tiller pilots for 23

[brackish]

Anyone have experience with tiller pilots for a 23?  Raymarine ST 1000 plus vs. Simrad 22?  Can a Raymarine ST 1000 plus be installed on a 23 without additional brackets, extensions, etc.  I forgot to measure before I left the boat this past weekend.  I'm considering whether and what to get.  Want it to talk with my GPS.

[Craig Weis]

I'm sorry as well. Can't help you as I don't have enough on board electricity to drive these instruments and must rely on my ForeSpar adjustable tiller holder with the tiller socket UNDER the tiller so it's not an eye sore and an anchoring socket on either side of my cockpit combing. [see Frappr] This allows either side of one settee to be used full length, as when the skipper lies down for a nap while sailing. Yes I have set the boat to sail by her self and then dosed off. Dumb I know...but I'm an old guy and sailing and sleep go hand in hand.

This stick is also very nice when beating into the wind on close haul or via motor by allowing one to grip the ForSpar for that extra long tiller with less reach and when the skipper wants to scoot up close to the closed sliding hatch to dodge the weather, or reach the VHS radio, or cell clipped to the hand set wire.

I do have a Raymarine chartplotter, and Raymarine ST-40 Bi-Data unit.
The chartplotter I use sparingly for a quick fix, find ship or suggest course, or dead reckoning if necessary but the speed/depth of the ST-40 unit is usually on the weekend.

It accumulates my km per trip, total km over the years [3000+], water temp, fastest speed of the trip, average speed of the trip, alarms, keel off-set, lamps and contrast. A very nice low power consumption unit with two ~2" dia holes through the hull with very little sticking out of the wetted area of the hull. A very slippery unit.
skip.

[Shawn]

"Can a Raymarine ST 1000 plus be installed on a 23 without additional brackets, extensions, etc. "

I put a ST-2000+ on my 23 and it needed a 4" pushrod extension and a 3" tiller bracket.

Shawn

[brackish]

Thanks folks,

Shawn,

I took some measurements at the boat yesterday and seems that I'll need both a push rod extension and a bracket mounted under the tiller.  Some questions about your installation:

The mounting spot for the socket perpendicular to the tiller centerline at 18" from the rudder pivot point is an area just inboard of the stern mooring cleat.  Is that where you located yours?  Any interference with the back of the tiller pilot and the cleat when in operation?  Picture of your socket mounting location would be great if the boat is handy to you.

With reference to above, my measurement indicates a 3" extension necessary (2.5" perfect but not available), I'm wondering about your 4" need.  Did you move forward from the 18" distance from the rudder pivot point?

I'm assuming that your bracket is also undermounted and the bracket you chose is the one listed at 3" for an undermounted pin.  (same bracket is listed as 4" for top mounting).  Does this bracket clear the stern cockpit coaming at lock to lock or does it not get there with the pilot?

Thanks,

Frank

[Shawn]

Frank,

"The mounting spot for the socket perpendicular to the tiller centerline at 18" from the rudder pivot point is an area just inboard of the stern mooring cleat.  Is that where you located yours?  Any interference with the back of the tiller pilot and the cleat when in operation?  Picture of your socket mounting location would be great if the boat is handy to you."

Mine is at the forward edge of the stern cleat. Look at the bottom of the cleat up through the seat locker and try and get the pin as far from the cleat as possible while still getting into the backing plate that the cleat is mounted to. It is a tight fit but the autopilot fits with the cleat. Next time I am at the boat I can try and take a picture but it is an hour away. The electrical connection is on the seat back just below there.

"With reference to above, my measurement indicates a 3" extension necessary (2.5" perfect but not available), I'm wondering about your 4" need.  Did you move forward from the 18" distance from the rudder pivot point?"

I went with the 4" as that is what I had read was needed on the 23 in an old post. If you think you can do it with 3" then that should be fine too. Too long (or short) means you have less total travel to one side or the other.

"Does this bracket clear the stern cockpit coaming at lock to lock or does it not get there with the pilot?"

I do have the bracket on the bottom of the tiller and it isn't a problem. The tillerpilot doesn't go that far over.

When steering by hand I haven't had a problem there either but I can't recall if it is because it clears or you can't push the tiller that far over or if I have never tried.

What GPS do you have? It is optimal if it puts out cross track error in a format the autopilot understands as it will make adjustments as needed to correct for that to stay on track.

Shawn

[brackish]

Shawn,

Thanks for the information, very helpful.

Don't worry about the picture, another 23 owner sent one and is just as you describe.

I have a Standard Horizon 180i GPS.  I have to admit to being ignorant of the protocols to make them talk to each other.  According to the SH manual it has a default of NEMA0183 with about six sets of three initial sentences that it is capable of.  I'm going to print out the Raymarine and Simrad manual sections and see if there is a match.  However, if in doubt, i can always call their customer service and ask for confirmation in layman's terms.

Thanks,

Frank

[Shawn]

Frank,

"According to the SH manual it has a default of NEMA0183 with about six sets of three initial sentences that it is capable of.  I'm going to print out the Raymarine and Simrad manual sections and see if there is a match.  However, if in doubt, i can always call their customer service and ask for confirmation in layman's terms."

I just checked through the 180i manual. If you enable the RMB output sentence it should give the Raymarine tillerpilot all the data it needs assuming the plotter fills in all the fields. That chartplotter does calculate XTE (cross track error) so it should be including that in the RMB sentence.

Why that is nice is when you have the GPS feeding the tillerpilot a track to a waypoint. If your tillerpilot isn't receiving XTE it will still steer you are needed to get you to the waypoint itself. From drift/slip or whatever you may not be on your track though. In open water that may not be a problem, but if your track was set to avoid rocks or an island...etc..etc... the XTE could let you sail right into land.

If the GPS feeds the XTE to the tillerpilot the tillerpilot makes many many small corrections as needed to keep you on your track itself.

Shawn