Autopilot mount?

[Jerry]

I am in a quandary as to how I am going to mount the ram for my new
autopilot, would anyone be willing to share some photos showing how
they mounted there autopilots? I will be installing an ST2000 but
would welcome any other examples.

[Andy Dennis]

I had a triangular shaped piece of teak mounted to the wall of the cockpit
with the mounting pin insterted into the tiller just before the bend. Later
this was replace by a similar shaped piece of GRP crafted for this purpose.
Unfortunately I have since moved to a wheel 105 and don't have a picture,
but hopefully this description will be of some use.

Andy,
J/105 - Orijin

[Ragtime!]

Hi Jerry,

I have Raymarine's "Cantilever Mounting Bracket" on the side of the
cockpit. It's good to have a backing plate too, since the cockpit
wall can flex a bit. I'll post a couple photos when I get home
tonight but here's a link to the part on Ray's site:

http://www.raymarine.com/ProductDetail.aspx?product=2203

The post part in this illustration is longer than we need - mine was
cut down quite a bit.

Bob J.

[Jerry Berndsen]

Andy and Bob,

 

Thanks for your reply.  I do have the cantilever mount, I am trying to figure out how high or low on the side of the cockpit that I want to mount the cantilever.  I was having a little bit of a difficult time visualising what the differences would be.

 

Thanks again for your time.

Jerry

[Ragtime!]

I wasn't able to find my A/P photos last night, but if you look at the
Bensons1 photo (under Files on this site) you will see the cantilever
mount on the starboard side of the cockpit. It's the lighter, brass-
colored thing - the darker socket just to its left is the 4000+ ram's
electrical socket. The round electrical socket farther to the left is
for the 2000+ which I use as a backup. (I have three independent A/P
systems - it's Raymarine after all!)

For position, you want the ram to be close to level, 90 degrees to the
tiller and 18" from the axis of the rudder post.

One caution when using the cantilever bracket: Since the cockpit wall
isn't quite vertical, under compression the pin on the ram (or ST2000)
will pop up out of the hole. (This always happens in close proximity
to another boat while you are clearing a winch over-ride.) That's why
under the socket you see a flat piece of SS with a hole in it - it's
to tie the base end of the ram down.

Bob J.

[Andy Dennis]

From memory I think it mounts an inch or so below the curve of the side deck.  With the mounting point on the tiller, this gives about the correct height to keep the autohelm level