[C320-list] autopilot

[Koen Bennebroek]

Thanks Jeff. I guess the rudder sensor mount would only be needed for the
S1, right? I'm sure I can still get a 4000MKII somewhere. The Raymarine
website still has a price listed for it although it also says discontinued.
They may be emptying out stock. I was just wondering if there were
compelling reasons to go either way, 4000 or S1.

I know that the tubing is tight as I have installed a chartplotter myself. I
replaced the pod housing with a bigger one. The chartplotter connector from
the gps antenna wouldn't fit through the tubing. All installers I had asked
told me upgrade to the bigger tubing. I believe I have 1" now and most
modern boats use 1.5" ? Will the wiring fit in the 1" tube?

Thanks, Koen


On 11/21/06, Jeff Church <jjemail at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> Koen,
>
> I installed the MKII this spring, replacing a broken 4000+. I spoke to
> Raymarine about the S1. They said that the programming in the S1 control
> head might be a little better, something like 5% better in a following sea.
> That didn't seem to be worth the price, but I doubt that any of the usual
> boating outfits will have any 4000s in stock.
>
> As to the installation, since the wires and compass were already in place
> some of the work was already done for me, but there still was a lot of
> tweaking to do.
>
> The wheel drive did not fit without lowering the engine instrument pod.
> That wasn't very difficult. Remove 2 nuts inside the pod, scrape away the
> caulk on the aft tube, slide the pod down an inch, drill 2 new holes in the
> back of the pod, caulk the old holes and re-caulk the tube.
>
> If you want the clutch lever in the 5 o'clock position where it always
> used to be located, you will need to drill a new locator hole in the forward
> ring of the drive unit, drill a hole in the pod to reposition the engine
> stop cable outboard about 3/4", and plug the old hole with a snap-in plastic
> button. It would be easier to just install the drive with the clutch in the
> 10 o'clock position which is the way it is installed on all the newer boats.
> I think that position is less convenient to reach, and my wiring was already
> routed out the starboard binnacle tube. Another reason to consider the 5
> o'clock position is that you will need to drill a hole in a tube and fish
> out the wire to the drive unit. You might want to drill that hole into the
> empty tube on the starboard side instead of taking a chance of tearing up an
> existing wire in the port tube.
>
> Room is tight in the binnacle tube, stuffing more wires up there is tough
> to do.
>
> The biggest pain is fabricating a mount for the rudder sensor. I've seen a
> few good solutions. I can send some pictures of them  to your email address
> if you want.
>
> Good luck.
>
> Jeff
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Koen Bennebroek
> To: C320-List
> Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2006 11:04 AM
> Subject: [C320-list] autopilot
>
>
> I'm considering adding an autopilot to Big Cat. Most Catalina's I've
> seen use the ST4000 or the MKII. It seems that both have been
> discontinued and replaced by the S1.
> Apart from the rudder transducer, is there a difference between the
> models? Is there a reason to choose the S1 over the older models?
> Also, how hard is the install? I assume all of this can be done while
> the boat is in the water?
>
> Thanks, Koen
> (Big Cat, 1995, #224)
>