Autopilot for 35.5

[jldil...@sbcglobal.net]

I have a Raymarine EV-100 wheel pilot, and am considering upgrading to a below decks linear drive unit. But it's not obvious how best to do this. The first issue is that Edson is dead set against attaching a drive unit to the steering system radial wheel -- they insist on a separate tiller arm for the autopilot. But there's no extra space on the rudder shaft, except for possibly the square section at the top for the emergency tiller. This is what it looks like on my boat:

 

 

I'd love to hear how others have approached this.

 

Thanks,

John Dilworth

'Sukha' - Bristol 35.5 Alameda/Morro Bay CA

[david nederhood]

John, good afternoon:

I have an old Cetek hydraulic autopilot that came with the boat. I have the same steering as you on my 1978 35.5. An arm bolts on to the top of the rudder shaft and extends horizontally.  Then the hydraulic arm from the Cetek unit, mounted on the starboard side of the boat, attaches to the end opposite the rudder shaft.  For orientation, the metal support (to the right of the rudder post arm-autopilot connected pic) is forward of most of the radial section of the steering mechanism.  

Radial drive pic - I have removed the wooden support that fits over the top of the rudder post. Also I removed the autopilot rudder arm so you can see most of the radial wheel. Stern is to the left & bow to the right.

thnks

dave

PS hope this helps...

PPS. the whole cetek, hydraulic unit is mounted starboard and out of the picture frame

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[M K]

Replaced old Robertson AP200 with Simrad  hydraulic unit to port.  Control box aft of port aft pilot berth

Marilyn "Adena"

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[M K]

Marilyn - additional comments: The new Simrad hydraulic was placed in the port aft locker due to the better access from the port aft pilot berth panel, and blocked from easy access on the starboard aft area by our propane locker and the only place to stow the emergency tiller.  Some of the Bristol 35.5c boats have the propane locker in a different location....

[jldil...@sbcglobal.net]

David and Marilyn:

Thanks very much for the input -- especially the pictures! I can see that you both use autopilot tiller arms from Edson that fit the squared (for emergency tiller) top portion of the rudder post. That definitely looks like the way to go with our boats, and it's nice to see that Edson even helps by supplying tiller arms for square posts -- the only ones they show in their catalog are for round ones. I'll call them tomorrow to confirm that they can still supply these.

It's also interesting that your tiller arms are different. David's orients along the diagonal of the square top, so can be aimed at 0, 90, 180, or 270 degrees, while Marilyn's projects from a flat side, so the options are 45 degrees, etc.

I think I'd like to mount my unit on the starboard side like David's, but the propane locker on my boat just prevents a true 90° position -- it would have to be slightly aft of that, so more like 100°. They want the actuator to be at right angles to the tiller arm. One of the advantages of mounting the arm to a round shaft is that it can be oriented in any direction, but the square shaft prevents that. I wonder if Edson can make one that would sit at around 10° to starboard? They do custom drilling of the round ones, so maybe... I'll have to ask.

I'm inclined to go with a Raymarine Type 1 all electric linear drive, partly because I've read many favorable reports of them, and partly because I already have Raymarine autopilot components in my existing system that would still work with the new drive (compass/sensors and control panel).

David, what is the function of that metal plate you pointed out? My boat does not have that. Is your autopilot ram mounted on it?

Gracias,

John

[jldil...@sbcglobal.net]

Joe, thanks for your perceptive comments. Unfortunately on the 35.5 (at least on mine) there is zero space between the stuffing box and the radial drive wheel, and zero space between the drive wheel and the upper support beam. So I think we're stuck with using the square top portion for the tiller arm. Access there is great, though, so removing the arm if necessary shouldn't be too big of a deal.

Happily, the rudder post is vertical, although making a suitable mounting base for the drive unit will still be a bit of a project.

I really relate to your recommendation of a wind vane together with the light duty autopilot. I've used that strategy -- with a Monitor vane --  on two previous boats and loved it, especially for longer passages, and that was my original intent for this boat when I installed the wheel pilot. But my wife and I are at a stage of life (i.e. "old") where long ocean passages are no longer in the cards, and the batteries really aren't a problem with the coastal cruising we're doing now.

John

1985 B35.5 #160 "Sukha" in California

From: Joseph D <jdav...@yahoo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2021 11:52 AM
To: jldil...@sbcglobal.net
Subject: Re: Autopilot for 35.5

 

I installed a Raymarine below deck autopilot. In my case there was just enough room above the quadrant and below the square section to fit a tiller arm (although I had to grind some material off the tiller arm to prevent it from scrapping the underside of the cockpit. If you have no room to do this then look to see if you can lower the quadrant or perhaps install the tiller arm below the quadrant. From your picture, I cannot see any practical way to mount a tiller arm. If your access is good you could have tiller arm fabricated to fit on the square portion but only if you have an easy way to remove it so the emergency tiller could be used.

The following are some additional related thoughts:
1. On my Bristol the rudder post is angled not vertical. Your picture looks like yours is vertical. If it is angled you will require some creative mounting for the linear drive to work properly.
2. I assume you are sloop rigged. If I were facing your choice, I would mount an Aries (or other type) wind pilot on the stern and keep the wheel mounted electronic pilot. This would give you to different types of pilot, one of which will not strain the batteries.

Good luck.

Joe
B35 Reflection

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[Jeff B]

this is the arm from my old alpha 3000 autopilot. i just needed to drill a hole to use it with my new raymarine ram. the company is still in business i think if you want to look into it.

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[Jeff B]

i forgot to mention i have a 38.8 so your needs may be different.

[jldil...@sbcglobal.net]

Thanks, Jeff. That looks very sturdy and would be fine except that it looks like the 38.8 has some extra round shaft above the top support beam to attach an arm to. On my 35.5, there's no free space for except the top square part. It's a lot harder to find an arm that'll attach to a square shaft section, especially if you don't want it to be at a fixed angle, like a multiple of 45 or 90 degrees.

I'd love to hear how others have approached this.

 

Thanks,

John Dilworth

'Sukha' - Bristol 35.5 Alameda/Morro Bay CA

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[Jeff B]

suggest that you post this on the fb group page.