Page 2 of 3

Re: Autopilot - DIY?

Posted: May 19th, 2021, 5:24 pm
by RussL
I will be headed back up to the boat to climb around and see what I can find. Things are so tight in the engine room it is hard to tell what is there. I may have to send my 10 year old down there to investigate :)

Re: Autopilot - DIY?

Posted: May 19th, 2021, 10:07 pm
by km1125
Another thing you can do when you can't get close to things is shine a light. Have someone on one end - say, the engine room - with a bright light like a handheld spotlight, and have the other person in the aft cabin looking whereever they can to see light as it's being moved around. That way you don't have to crawl all the way back there until you isolate some possibilities., then you can explore those.

Re: Autopilot - DIY?

Posted: May 20th, 2021, 11:05 am
by tomschauer
The hydraulic steering hoses should go from the same point A to point B that you want to run the cable. See if you can follow that route.

Re: Autopilot - DIY?

Posted: May 20th, 2021, 12:59 pm
by km1125
tomschauer wrote:Qr Bbpost The hydraulic steering hoses should go from the same point A to point B that you want to run the cable. See if you can follow that route.

Is that really true in all cases? For example, on a Hynautic system can't you tap into the system at either helm for the hydraulics for the steering? You would still need to get a wire back to the rudders for the rudder angle sensor.

Re: Autopilot - DIY?

Posted: May 21st, 2021, 9:02 am
by tomschauer
On the single station 396, the hoses go from the helm to the rudders.

Re: Autopilot - DIY?

Posted: May 21st, 2021, 9:08 am
by Midnightsun
If the budget is tight then here is the cheapest DIY autopilot I know of. :-D Sorry, I know I am of no help but could not resist.

Re: Autopilot - DIY?

Posted: May 23rd, 2021, 3:32 am
by RGrew176
That's funny but it could work. :-D

Re: Autopilot - DIY?

Posted: June 28th, 2021, 1:29 pm
by RussL
tomschauer wrote:Qr Bbpost On the single station 396, the hoses go from the helm to the rudders.


Thanks, I have a dual helm 396, but I think they follow the same path either way.... I haven't pulled apart my lower station yet, so I don't know exactly how it is routed, but I have 5 lines on my upper station so either way they must be tied together. I will post back here once I start working on it. Summer is here and and the family wants to play, so I think I will wait until winter to start the project.

Re: Autopilot - DIY?

Posted: September 3rd, 2021, 7:38 pm
by mrterry72@gmail.com
I just installed a raymarine ev150 auto pilot in my 33ss it took me half a day it was really pretty easy . The ev150 didt require a rudder feed back sensor. I ran it for about 300 miles from the Hamptons to Norfolk worked perfect..

Re: Autopilot - DIY?

Posted: September 5th, 2021, 3:21 pm
by Helmsman
mrterry72@gmail.com wrote:I just installed a raymarine ev150 auto pilot in my 33ss it took me half a day it was really pretty easy . The ev150 didt require a rudder feed back sensor. I ran it for about 300 miles from the Hamptons to Norfolk worked perfect..


Good to hear that it worked out!