Raymarine Wheel Pilot belt replacement

[TopsailB]

Last fall I had a new Raymarine EV-100 Wheel Pilot installed on Vivie. It has performed amazingly well. Many miles are under the keel using the wheel pilot under sail as well as power. It has kept course or heading in every condition I?ve sailed or motored, and even did well sailing in a following sea with 20kt winds under reefed sails.

Until recently.

First it began sqeaking loudly. Then, in addition to squeaking, the engagement lever would not stay in the proper engaged position, rising every time the wheel turned to starboard. Belt tension adjustment had no effect. After reading a bit, it seemed that the rollers might need cleaning or the belt might be bad. Upon disassembly, the rollers did have a little white residue, which cleaned up easily. The poly belt looked undamaged, it seemed stiff, but not knowing what a problem might look like, I reassembled the unit and tried it. The squeak was gone but the lever didn?t engage properly.

After a bit more research I decided the problem was the poly belt, which is not covered by the warranty, even though it has been in service less than one year. I found this neoprene belt:

https://westcoastbelts.com/product/have-one-to-sell-sell-now-have-one-to-sell-details-about-new-replacement-belt-for-use-with-raymarine-autopilot-a18083-st4000-mk2-875mm/

It went on easily and the wheel pilot works as well or better than new. A trip from New Bern to Cape Lookout and back by way of Oriental allowed a good test. So far it?s a winner. At about 25% the cost of a new poly belt, it will be interesting to see if I can get more than a year out of the West Coast Belts product.

[Lucky enough]

Thanks for the post. Mine is not squeaking but lever keeps lifting. Guess it's time to take it apart...