Fitting Auto pilot
Printed From: myHanse.com
Category: Hints & Tips
Forum Name: 341 / 342
Forum Description: 341 / 342 Hints and Tims
URL: https://www.myhanse.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=10220
Printed Date: 27 March 2026 at 01:23
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.06 - https://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Fitting Auto pilot
Posted By: robh
Subject: Fitting Auto pilot
Date Posted: 19 April 2017 at 05:01
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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. ------------- Cheers, Rob "Blue Horizon" Hanse 341#113 Portsmouth Harbour UK |
Replies:
Posted By: skipper
Date Posted: 19 April 2017 at 12:09
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I would suggest you to SEARCH on MyHanse and you should find several installations of Jefa directdrive. ------------- Cheers, Skipper Former owner of Hanse 342 2005 (Sparcraft mast, white hull, wheel steering, deep draft keel, short rudder) |
Posted By: robh
Date Posted: 20 April 2017 at 03:54
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Thanks for the tip Skipper, I will do that. ------------- Cheers, Rob "Blue Horizon" Hanse 341#113 Portsmouth Harbour UK |
Posted By: echoofwight
Date Posted: 21 April 2017 at 09:28
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Hi Rob. I have replaced all my instruments over time. To gain access to the area beneath the binnacle I fitted a lightweight deck-hatch upside down into the moulding in the rear cabin. This looks very neat and makes any future access very easy. ------------- Steve. Hanse 341 Echo of Wight, . Deep draft and rudder, white hull, Single aft cabin. Raymarine instruments. Raymarine radar. Garmin AIS. Wheel Steering, Portsmouth. |
Posted By: robh
Date Posted: 30 April 2017 at 15:51
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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. ------------- Cheers, Rob "Blue Horizon" Hanse 341#113 Portsmouth Harbour UK |
Posted By: echoofwight
Date Posted: 01 May 2017 at 09:23
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Hi Rob,I fitted it on the bottom directly under the pedestal. It's a square hatch. Echo has one aft cabin so the pedestal is to the starboard side of the bulkhead. Fitting it makes running cables to the pedestal very easy. Where are you going to fit the drive? ------------- Steve. Hanse 341 Echo of Wight, . Deep draft and rudder, white hull, Single aft cabin. Raymarine instruments. Raymarine radar. Garmin AIS. Wheel Steering, Portsmouth. |
Posted By: robh
Date Posted: 01 May 2017 at 13:49
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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. ------------- Cheers, Rob "Blue Horizon" Hanse 341#113 Portsmouth Harbour UK |
Posted By: robh
Date Posted: 01 May 2017 at 14:01
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Sorry I asked again if square or round when you had said square in your reply. I have also just had a look at my pictures and it looks like the bulkhead, as on your boat does go to the cockpit floor, as I can see the wires going into the pedestal. This makes me think there is a similar space the other side of the bulkhead which I can access from the port cabin, strange how things looks so different when you are hanging upside down trying to look at spaces. Looks like I may have to fit a hatch in that side to locate and gain access to the drive. ------------- Cheers, Rob "Blue Horizon" Hanse 341#113 Portsmouth Harbour UK |
Posted By: echoofwight
Date Posted: 02 May 2017 at 10:13
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Hi Rob, if you are in Portsmouth you could come and take a look. Steve ------------- Steve. Hanse 341 Echo of Wight, . Deep draft and rudder, white hull, Single aft cabin. Raymarine instruments. Raymarine radar. Garmin AIS. Wheel Steering, Portsmouth. |
Posted By: robh
Date Posted: 02 May 2017 at 11:12
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That would be great, thanks for the offer. I live in Hertfordshire so a quick drop in is not possible, however, will be down at the boat from next Saturday for a few days so if you are about and its not inconvenient I could come take a look then. Where are you berthed? ------------- Cheers, Rob "Blue Horizon" Hanse 341#113 Portsmouth Harbour UK |
Posted By: JesperB
Date Posted: 02 May 2017 at 21:08
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I did the same job on a Hanse 371 some years ago. From what I know the 341/342 has a similar layout. However, I had the Lewmar pedestal. I mounted the Raymarin linear drive type1. In my case I extended the existing tiller arm with a piece of aluminum to get the right offset (25cm as I remember it). On the 371 it was possible to mount the drive in the opposite direction of the rod for the stearing (pointing backwards), I glued a piece of aluminum t=20mm on the underside of the cockpit floor (after drilling and cutting treads for the 4 bolts since this might be hard after mounting) as far aft I could. Then secured I with several layers of glass/epoxy. On the 371 with lewmar pedestal I needed to limit the ruder travel to avoid destroying the drive in the end of the stroke. ------------- Jesper |
Posted By: echoofwight
Date Posted: 03 May 2017 at 12:32
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Rob, I'm in Port Solent but will be sailing at the weekend. I'll take some photos of the under side of the pedestal. The underside of the pedestal drops down about two inches into the cabin and the moulding is to cover that. I don't think the the bulkhead can go up to the cockpit floor behind the mouldings, it must be cut away round the underside of the pedestal. Jesper's solution sound like a good one. ------------- Steve. Hanse 341 Echo of Wight, . Deep draft and rudder, white hull, Single aft cabin. Raymarine instruments. Raymarine radar. Garmin AIS. Wheel Steering, Portsmouth. |
