Fitting Auto pilot

Hi all,

I am upgrading instrumentation on Blue Horizon to Raymarine this year to include the Evolution autopilot with ACU200 & EV1 sensor. I have been advised to use the Jefa LD100 linear drive instead of the Raymarine one as my wheel steering is Jefa and this makes the job easy.

The job looks straightforward:-

Fit a tiller arm on the opposite side of rudderstock to current wheel fitting for the drive attachment.

Remove one of the internal mouldings from the back of either the port or starboard rear cabins to gain access to the area under the binnacle (this will involve cutting out the cover currently held in place with screws and sikaflex then restoring this after).

Run in and connect the appropriate cables.

Has anyone done this retrospective fitment and can offer me any advice?

Thanks in advance, all offerings gratefully received.

Thanks for the tip Skipper, I will do that.

Thanks Steve that sounds like a brilliant idea. Have you fitted a round one or square and is this in the side of the molding or the bottom?
I am not sure how much space I will need and exactly where to fit the Jefa linear drive, so I am a little hesitant to just cut anywhere before I know locations to avoid.

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the feedback.

I have twin rear cabins and the bulkhead appears to run along the centre line, which gives me two covers, one in each cabin about the same size. Without knowing the exact layout beneath the cockpit I have taken a few photos, which suggest the centre bulkhead does not intrude into that space giving a void roughly the width of the raised section of the cockpit floor.

I hope to fit the drive on the port side of this void, so I am considering cutting a hole in the port side of the rear bulkhead about the same size as the one on the starboard side about the same distance from the centre line. This will enable me to bring the operating arm through into the rear locker and attach to the second tiller arm located above the current one. The intention is to fit the fixed base part of the drive in that void the other side of the wheel. I need to take work out where best to cut the hatch so I have solid material to locate the drive. Current thoughts are this should be at the very back of the cabin trim/cover, so I don't encroach on any space for the drive and as big as possible to give max working room.

If you have accessed that space can you tell me if there is a solid section of bulkhead where I could mount the fixed end of the drive or would I need to glass something in for this? What size hatch have you fitted, square or round?

Any further info you could supply would be very helpful.



 

Hi Rob, if you are in Portsmouth you could come and take a look.

Steve