Saving your ST1000 or ST2000 from self distruction

[Swift]

Hi

Talking of self steering, my ST2000 failed and when I pulled it apart I found bits of rubber and other chewed up parts. Fortunately I was able to get it going again with some grease and epoxy minus a few bits, it’s a bit wonky but what the hell, two years later it still works. Unfortunately there are a few parts that are seriously degraded and it’s only a matter of time before the unit fails. The total cost of all the parts I need are about the same as the cost of a new ST2000. So how do I save my new unit (if I get one) from self destruction? Because as everyone who owns one knows, the problem with both the ST1000 and ST2000 is that once the push rod is fully extended or retracted the motor is still engaged and until the boat comes back on course the push rod will be forced hard up against it’s stops with the motor going berserk. This is no problem on a power boat because it will never be that far off course but on a sail boat, no matter how well balanced, situations occur when the push rod is hard over. Eventually the motor burns out, the belt drive breaks or the ST just eventually tears itself to pieces. My ST2000 seems intent on doing the later. I was giving some though to this problem when I came across the following modification:

http://www.cruisingonstrider.us/ST1000mods.htm

The purpose of the modification is to ensure that when the push rod is hard over the motor will be turned off with the push rod in the (unpowered) hard over position until the boat comes back on course. This is accomplished with a cunning arrangement of only two micro switches, and two diodes and a spring. There are no complicated electronics involved but the mechanical mount of the switches would take a bit of skill.

Really, Raymarine should have fixed this problem years ago (or maybe they have? my ST2000 is 9 years old). Or Maybe Raymarine are happy to have these units fail so they can market their more expensive units?

BTW Webb Chiles killed 3 autopilot during his trip from the USA to NZ in his Moore 24. For the remainder of his solo circumnavigation he has installed what appears to be a vastly superior Pelagic unit.
http://www.inthepresentsea.com/the_actu ... h-ups.html

This is a unit with a seperate below deck gyro controller with remote operation. I was surprised by the reasonable price, $USD 320 for the tiller drive and $USD 780 for the gyro including a remote.
http://pelagicautopilot.com.

By contrast, locally, Whitworths advertise the Raymarine EV 200 Gyro unit for a sailboat for $3899 and if you want a handheld remote (looks similar to a car remote) it’s an extra $529! Thats a total of $4428 AUD for Raymarine VS $1100 USD for the Pelagic system.

Cheers
Keith

[lockie]

I killed an ST2000+ on a Bass Strait trip. The cogged drive belt stripped due to being hard over just like you described. I believe it's essential to monitor it to prevent it working too hard. Main causes for this on my Compass 28 are too much weather helm and large quartering/following seas. I have found that when running before anything much above 15 knots, furling the main and just using the foresail gives a more stable motion with little speed drop, and is much easier on the helm.

The only consolation is the warranty - 3 years worldwide if registered online.

The Simrad TP22 that the ST2000+ replaced was not so prone to the problem, but the Simrads do seem prone to control and fluxgate failures.

Cheers, Graeme

[Shaun]

G'day,
What stuffed my st2000 was that it got too hot.
I had made a nice waterproof jacket for it, but obviously didn't allow enough ventilation & the thing melted while working hard. What had happened was the solder had melted on the first diode on the circuit board after the positive power lead enters the unit, & the diode dropped out. Easily fixed.

I reckon having all lines led back to the cockpit helps, so there is less time spent stuffing around on the foredeck,
cheers

[Shaun]

That Pelagic unit looks and sounds very good Keith, thanks for posting it.
cheers

[Phillip]

It's a fact, once these auto-helms start to over work the only alternative is to hand steer.

Hence, I've hand steered from Lake Macquarie to Port Stephens [7 hours] and I did several similar days during my recent trip up north.

[Shaun]

It's a fact, once these auto-helms start to over work the only alternative is to hand steer.......

That is unfortunately the fact with the Raymarine ST range, but it would be nice if you could have confidence to leave the auto-pilot to do its job in all conditions.
cheers

[Brandon]

Here is another interesting alternative, although still not that cheap. I have the ST2000 hooked up to a Raymarine GPS/chartplotter/windvane. The interesting thing I have noticed is that when using the ST2000 as part of the overall setup it backs off when it hits the bump stop and just holds slightly off the full over position. I assume this is because it is hooked into the more sophisticated plotter with better software but I haven't checked officially.

Regards,
Brandon

[lockie]

Very interesting - I've never noticed that, but that doesn't mean much as I don't sail to a way point all that often. Must try it out.

Cheers, Graeme

[Ianb]

It's a fact, once these auto-helms start to over work the only alternative is to hand steer.

Hence, I've hand steered from Lake Macquarie to Port Stephens [7 hours] and I did several similar days during my recent trip up north.

Phil,
Did you try adjusting the gain on the autohelm? The course might not be super-accurate, but would probably average out OK.

[Phillip]

No Ian, the conditions in each case were so extreme that it was unable to cope with the wind gusts and waves combined.

But I must look into that and see what I have set it at, thinking that I've already set it as course as possible.