Rudder reference sender install mk1.5

[waughoo]

My boat came with an inoperative st4000+ wheel pilot.  The wheel drive was still salvageable so I rebuilt that and set about getting used evolution parts to make up the rest of the system.  I have never been too fond of the performace of the wheel pilots before and understood the ev sensor and rudder reference made a noteable improvement. 

In an effort to get the geometry as close to correct as possible, i chose a spot in line with the rudder post to mount the sensor.  Unfortunately in my situation, this spot is floating in space.  To get an accurate location and maintain a parallel plane to the radial wheel, I built a jig that sat upon the radial drive and then shaped a block to match the underside of the cockpit and attached it with thickened epoxy.

[waughoo]

Next up was to build a small block to attach to the radial drive to hold the connection ball provided by Raymarine.  This was made out of 1/2" starboard and mounted to the radial wheel using the two 3/8x16 threads already present.  Prior to shaping it, I left it square so I could get an accurate location to mount the ball.  Those scratch lines are my reference points.

[waughoo]

The final step was to install the sender and cut the linkage to match the offset from the center of the rudder post to maintain the geometry.

[waughoo]

Then it was pretty easy to route the wiring over to the ACU-100 that I had mounted up on a board installed to the side of the aft hanging locker.  This wiring and mounting board infrastructure was built with the idea that some day I may want to install a below deck pilot.  Thus the larger sized block and the larger supply wiring. 

I havent been able to test it beyond a simple mess about at the slip, but I look forward to using it A LOT in the coming season

[LogoFreak]

Great job Aleks 
Looks clean and with a high level of OCD that pleases me 

[waughoo]

Thanks :-)  the OCD was in full swing ;-)

[Jon W]

Congratulations on a clean install. Very nice work.

[Dave Spencer]

Nicely done Alex!   

Not related to the Rudder reference installation, I noticed in the second picture of the first post that there is a U shape carved out of the "bowl" where the rudder post runs through to the cockpit sole.  And on the third post, it looks like this has been built up and a hole is drilled in that location.  Did you have any cracking of the "bowl" section requiring repair?  If so, how did you proceed.  (I don't want to hijack this post so perhaps you could start a new topic if you are able to respond to my question.)

[Admiral_Swellson]

Looks great, no water tank in the way on the mk1.5, right?

I mounted my ball joint fixture screws in line with the lateral forces, but it definitely looks better mounted the other way, as you did, probably makes no difference though, as the forces aren't that substantial.

[waughoo]

I took my water tank out to improve access for the install.  All the components are accessible after the tank is in but will be behind the aft cabin bulkhead.

Dave,

I have not had any issues with that bulb area at the top bearing location.  That said, I have not owned the boat very long.

[waughoo]

Got out for a test run twice over the past few days.  It is pretty sweet to have a rudder angle gauge at the helm.  It seems like it couldn't be that complicated to find center (I have a leather wrap and it has a marker when centered), but the red and green bar graph makes it super easy to determine center.  I found out that my heading sensor was off by about 10 or so degrees.  I mounted it under the galley sink above and behind the water heater.  This puts it pretty close to center of roll and pitch and nearly at the waterline (best recommended install location), however it doesn't allow me to see the pointer when I install it.  A bit of trial and error allowed me to get it adjusted to be pretty accurate.  If anyone has a wheel pilot without a rudder reference sender, I HIGHLY  recommend the addition.  The pilot seems to be much less active with the sensor installed and much more accurate.  I am looking forward to putting into service this season!

[LogoFreak]

Thanks for the report Alex! Great to hear it's working well for you. Installing one on my below deck AP, kinda annoyed the rudder reference sensor isn't integral of the linear drive.

[waughoo]

Antoni,

I too have always wondered why that isn't a connected part of the linear drive.  It certainly has the information available!