Posted By: JesperB
Date Posted: 03 May 2017 at 13:09
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Found an old post that I was copying when installing the Raymarine Typ1 on my old Hanse 371. Note that this setup have a shorter offset for the tiller-arm (When I did it I extended it), however it shows the basic idea. http://myhanse.com/auto-pilot_topic2702.html" rel="nofollow - http://myhanse.com/auto-pilot_topic2702.html ------------- Jesper |
Posted By: robh
Date Posted: 03 May 2017 at 15:52
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Jesper, Steve, Thanks for your feedback guys, pictures and experience are worth more than words alone. I think I will ask the guys at Hanse UK about the layout under the cockpit before I go cutting anything, as it could be different on the two cabin version. In the Link from 2009 talking about the 371 (from memory the 371 is just a slightly longer version of the 341 anyway) it mentions putting some metal in as reinforcement fixed to the underside of the cockpit as Jesper suggested. This would make sense as the cockpit floor is the most substantial area around the pedestal and is looking like the option I will follow. Steve, If you could get me a couple of pictures of you install that would be good thank you. I think I am looking to put a hatch as you have on the bottom of the covers in both starboard and port cabins but I will wait and see what I get back from Hanse UK Jesper, that link was what I have been looking for and I thought it had been deleted in the hacking they had a few years ago, so thank you for that. I will keep looking and let you know what I conclude is the option and post here as it may help others in the future. ------------- Cheers, Rob "Blue Horizon" Hanse 341#113 Portsmouth Harbour UK |
Posted By: robh
Date Posted: 11 May 2017 at 13:37
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Hi Chaps, having taken note of all the useful info you've provided I decided to go for broke at the weekend and cut a pilot hole in the side of the port cabin cover. All looked ok so I went further and cut a long hole so I could see better and work within the cavity. I'm glad I did as it appears my initial thoughts on the bulkhead were right, as this goes up to the underside of the cockpit floor. More interesting is that the base mounting bolts for the pedestal goes through the cockpit floor to a substantial ally ring. The bolts on the Port side appear to be longer than the Starboard ones specifically to mount the linear drive. Yes it will need a plate around 10 - 12mm thick cut to fit the bolts and around the various contours but it looks as though this was purpose designed for the drive mount as the distance from this mount to the additional tiller arm fitment in the rear locker is the right length according to the Jefa spec. I have attached a picture below of the location and once I have all the kit to hand I will be looking to fit in this location and will give you an update once I have.  ------------- Cheers, Rob "Blue Horizon" Hanse 341#113 Portsmouth Harbour UK |
Posted By: #hansesally
Date Posted: 28 May 2017 at 16:29
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Would this be the kind of emergency tiller used on a 342? I assume all 342 year models are not necessarily factory fitted with Jefa rudders? http://www.lokai-wassersportler.de/jefa-rudder-emergency-tiller-notpinne-40-mm.html" rel="nofollow - http://www.lokai-wassersportler.de/jefa-rudder-emergency-tiller-notpinne-40-mm.html Cheers ------------- #hansesally H342 c/n 295 Denmark |
Posted By: robh
Date Posted: 29 May 2017 at 03:40
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Yes this looks like the one I have onboard. I will be down on Blue Horizon later this week and can check actual size for you if you need these details? ------------- Cheers, Rob "Blue Horizon" Hanse 341#113 Portsmouth Harbour UK |
Posted By: #hansesally
Date Posted: 29 May 2017 at 10:59
Thanks Rob, but as I´m pretty sure this will fit I already ordered it. ------------- #hansesally H342 c/n 295 Denmark |
robh wrote:Posted By: robh
Date Posted: 29 May 2017 at 12:17
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Not a problem, it looks to be the same, fingers crossed. ------------- Cheers, Rob "Blue Horizon" Hanse 341#113 Portsmouth Harbour UK |
Posted By: echoofwight
Date Posted: 03 July 2017 at 07:41
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Hi Rob, have you fitted your autopilot?,. Just wondered how you got on ------------- Steve. Hanse 341 Echo of Wight, . Deep draft and rudder, white hull, Single aft cabin. Raymarine instruments. Raymarine radar. Garmin AIS. Wheel Steering, Portsmouth. |
Posted By: robh
Date Posted: 03 July 2017 at 12:08
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Hi Steve, It is still work in progress. I only received the kit last week as the secondary tiller arm that fixes to the rudder stock had to be specially made by Jefa. Unfortunately when I collected this and the drive an infected bite on my leg put a stop to working on this under doctors orders. I'm hoping I can crack on next week but all depends on the doctor and the antibiotics. I'm glad I cut the inspection hole in the port cabin cover as it made getting the cables in easier. I had to remove the top part of the pedestal hoop and remove all existing cables as the factory had filled the top part with 150mm of sikaflex, which I had to dig out! I'll post an update once I can get started again. ------------- Cheers, Rob "Blue Horizon" Hanse 341#113 Portsmouth Harbour UK |
Posted By: #hansesally
Date Posted: 28 July 2017 at 09:02
Got the emergency tiller, but the head was at the wrong angle! Otherwise, it was a good fitt... I guess there is a diffence in the head between the two rudder types after all. Anyway, had my local blacksmith rotate the head by 90 degrees. Problem solved. It´s a workable solution to an emergency tiller.  ------------- #hansesally H342 c/n 295 Denmark |