Autopilot - S-1

[BillG]

I'm in the midst of the installation of a Raymarine S-1 wheel pilot and have two questions. One, I'm really perplexed on how  and where to install the rudder positon sensor on my 1987 vintage boat. If anyone has suggestions, I would appreciate it.   Secondly, the manual (which doesn't seem like it was designed exclusively for wheel pilots)   seems to indicate that I need to power the computer with 8 ga wire and a 30 amp circutit breaker, that seems overly excessive. 
Any thoughts? and I have talked with tech support at Raymarine, but not too confident with what they told me.

[willie]

I don't know if this will help on your older boat, but take a look.

http://www.pc-land.com/simplelife/simple_life_dbase/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=18&posts=2

This is the best way to mount the rudder sensor if you have a quadrant. Just remember to reverse the to wires because it is upside down

[George Bean]

Willie, Great install!  I recently installed one on Freya, (also a MkII boat) and couldn't be happier with the results.  Our install was slightly different and perhaps simpler.  We bolted a ¼ inch lexon plate to the top of the rudder quadrant using the existing threaded holes allowing us to mount the ball socket.  Our sensor is on the side of the rudder post and we used the same shimming technique as you.  For those of you contemplating a similar install, the most difficult part is getting all the geometry to line up.  The push rod needs to level with the top of the quadrant and the underside of the deck is somewhat uneven.  The sensor needs to be low enough to clear the upper rudder tube flange.  You will also need to snake an instrument cable up to the auto helm which may or may not be a tight fit.  None of this is impossible or exceedingly hard to do.  Just a little time consuming making all the measurements and the working space back there was a little tight for my six foot frame.

Willie, how did you drill the holes in your quadrant and how hard was it to mount the sensor behind the rudder post?  Perhaps you can do a write up and send it to the tech notes along with your pictures?

[Jon Schneider]

Great pix, Willie.  How did you attach the plywood platform to the underside of the deck?  Did you screw it in or just use 5200 (or a combination)?  If you screwed it in, how much depth is there in the glass at that point for the fasteners?

George, where did you attach (to what) on the side of the rudder post?  Any pix?

[sedelange]

Bill:
Chapter 1, Page 6, Item 3 shows the breaker should be 20A for a rotary drive.  The wire chart on page 5 does not specifically address the rotary drive autopilot.  Measure the total length of the power run and size your wire for a 20 amp load.  My guess is you will need a 10 AWG wire.  Since there is a 15 Amp fuse in the unit, this should be plenty.

Steve E. DeLange

[willie]

Thanks everyone.

I used 5200 to adhere the hard would to the bottom side of the deck.

The quadrant is soft metal and drilled easy, I used a small right angle drill.

Willie

[Ross Fisher]

Willie, I too have recently installed an S1 auto pilot on my Mk11. I notice that you have installed a strop to limit the arc through which your rudder swings. How many degrees either side of dead ahead does your strop allow? How did you set the Auto Pilot limits to ensure that it does not reach the limit of the strop? I've stripped the gears twice on mine in the first month ( Raymarine repaired under warranty) and I'm trying to eliminate every possibility.
Happy sailing!

[willie]

Hi Ross,

On my 2005 the quadrant was limited from the factory @ approximately 31 degrees with cable straps.

It is however very important to limit your autopilot by setting the rudder limit. The range is 15 to 40 degrees. Its default is 30 degrees.

I set mine at 28 degrees, this way it will never get stressed out. Go into CAL? mode to adjust this setting.

Hold your standby button for 14 seconds, once in "CAL?" mode press the "-1" or "+1" buttons to unlock, then use the "disp" button to scroll.

Hope that helps,