Autopilots

[BobJ]

Yeah, I'm almost back to square one - the morse cable approach didn't work out for my boat. Mainly too much friction to run the cable where I need it to go, plus the long, exposed cable end in the cockpit violates "Rule 4". RAGTIME! has a dinghy-style cockpit with no seats or lockers, so routing the cable is different from what Bruce was able to do.

I spent a good part of Saturday looking at various cables (both control and steering) and taking measurements before I concluded I was going the wrong direction.

If George still has pictures that would be helpful. That is actually the way I started out to do this project.

 

[Jonathan Gutoff]

How hot does the ram get when exposed to the tropical Sun? I figure that is as much of a problem as water ingress. Even with a cover the little motor and plastic gears must be baking in there. Has heat caused any malfunctions for anyone?

 

[BobJ]

Sunbrella to keep the ram dry, loose and light-colored to keep it cool:

 

[cafemontaigne]

How hot does the ram get when exposed to the tropical Sun? I figure that is as much of a problem as water ingress. Even with a cover the little motor and plastic gears must be baking in there. Has heat caused any malfunctions for anyone?

I had a little cover like Bob's that kept it nice and cool, and mostly dry. I did go through a ram very quickly though. Not because of heat, but mechanical wear. The X-5 has 9 gain levels, and it defaults to 5, which causes the drive to work itself to shreds very fast, for little benefit. After the failure I backed down on the gain, using levels 1-4 as conditions allowed.

I'm going to investigate using a more powerful (and cheaper) generic linear actuator to drive the AP. I think the X-5 computer is great, but the tiller drive is mediocre.

 

[Culebra]

I think the X-5 computer is great, but the tiller drive is mediocre.

I had a very similar experience to Adrian's with the X-5 regarding gain and breakage. Yes, mediocre at best. But I think that judgment is only relative to the test we put them through. I'm certain they weren't designed to drive a boat through following seas with a big chute up for a thousand miles. Well, actually, they will do just about that, which to me is an incredible feat. But the flip side is that they will surely die if put to that test. I started the TransPac with a X-5 Grand Prix unit that had about 500 miles on it, and after about 1500 more miles of med-high gain use, its motor died. I took it apart, and the gears were still just fine, by the way.

In contrast I put into service my brand new spare, a light duty unit, for 3500 more miles of continuous, demanding use and it still works great. I kept the gain to 1-3 for about 90% of the time, adjusting it religiously for the conditions, and I used only white sails. My take on this is that the ram is actually just fine for the price and ease of installation/calibration on a light displacement boat (no cutting the rudder tube, no hydraulics, low power demand, you get the idea). And it really can drive the boat in a range of conditions including a following sea with a kite up. So if I expect to punish it over 1000 rough miles, then I should expect it to die and I'll carry a couple spares. And if I use it for typical sailing conditions and intelligently manage the gain--and helm manually as much as possible when the seas are up--then the thing will last for thousands of miles. I can live with that.

Oh, and hey, these things are warrantied. After my ram died Raymarine sent me a brand new replacement, free.

Paul/Culebra