Installing ST1000 autohelm?

[Troppo]

Has any one installed a ST1000 Autohelm or similar on their Top Hat?

I went to install the ST10000 Autohelm on Windchaser and found the tiller sits low compared to the seats. So I'm gunna need a bracket on the tiller to raise the pin up high enough that the Autohelm body sits level from the pin that goes into the cockpit seat to the pin that goes into the tiller. I am concerned as the pin on the tiller will have to sit up a couple of inches to get the height needed. Is that normal for Top Hats?

I found on Windchaser there was a bracket and pin UNDER the tiller and Jamie, who I bought the boat from, said he thinks the previous owner had an autohelm that went through a screw-on hatch on the side of the cockpit seat. The hatch is in the right position but there was nowhere inside that the autohelm could connect to. This would be an alternative to having the Autohelm positioned above the seat. Does anyone know if this is a good system as maybe I should just try and put a mount for the body of the autohelm inside the quarter-berth where it can poke out to the tiller and connect to the installed low mounted pin. What do you think?

[Phillip]

Troppo,

Lift your tiller until it's in the right position and then tighten the horizontal bolt that fixes the tiller onto your tiller head.

This will keep the tiller at the right position. Ensure that you place the autohelm at rightangles to that position! [if its out don't panic it will still work OK]

For a photo see my sailblog on day 2 or there abouts. But mount it on the starboard side, I had power issues so it went on the port side. Means I have to add steps to the start up so it dosn't think its going astern!


http://www.sailblogs.com/member/seaka

Phillip.

[Troppo]

Phillip, I found your picture, thanks. You have a nice lot of pics posted, I've checked out a few and will go back later for another look. Nice photos.

[Shaun]

I also lifted the tiller a couple of inches on both of the TH's I have owned to install a ST2000 (MkIII's), so it seems normal for that Mk.

On the first one there was a flat SS plate between the vertical SS pieces that a bolt goes through to clamp the tiller to the rudder stock, so I was able to glue in some packs (SS washers) & still leave the bolt not fully tightened, which enabled the tiller to still be lifted out of the way, when sitting in the cockpit not underway.
On the second one I had to raise it by(what Phil said), lifting the rudder to the correct height & then tightening the bolt, its a little inconvienient as you have to get the spanners out if you want to lift the tiller out of the way.

Positioning the ST under the seat in the qtr berth sounds complicated, might of been a good idea at the time but then maybe realised that it would be awkward to make the little adjustments to the heading that are often required, plus its a open hole in the boat, plus its easier to simply push the ST right out of the way when hand steering.

If you spend a bit of time trying to get the measurements spot on, triple checking & marking before drilling, it will be ok. As Phil said it doesnt matter if they are a little bit out of perfect dimensions. As long as the ST ram is not pushing or pulling the tiller beyond its arc of travel, all will be good. (I moved the second installation socket on the cockpit seat aft 90mm, all is ok.)

cheers

[Troppo]

Thank you for the useful info. I think I might go for the on-top installation. If I can do the 'tighten-the-bolt' approach for now so I can get the autohelm functioning to sail up to Rockhampton then I can look at other possibilities like packing once I have moored close by and can muck around with stuff on weekends.

[Troppo]

Feedback on my installation:

This is my low-tech auto steering system.



Here is my high-tech autohelm. The install is not complete as I simply ran the power wires straight to the battery which is in the cockpit locker. And yes, I did have a fuse on it. Need to do it properly but will be moving the battery so did not want to do a fancy install that I would have to change.



Getting the tiller at the right height ended up being a bit of a problem. I tightened it as suggested here and it worked well. For a time. It started to come loose so I tightened it again. Unfortunately, over time the tiller would drop down slowly until sooner or later it would drop out of the autopilot. I needed to be alert.

One day I tired a rope from one side of the boat to the other at a suitable height and the tiller just rested on the rope and could slid from side to side. That worked well.

Then I discovered that putting a scrap of wood in the hinge stopped the tiller from dropping right down. The first scrap of wood seemed good but it would shift a little over time. Then I taped on the cap from a butane tin and it was the right height with the wood slid back as far as it could go. That worked really well.

[Shaun]

Good follow-up Troppo.

Maybe a Nyloc nut or an additional nut & tightened opposing each other could be more permanent solution.

cheers

[Troppo]

Maybe a Nyloc nut or an additional nut & tightened opposing each other could be more permanent solution.

Hehehe, I thought I had done the permanent solution. Oh, it would be permanent if I had used duc tape not masking tape.