[C320-list] Autopilot upgrade

[millers1 at aol.com]

Scott,  I had a below deck unit on my C&C.  It was on the boat when I bought it and the 10 years I owned the 
boat I never had a problem, so I do not recall the mfg.  It was power full and controlled the boat well in heavy seas.
I know it was mfg. in Seattle by a company that built tcommercial boat units.
One point that has not been mentioned, if you have a steering system failure (pedestal chain or cable 
breaks), your below deck unit is attached directly to the rudder post and you go fully on auto-pilot and 
get home.
Art   #680


-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Thompson <surprise at thompson87.com>
To: Catalina320.org <C320-List at Catalina320.org>
Sent: Fri, Apr 19, 2013 2:18 pm
Subject: [C320-list] Autopilot upgrade


Time to replace my old, tired, non-functional autopilot, and possibly 
other instruments not working at the same time. I'm toying with the idea 
of switching to a below-decks linear drive instead of the wheel pilot I 
have now. It would be more powerful than the wheel drive, include rudder 
sensor, and be more protected from the elements. Also, it would clean up 
the helm station and would not require moving the engine instruments 
pod, which otherwise would be necessary with a new wheel drive. The 
installer I'm talking to says that he would anchor the linear drive to 
the swim platform, through-bolted with a stainless backing plate (which 
would thus be on the top of the swim platform).

Some questions for you...

1. Does anyone know whether that part of the swim platform is sold glass 
or cored? This is on a 1999 model year boat. The installer says he has 
done similar installations on a 350 and that the swim platform is sturdy 
enough to take the forces involved. I'm sure that is true for normal 
sailing but what happens in a hard grounding?

2. Thoughts on whether this is a crazy idea? Has anyone else made that 
change? The only real downside I've discovered is the cost, which is 
substantially more than a wheel pilot. But I'm tired of dealing with the 
old ST4000+ which seems to be broken more often than not, and never did 
steer a straight line at its best, even when I followed all of the 
tweaks and recommendations coming from this list.

Scott Thompson
Catalina 320 "Surprise," hull #653 (1999)