Autohelm replacement woes

[Marty McOmber]

Hi all,

The old Autohelm 5000 autopilot finally bit the dust and Raymarine confirmed they could not bring it back to life. But in the process I discovered that the unit was original to the boat -- circa 1985. I'm upgrading to the new EV1 Autopilot from Raymarine in part because it uses the same linear drive motor (just updated).  I figured it would be a straight forward replacement ...

Okay, have you stopped laughing yet? Good.

Of course the mounting foot for the new linear arm is similar, but not the same as the original. The hole pattern is off but about a 1/2 inch.  The original was mounted to a fiberglass box platform in the man cave which, upon reflection, was obviously built by the manufacturer since is it painted the same as the rest of the fiberglass in there.  Further, it appears that the Passport used the same construction practice with the autopilot mounting platform as they did with other boat hardware requiring backing plates: they tapped a metal plate for the appropriate bolts and then bedded the plate into the fiber glass.

Happily, the bolts for the old mounting foot came out easily.  Rather than remove and rebuild the mounting platform, my plan now is to position the new mounting foot in a way that I can drill and tap four new holes in the embedded backing plate.

Not sure if any other Passporters have confronted a similar issue. But if so, then please share whatever lesson learned from the experience.

I'm sure looking forward to drilling and tapping in the man cave. What joy!

 

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Marty McOmber 

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[Michael Moradzadeh]

In many (most) locations where installations were set out by the manufacturer, steel plates were embedded so that you can drill and tap.

Easy to confirm this with a pilot hole.  If no metal there, you can readily bolt a plate to the existing holes and bolt your new drive to that.

Now, before you toss the old drive, even though the electronics may be dead, the mechanical aspect, including the motor, may be completely sound and will work JUST FINE if you bypass the circuit board and go straight into the case.  I got many extra years use out of the old autohelm drive with a Nexus (com nav) brain.

So, don't toss it.  Sell it to me!  Or keep it as a backup. Or pass it on to someone else.  It's a great unit.

Michael (Ex-Cayenne)

p.s I'm in the middle of installing a new B&G pilot in the new boat.  No mounting point at all.  I had to glass one in that I made out o G10.  I hope it works.

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[David Hilliar]

Hi

In the past I have built adapter plates that mount into the old bolt holes but are also drilled and tapped with the new mounting holes (if that makes any sense)

[Marty McOmber]

Thanks to both of you. The adapter plate is a great route to go.  And would involve a lot less guess work in the man cave. Glad I asked! 

And Micheal, the problem wasn't with the Autohelm brain, but with the mechanical drive. It turns out that is is what the called a "Combi" unit. I assume that means it had both the motor and controller in one.  Anyway, I got a great deal on the new EV1 and am excited to leapfrog three decades of technology.

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[Michael Moradzadeh]

Right.  I assumed that.  So, pop the thing open (harder than it sounds, you need a tiny spanner or the tips of needlenose to remove that bolt thing), take the "brains" out, lead the motor and sensor wires out, and you have a great, strong, reliable electric actuator.

Now, maybe you don't want it, but someone will.

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[Matthew Davidson]

Marty

Here are photos of Wildflower's Cave layout. Like to see what you have...

Matthew

[Marty McOmber]

Hi Matthew,

Don't have a pic with me, but it is very similar. In place of the wooden mounting platform to port, we have a shoe-box sized fiberglass box. 

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[Chris - Pelican]

Wow. Your cave is so empty! I'll need to take a pic of ours, but starting aft...

Our propane locker on the port side was cut out and we installed a 4.5kw Northern Lights generator there. The propane locker was moved to the starboard side (sealed and vented) so that intrudes into the cave now.

On the port side, along the hull, forward of the genset, we have our large exhaust/water separator (to keep the generator quiet). Forward of that is our Raymarine X10 autopilot controller. Forward of that is our massive 4000 watt/150Amp Xantrex inverter/charger (when we were living aboard and had 2 kids with laptops doing homeschool and me working on my laptop.. well, we needed a lot of AC juice).

On the starboard side, mounted along the wall, is out AT-120 SSB antenna tuner, our Raymarine/Sirius weather module, the Racor fuel filter for the generator and our fuel manifold including the extra valves for the generator and also a diesel heater.

On the floor, just by the entry hatch, is a battery box that contains our engine start battery, our house/engine combiner switch, and our main AC fuse. We have the second battery box because our primary battery area, under the companionway steps, is filled with 4 Mastervolt Slimline AGM 200AH batteries. And when I say filled... there isn't an inch to spare in any direction including height.

The floor and walls of the cave are covered with copper mesh and foil for the SSB.

On the "ceiling" of the cave, under the deck, we have the linear drive for the autopilot mounted. We don't have that mounting spot that everyone else has so we put a backing plate on the cockpit floor and bolted down through the floor from the deck to the of the cave to mount the drive unit. I don't love having the big stainless plate on the cockpit floor, but we wanted something heavy duty and this was the best approach.

Even with all of this stuff being crammed back there, we still have lots of room for storage. At least for 2 of us.

Chris

s/v/ Pelican

Passport 40 #76