[C320-list] EV-100 install on early 320

[Chris Burti]

After our second wheel pilot bit the dust, I installed the linear drive and
it is so far superior that there is no real comparison. Silent, steady and
last week was handling 25-30 knot apparent wind effortlessly. In these
conditions, the wheel pilot always kicked out its clutch.

Unlike Jeff, I fabricated my own backing plate out of a piece of scrap 1/8"
stainless plate and polished it... easy enough task.

You should order the rudder arm from Edson and be sure to measure your
rudder post accurately with a digital caliper, they bore it precisely.

Fair Winds,
Chris Burti
Commitment #867
Farmville, NC


On Mon, Nov 23, 2020 at 12:41 PM Jeff Hare <Catalina at thehares.com> wrote:

> What I'll add to Graeme's post is that quite a few of us have done this
> project.  I got guidance from several others initially.
>
> Mechanically, Installing the Evolution linear drive is not overly
> complicated.
>
> Some things that I really disliked when I installed our wheel pilot early
> on, was that I had to drill into the stainless pedestal tubes to snake the
> motor control wires up to the AP Control head. That was a serious pain in
> the a.  You'll also have to drill into the white pedestal tower itself
> which breaks into the Edson factory paint and can cause it to bubble in a
> few years.
>
> The wheel pilot connector and weather boot that hooks to the motor is
> fragile and easily broken. Why they put such a crappy connector on such an
> exposed connection is beyond me. Removing the wheel becomes cumbersome and
> fragile (we used to remove the wheel a lot and hang it on the Edson rail
> mount to open up the cockpit). You'll have to mount the motor on the left
> side of the pedestal, which makes the handle flip UP to engage and down to
> disengage, which isn't in itself a problem, you get used to it. There's too
> much stuff going on with the right side of the engine pod to mount it the
> normal way. Whenever you power up the wheel pilot, it steers a few degrees
> to check the motor which means that you have to be careful not to have it
> engaged with the pedestal locked during power up.  The linear drive does
> not do this.
>
> Getting it adjusted to steer properly was a challenge, but once
> calibrated, it was pretty good, but absolutely nothing comparable to the
> silent stable steering of the linear drive.  Engaging/disengaging is just a
> button press.  If it's in the budget, you'll never regret the Linear drive
> choice.
>
> I have a CAD drawing for the stainless steel backing plate that any
> machine shop can make easily (mine cost $93).  We have all the mechanical
> installation details nailed down, so that there shouldn't be any rocket
> science involved as long as you have someone that can fit in the aft locker
> to work.
>
> One real benefit of the Linear Drive is safety.  It drives the rudder post
> directly, so takes a lot of the stress off the cables when it's running.
> If you have a steering cable break or jump the gears, the linear drive can
> still be run manually to drive the boat any time you'd think you have to
> resort to the rather useless Emergency Tiller.
>
> My $.02
>
> -Jeff Hare
> 2001 #809 Woodbine II
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: C320-list <c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com> On Behalf Of
> Graeme Clark
> Sent: Monday, November 23, 2020 12:02 PM
> To: Catalina list <C320-List at Catalina320.com>
> Subject: Re: [C320-list] EV-100 install on early 320
>
> Peter
>
> If you can afford it, go for the below deck ram. The improvement is worth
> it. Its not a huge amount more to buy but the installation will be more
> tricky and therefore costly if you have to pay someone to do it for you.
>
> The network is NMEA2000 (well, raymarines version of it) so you don't have
> to ‘add’ anything. The way NMEA2000 works is you have a ‘backbone’ cable
> with spurs off it to the various components. The kit if bought complete
> comes with the necessary cabling. The control unit (“instrument”) is a
> standard size and will fit where your existing a/p control is on your
> instrument cluster.  I fitted both the heading sensor and the computer unit
> in the aft cabin hanging space as you describe.  I powered it with cables
> run from the electrical panel through the bilge ( under the liner) and
> directly into that hanging locker. It is dry and accessible and gives good
> performance.
> Any existing Raymarine NMEA0183 instruments can be connected to the
> NMEA2000 backbone with a small converter module which Raymarine supply.
> Literally plug and play.Its called Seatalk to Seattle (NG) converter - but
> its basically 0183 to 2000!
>
> The  only issue I had was my non raymarine GPS and plotter and for that I
> bought an Actisense NGW-1  NMEA0183-NMEA2000 converter. It is mounted next
> to the a/p computer and powered off the same source.
>
> Wiring up the whole thing was a cinch in terms of what to plug in where
> but quite challenging in terms of routing the cabling.  I ended up removing
> the pedestal guard and - because of lack of space for the various
> individual thick cables, bought a multicore cable to replace the several
> individual instrument cables (i think it had about 12 or 16 cores from
> memory) and made the necessary connections at each end so that there was
> then space left for the new cable to the a/p control.  This I then threaded
> through the steering assembly in the aft cabin into the stern locker area
> across towards the starboard side and then through a drilled  hole to route
> the cables along behind the wood strip at the top of the aft cabin where
> the cables for the reading lights also run, into the hanging locker to the
> computer and heading sensor.
>
> Some people have mounted the electronics in the stern locker area. On my
> boat I keep as much electrical and electronic stuff out of that area s i
> can. it always seems to be damp. But that is a matter of personal choice of
> course.
>
> If you buy the kit it comes with a rudder position sensor (well, the ram
> version did!). The cable routing I describe makes it very easy to connect
> this onto the network and its well worth it in terms of improved
> performance.
>
> Hope this helps
>
> Regards
>
> Graeme Clark
> #366, 1996
>
>
> > On 23 Nov 2020, at 16:42, nibj <nibj at mac.com> wrote:
> >
> > Pardon me for rehashing an old subject.  We have an early (1995 I think)
> C320 with Perkins engine and associated instrument panel on the old style
> Edson pedestal/steering guard setup. Our boat has next to no electronics
> (just VHF and FloatHub, no chart plotter, just an ancient Garmin GPS).
> >
> > We want to install an autopilot (likely an EV-100 wheel pilot) for use
> in the Chesapeake Bay and maybe ICW (nothing too strenuous, maybe round
> Delmarva but that is only one day at sea).
> >
> > I have looked at the posts on this subject and may have missed the
> information:
> >
> > 1) Will it fit or will we have to modify the instrument cluster?
> > 2) Reading posts, it seems that a good place for the controller and
> compass etc is in the small hanging locker in the aft “stateroom”. Is that
> the consensus?
> > 3) Where do you put the control panel?  I seem to recall a fancy
> Scanstrut install that looked good but can’t find it now.
> > 4) I guess I should install an NMEA-2000 network.  I am thinking of wind
> and AIS later.
> >
> > Does anyone have a copy of the Mainsheet article mentioned in some of
> the posts?  I tried to find it but it seems that Catalina’s mainsheet page
> is under construction?
> >
> > Any help would be very much appreciated.
> >
> > Best
> > Peter
> > Tangled #226
>
>