[C320-list] Auto Pilot - Wheel vs. Direct Drive

[sailorlew at aol.com]

You may want to try this man who repairs Autohelms. He fixed my friends for $50.
Lew

Mates-I just had my ST 4000+ wheel autopilot  control head which Raymarine no
longer services repaired by Dan Gerhardt who was mentioned a few months ago by a
fellow C320 owner on this site. Costs vary with the amount of work and my repair
was a lot less than what Raymarine charged the last time this unit was repaired
6 years ago.  He turned it around in a few days and it is running fine with all
the original settings intact.  His contact info is  c250 at mydurango.net.  He is
out of that great sailing community of Durango CO!  He also buys and sells
autopilots and services autopilots from Raymarine, Raytheon and Autohelm. He
told me he has done other instrument repair but with varied success.  Advise
dropping him a note if you have an autopilot repair need for cost and shipping
information.  I don’t know if he does autopilot repairs for units that Raymarine
still services.  






-----Original Message-----
From: Graeme Clark <cg at skyflyer.co.uk>
To: C320-List <C320-List at Catalina320.com>
Sent: Fri, Nov 6, 2015 12:49 pm
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Auto Pilot - Wheel vs. Direct Drive


Jeff

I guess it depends on how much you can do yourself and whether you want
to use off the shelf parts.

I have had nothing but trouble from wheel pilots.
I’m going for a linear drive now. MY wife and I tend to sail two handed most of
the time and we’ve realised that the only way we are going to make longer
passages and start going places , is if we bite the bullet and get a decent
installation.  Things will only get worse as we age, too!

I have just
purchased the Raymarine EVO200 with Type 1 linear drive. Other members here can
supply some great photos of their installations.

The thing about the
raymarine SeatalkNG is that it really is plug and play, so my plan is to do all
the wiring myself, and only use a professional installer (if I absolutely have
to) to fit the linear drive. However, knowing exactly where it needs to go etc
means that  - thanks to the association members here - its not (or shouldn't be)
the big worry that it would if you were starting a new installation from
scratch!

You can buy ready made parts from Catalina Direct or have them made
up by your local machine shop.

Certainly there might be some interfacing
issues if you have older instruments (e.g. windspeed and direction) but thats
going to apply no matter what a/p you fit.

Graeme
#366, Jaskar,
England




On 6 Nov 2015, at 17:32, Jeffrey Brown <oceanblues at mac.com>
wrote:

> I know this topic has been discussed dozens of times but wanted to
throw it out there again. There is a significant additional cost to install the
direct drive autopilot vs. the wheel pilot. I’ve heard the additional install
cost can range from $1500 to $2500.  For those of you that did go this route and
had previously used the wheel pilot, was it worth the extra cost? I’ve used the
wheel pilot for years, and for the most part it has worked well, until it began
to lose it's mind recently taking random turns which is causing me to replace it
this year, its the original, 20 years old.
> 
> Jeff Brown
> "Out of the
blue" Dana Point, CA
> Catalina 320, Hull 78
> (949) 350-5123
>
oceanblues at mac.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
>