfsteering/index.html - i reckon this would work well on a fwb - your boat looks very well looked after what do you do with the teak decks - mine have just been left to weather grey - it concerns me that the mastic or whatever it is - will shrink and water will ingress !
Bill
Just my opinion Bill, but if you are going to fit a Tiller Pilot then I would seriously consider fitting one that will steer the boat in all conditions.
Raymarine have replaced the ST4000 with the S1. This looks to be an improvement although my ST4000 works perfectly. Dont forget to fit a Rudder Ref Unit if you do go down this path.
Another advantage is that you will have a Fluxgate Compass display. If you also fit the Raymarine Graphic display you will be able to have actual heading on the Graphic with commanded heading on the S1 display.
Regards, Steve.
Posted on 27 Jul 2011 - 4:04pm
I have set up Carrie (heard23) for solo sailing I have a simrad t22 the next size up for the lenght of boat. And a sea Feather wind vane. The t22 is used when under motor (the out board charges the battery) and sea feather when under sail. A wee video is on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wemCBRTd7ak