Messages

IT WORKS!!!
I took the idea Jack Stewart "Winddancer" provided concerning the 1" x1/8" washers as shims between the wheel and the autopilot bracket.I couldn't find the washers so I purchased a 6"x1/8" sheet of rubber gasket material, machine screws 1/4" longer than the original, and cut out shims that match the contours of the brackets where they attach to the autopilot frame, so that they're hardly noticeable. I then held my breathe when I powered up the autopilot and punched in a +10 course degree change and then a -10 course change and it worked perfectly. And the folding wheel is really great, especially when tied up at the marina. Thanks to all who responded with ideas on how to resolve this issue. 

Ken Sellers-Lucky Days(#1560)
I've read all your responses to my "conundurm" and I want to thank all of you very much for your excellent suggestions on how to resolve this problem. At this point I think I'll try Jack Stewart's (Windancer)suggestion and try the rubber faucet washers first and see if that does it. If not I'll go to plan B and have the machinist ( who is retired but works a little bit and is cheap by today's standards)
give it a shot this week and see what he can come up with as an easy and inexpensive fix. I'll let you know how it works out.

As the fairly new owner, 18 months, of our 2001 C34 MKII Lucky Days (#1560) we concluded that as we, mostly me, get older we find it more difficult to get around the 40" wheel and looked for alternatives. We settled on the Lewmar 36" folding wheel and installed it last Thursday ( after 3 trips to a machinist in order to make a metric designed wheel hub fit an SAE post). In any case, we then discovered that the new wheel hub is concave to the wheel vs. a straight hub on the old 40", and now I can't get the ST 4000+ autopilot hub plate attached to the new wheel as it wasn't designed to be flexible. I called the Lewmar tech folks and they don't have a mod kit to solve this problem. I've spoken to Stu about this and he advised me to toss the issue out to you and see if any of you have had a similar problem and/or can suggest a fix. If I can't find a solution to this problem I'll need to return the 36" wheel to Westmarine since I don't want the trade off to be the autopilot. Any suggestions on how to solve this issue are welcome.