Raymarine ST-1000 tiller pilot

[brackish]

I have the ST-1000 and use it a lot when I'm single handling which is much of the time.  I'm retired, my friends all still working, I pick the weather and go.  The ST-1000 does fairly well, in certain conditions.  I use it a lot when motoring and setting sails or taking them down, flaking and covering.  I also use it to keep sailing while I'm eating lunch or going below for something and sometimes to read when the traffic is non existent.  A lot of the time I'm on a run and the tiller pilot does well, although a little slow with a following sea.  Today I was on a beam reach with winds 6-8 and all was well.  However, I was getting gusts up to 13-15.  The tiller pilot was terrible at adjusting to the gusts.  I found I had to hit the standby button, pull the rod off the tiller and take over.  Now that is particularly irritating when you bring only one beer to have with your lunch and you knock it over in the process of correcting the tiller pilots errant ways. 

So, do others have similar issues? Can this thing be taught or adjusted to do better?, Does the ST-2000 have the same slow reaction/recovery issues?

[deisher6]

Hey Brackish:
I have an ST4000 MK2 wheel auto pilot.  It sounds as if I may use it a bit more than you especially since there is a pretty low density of boats on the Neuse most of the time I am sailing.  However I have pretty much the same aggravations with it as you do with the tiller steering. 
It may be a little easier to disengage than the tiller model; hit STBY and flip a lever on the wheel. 

Was sailing last week in a gusty rain and (some) thunder (It was to late to turn around).  Had been pounding for 2 hours at 0-2 kts into the wind until I could turn in deeper water and get an angle on the wind. Had just got the reefed main set, and was seeing how things were going to go, noted the fitting the reefing line was attached to  on the boom had failed, but the stopper knot was stuck in the reefing grommet on the leech and holding, explains why I had a hard time tensioning the reefing line at the gooseneck. Was wondering what else could happen, when I put the autopilot stand by, to steer by hand, the wheel was really dragging....I was thinking a line under, a crab pot, rudder post problems (has recently spent some time on the bottom).....fortunately it was just that I had not entirely disengaged the drive on the wheel.

The autopilot has three settings: racing, cruising, and (the third escapes me right now, like meandering).  It does not handle down wind sailing very well at all, making very large wheel movements, in any of the settings.  If I have to go the foredeck in chop I will use the racing setting and get on a broad reach if possible.  The more wind the more I steer by hand, if for no other reason to save wear and tear on the gear in case I really need it.

regards charlie

[Potcake boy]

You can set the sea state manually to get more rapid corrections of heading. On automatic it adjusts to the sea state and makes minimal corrections to save battery power. If you are on a reach and it's gusty, ease your main sheet to avoid a sudden weather helm which the pilot isn't set to handle.

The 2000 model is faster lock to lock and more powerful, but I don't have experience with it to compare to the 1000. A friend has a 2000 on a Hunter 26 which has some significant weather helm and he seems happy with it.

[BobK]

When the wind picks up a little slack off the main just a little and the boat won't try to round up as much making it easier for the autohelm to react.  You may loose a little speed but nothing is worth spilling a beer.
BobK

[brackish]

Charlie, mine actually does the best on a lighter wind run if I'm set wing and wing.  But I'm on a lake.  When I tried it in the Gulf, not so great.  The difference, I think is the addition of a following sea.  A human helmsman anticipates without even thinking about it and adjusts in small increments before the fact while the instrument cannot.

Ron, you're right, I should have gotten the manual out.  I can change to Fixed Minimum Deadband tightening the course with a loss of power consumption efficiency which is not really an issue for me.  Another option is to switch to WindTRim mode since it seems there is always a little shift in direction in the gusts.

BobK there is a whole section in the book on dealing with gusts.  Talks about easing the mainsheet traveler (I've got to get serious about that mid boom sheeting with traveler), and going with a reef a little early.  In my case I had a single reef in, I usually just put one in the winter and leave it until mid spring.  80% of the time I need it and too lazy to shake it out for that other 20%.  And you're right, losing the ONLY beer you brought for lunch is not a good thing.

Thanks, guess I'll take the book up next time and experiment with the options.

[HeaveToo]

The St-2000 is supposed to be faster hard over time.  You could adjust the sea state to high and it should work better for those conditions.

In some conditions you need to steer.  They autopilot just can't keep up.  My S1 on my other boat was the same way.