Autopilot Suggestions for F32

[papabenn]

I'm thinking of adding a below decks autopilot on my Freedom 32' Seafox. I plan to keep the old Raymarine wheel/belt autopilot as a backup. Does anyone have a recommendation as to make/type etc. Thanks. Peter Bennett

[THATBOATGUY]

What type of steering system is it?

George

[papabenn]

George,
My steering is an Edson pedestal with chain linked to cables to the rudder quadrant. I'm assuming the guts of the autopilot will be connected directly to the rudder post. I also forgot to mention that I want a wirless control. I have chartered many many times and the only autopilot I have ever encountered has been a Raymarine which seem very reliable. Any advice you or others on this forum can give me will be greatly appreciated. Peter

[THATBOATGUY]

Garmin has actually made some very nice advances recently. I'd consider anyone over Raymarine from my personal experience as an installer. Our own autopilot is a simple ComNav unit. Effective, reliable and inexpensive. But we have hydraulic steering.

George

[Robert]

I don't know if papbenn has got any further with the autopilot for his F32, but here are some pointer on installation in a Hoyt F32, the Mull version may be different.

The simplest to install would be a 'WheelPilot'. This fits to the actual wheel and is belt driven. The latest version from Raymarine requires no below deck modification at all, it doesn't even need a rudder feed back sensor. This also the cheapest option. The F32 is well within the operating perameters for these units but I woupld only recommend it for coastal cruising, not offshore.

For Offshore there are a couple of options: a 'Linear Drive' that uses an electric motor (there is also a 'Radial Drive' but these don't work for the F32). This fits below decks and requires modification to the rudder quadrant to fit a 'ball joint' for one end of the Linear Drive, the other end of the drive would have to be mounted to a fixed surface that is on a level plane that allows the drive to push and pull the quadrant and remain level. This will require the installation of a shelf style mount that can not only hold the weight of the drive but will also withstand the reactive forces placed on the rudder by the drive. A rudder feedback unit would also be used with this system.

Finally there is a 'Hydraulic Drive' This is the most expensive option. This replaces the Linear Drive with a hydraulic ram that is mounted in exactly the same way as the linear drive. Additional space will be required for the hydraulic motor and hoses.

All these systems have have common components, the computer, the fluxgate compass and the control head they all have a common method of controlling the boat irrespective of what type of drive it is, the computer always controls an electric motor.

Manufacturers include Raymarine for the wheelpilot and linear/radial drives. Hydraulic are available from Raymarine, ComNav, Simrad, Furuno, Navico, Garmin and others.

If you already have Raymarine wind instruments, then Raymarine is an easy way to go as the instrument information can be integrated easily through their proprietry bus system for steering to a wind related heading and autopilot control directly from a chart plotter. However, through NMEA0183 they can be integrated into any of the other manufacturers systems.

After installation there are a number of procedures to go through to set-up and customize the autopilot to your boat.

Points of caution are, with below deck systems whether linear, radial or hydraulic, the geometry of the installation is critical. With all systems the location and set-up of the fluxgate compass is very important as is finding a suitable location that will retain the same magnetic signature after installation. A compass located next to electrical wiring or in a location where cooking pans or canned food will cause problems as it will effect the magnetic signature of the compass installation and cause erratic or incorrect heading information for the for the computer.

I hope this helps.

[Rick Simonds]

I have a very old Navico belt-driven wheel pilot for my Hoyt 32. It has its uses but is easily overpowered by wind and waves. I also have an Aries windvane, a device I love, a device I’m fully convinced works purely by the power of magic. I can hook a small tillerpilot to it in place of the air vane (see the discussion about this under the F28 autopilot thread.) That works in any conditions at all; the Aries amplifies the power of the tillerpilot tremendously. It is a bit of trouble to set up, though. So, one day in the medium future, I’d like to install a below-decks autopilot.

I have a question about them, though:

When the autopilot is not being used, does the steering ram hooked to the quadrant (either the linear drive or the hydraulic ram) somehow disconnect itself, allowing just normal steering effort by a human at the wheel? While hand steering, you aren’t always pushing/pulling against a lot of additional drag from that device, are you?

[Robert]

Rick,

In both cases the ram/drives remain connected to the quadrant. The amount of drag cause is minimal but it is possible that they can reduce the amount of rudder travel due to their tranvel and/or the geometry of the installation. This limitation and the additional drag is normally transparent to most owners as the benefits of the autopilot outweighs the disadvantages. I would think even your wheelpilot would give a little drag when disengaged as the belt still moves....