I'd like to make another point that occurred to me after I sent this message. Over the past few years, I've bought a ton of used/surplus electronic boat gear for this boat and the one I'm designing. I keep making buying decisions with as open a mind as possible-but I find that I now own more Raymarine than anything else, and I think there's a good set of reasons for this:
First of all, there's a lot of it out there on the eBay/surplus market. That says nothing except that it's been popular a long while-but I guess that says something, too. More important for me, since virtually none of this has come with manuals-Raymarine has an absolutely outstanding website where you can get all kinds of documentation-parts lists, installation manuals, operating guides, and even shortcut cards-for not only current models but stuff that's been obsolete for years. I have yet to buy anything where I couldn't download all the documentation beforehand and review it. Sometimes that's hundreds of pages. Third is something I discovered by accident-tremendous customer support, even when you're not a 'customer'. Case in point: I bought an ST60 Speed/temp gauge from one eBay seller, and bought a sending unit for it from another. When I wired them up in my lab and tried them out-cutting off the stock connector on the sending unit because the ST60 had individual .110 terminals-I found that the display turned on and indicated temperature properly, but no speed indication. I had a good eBay seller, so he offered to take it back and exchange for another (both were new, but old stock he'd had for several years). Well, the second one was bad as well. I assumed at first it was my problem or an incompatibility-and at this point the seller was saying it was likely something I had done wrong and suggested politely I talk to Raymarine. Well, my e-mail to Raymarine explaining the issue got a prompt reply telling me how to test the sending unit using a bench meter, and told me that the unit was about eight years old but could be repaired in-house if I wanted. When I replied that the tests showed the unit was definitely faulty but that I'd just bought it and it was unused, Raymarine had me send it to them and they ended up taking out the innards and replacing it with new reed switch, magnet, and paddle assembly (which are ultrasonically welded inside and can't be fixed in the field). And they returned it to me at no charge; all I was out was shipping cost to Raymarine. I can't say they'd do that all the time, but I didn't have to whine at all and I feel they earned a lot of loyalty from me for future purchases. I've got nothing whatsoever to do with Raymarine nor any other sales entities; just passing on my experience. If you haven't checked www.raymarine.com yet to look up the tiller pilots and their capabilities, I'd do so. You just might find a simpler ST1000+ can accept NMEA 0183 data; I don't know. Glad the ribbing was friendly. I'll take that kind any day. Good luck, Dave Shaddock From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of ivan Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 4:11 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: catalina27-talk: Tiller pilot Dave, thanks for the info. And no need to apologize. It was just a friendly ribbing:) The wind vane I was talking about was one that would relay the wind direction back to the tiller pilot. I'm thinking that the st1000 doesn't have this "communication" capability to accept this type of info, but the st2000 does. Thanks again. Any talk of sailing is music to my ears. I have been looking at several of the Wylies after reading your discussion. It's a fascinating rig! David Shaddock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Ivan, apologies for the off-topic discussions-but it's off-season and it's all sailing, so it's interesting to me. To address your question, however: my C27 came equipped with an AutoHelm ST1000-older unit but the PO told me that he absolutely swore by it, and it was plenty strong for anything he faced in Lake Erie. He said it drove the boat better than he ever could. When I was re-wiring the boat after a complete teardown, I realized he (or the PPO-more likely, because the PO was an engineer) had hooked up the tiller with (gasp) telephone cord-solid 24AWG telephone cord-which was corroded but somehow still providing enough juice to run his AutoHelm. That tells me that the tiller pilots are forgiving, and also, because they have a really long lever arm on which to operate, don't need much in the way of current. Please do NOT wire yours with just phone cord. But they're pretty darn straightforward and reasonably priced to boot. I think the ST2000 is larger than you'd need, but would still work fine. I have read of a number of people using a tiller pilot to drive their wind vane when they have a wheel system. It seems they do this because the wind vane gives them a little more leverage and the tiller pilots are cheap and simple compared to setting up an autopilot capable of driving the wheel and its direct linkage (worm gear especially, because of its friction). So you could use your tiller pilot to drive a wind vane, but I'm not sure how you'd use a wind vane to drive (or control) the tiller pilot the way you could use wind info to drive a more sophisticated autopilot. Of course, I'm picturing the unit that came on my boat, which had a compass dial and sensing unit mounted atop it and just followed a bearing. I sold it to another boat owner and have installed a hydraulic unit controlled by an ST7000 in my C27. But there are plenty of others out there, especially on eBay. Dave Shaddock From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of ivan Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 2:02 PM To: [email protected] Subject: catalina27-talk: Tiller pilot I see a lot of talk about these Wylies on here and it makes for a fascinating read, but I'm wondering if I'm on the wrong list. I assume this still a topic we can discuss c27's. So I'll throw this out there one more time... I am researching tiller pilots and I wanted to get some feed back from anyone that is using a tiller pilot. What unit are you using? How do you like the performance? How's the power consumption? How's the reliability? How's effective is it going downwind? Do you use a wind vane that is connected to the unit? C'mon share the good stuff!! Got a used one you want to get rid of? So far I'm liking the simrad TP22 and the Raymarine autohelm ST2000. Are these units overkill for C27? -Ivan Chesapeake City, MD (Soon to be Inner Harbor in May!!) tim ford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I see Rage winning the Transpac in 93, first in class, second in fleet. But I could be wrong. Odd years TP, even years the PC, right? tf Ralph E. Ahseln wrote: > Sorry, > I should point out that "Rage" won the PACIFIC CUP not the TRANSPAC.. > > And ...... It's for sale.... LOL > > > Ralph Ahseln > > > _____ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51733/*http:/mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8H DtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ%20> it now. _____ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51734/*http:/tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/ca tegory.php?category=shopping> them fast with Yahoo! Search.
