Rebuilt Hydraulic Linear Drive

Repaired HLD upon receiving. Oil included.

At the start of  this cruising season, I checked out my autopilot and after some discussion with the experts, came to the conclusion that my Hydraulic Linear Drive was faulty. The prior year we had had all sorts of issues arise with the Furuno and intended this year to get them sorted. I had a spare, so fitted that and still had no success. Both failed the rudder test, in the dockside setup menu, of the Furuno autopilot.
So, I sent both of them out to be repaired, and soon learnt that both HLD's had "bad"(worn) gear pumps and needed to be replaced. Unfortunately you can only receive the motor and gear pump as one unit.
I told my repair guy to go ahead and repair one HLD and see if that will fix my issues, before committing to to both being repaired. At that time, we were about to leave for the Whtisunday Islands in Queensland, Australia, so arranged for him to post the HLD up to us. We would continue our journey with our CPT autopilot.
Cutting a long story short, it took nearly five months for the HLD to be repaired and sent back to us; and we received it just before we were getting ready to leave the Whitsunday Islands and head south again. It mostly revolved around the issue of poor supply from the dealers in Australia. Simrad would not allow the repairer to source directly from the company.

Fitted HLD

The HLD was fitted to the quadrant again, and everything worked well. What a relief. We have now given the guy the OK to go ahead and fix the second HLD. This should be ready for us to pick up when I return to the boat next March. We have a long journey next year; heading to Thailand.

You will notice perhaps in the photo to the above, two rudder reference units. (one is disconnected) This is because we also have our Robertson Autopilot available in case we need to change from the Furuno at some time. For the season we used our newly purchased CPT autopilot; a great autopilot that drives the wheel instead. But the Furuno is our favourite, and all our issues with the Furuno seemed to have disappeared with the rebuilt  HLD.
Cost; Australian $1300. about $300 more than quoted; but all in all, half the cost of a new unit. All the seals etc were replaced and the ram unit hardly ever wears. Finally some peace of mind.

New Autopilot Installation

We have had two autopilots on our Hylas44, but at a couple of times, both have let us down. We were not surprised with our original Robertson as it is very old (1985), but the Furuno has had it's moment too. That left us hand steering through a storm and 72 hrs out from New Zealand. There was just my wife and I. So, we decided after the last "play up" by the Furuno, (going from NZ to Fiji), we would purchase an independent, standalone, autopilot. This is what we installed, a  CPT autopilot, in which information can be found here along with pictures of other types of installations.

We received the package in Fiji after my wife returned to NZ to pick this and other items up. This order was made possible after many phone calls from both ourselves (at sea and using a satellite phone) and our "go between" in NZ. We received the templates via email while at sea (NZ to Fiji); we measured and sent the details back, and the unit was being prepared for export before we even arrived in Fiji. With all the issues that go with ordering an item like this at sea (measurements have to be taken so the correct items can be shipped), we were impressed with the courteous service, the understanding of our situation, and prompt delivery to NZ. We had a limited time frame in which to pick this up from NZ, while my wife was there, and hence the ordering while at sea. All this could have been easier for us if we were ordering while dockside.
We installed following the instruction booklet. We did this dockside and not while at sea. It was straight forward, but you needed a few tools to install; Screw driver, hacksaw verses dremmel, socket set, spanners.
The unit worked very well around Fiji's calm water's. We did not install the belt tensioner as this  was said to be optional. However, in going from Fiji to Vanuatu, the belt would slip and we determined that the tensioner would be needed to prevent this. This happened because we were in bigger seas and the unit had to work a lot harder. Upon reaching Vanuatu, I installed the belt tensioner.

You can see the tensioner mounted on the belt in the picture to the right and above. This proved very satisfactory and did the job well. In sailing from Vanuatu to Australia we tested this unit for the whole seven days it took. At times we had 5 meter swells, beam on, which pushed the boat around a little. We even had to slow the boat down from the 8.5kts-9kts to make the passage a little more comfortable, and yet the CPT autopilot handled these conditions very well. The only time we had to hand steer was when a squall came through at night with 35kt winds and we weren't sufficiently reefed. After reducing sail, the boat went back on autopilot for the rest of the journey with no other issues.
The cost was about $1800 plus some extras and freight. You can get more detail from their web site (linked above) and emailing Jeff. It's a small company, and the service was excellent.
Of note, the specs say the unit uses 0.3 amps, and compared to the Furuno autopilot, which is rated at 3-15 amps, we found this a considerable saving of power usage which we noticed on our battery monitors.
As an aside, we feel the Furuno issue is more to do with the Hydraulic Linear Drive than the Furuno itself. We will investigate this next year. The boat is now in storage till next years cruising season. All projects have been put off till March of next year. (2012)

Windvane Integrated with Tiller Pilot

 How to integrate an electromechanical autopilot with a windvane self-steerer
Why do it?
A sailing vessel with windvane steering has the advantage of course-keeping with minimal human effort and no expenditure of precious onboard power.  But that means you must have enough wind to propel the boat and activate the self-steering device.  The usual solution it to install an electromechanical autopilot for the time when it is necessary to turn on the 'iron genoa', or for the light air conditions when there is enough wind to move the boat but not enough to make the windvane work properly.
On VALHALLA, our 1976 Fuji 32 Ketch, wheel steering is done with an Edson worm-screwer steering system (the original Fuji copy was replaced with the real thing) and the windvane is an ancient Aires (silicon-bronze geared model) that predates the construction of the boat.  The worm-screw steering, though robust and dependable, has the disadvantage of requiring three turns lock-to-lock but the Aires windvane is powerful and quick enough to handle the helm chores under nearly all sailing conditions.  Fitting an electromechanical autopilot (Autohelm 3000) gave only marginal success for the times when the only option was to hand steer, such as during very light airs and when motoring.  Though sensitive to heading changes, the speed of the motor/belt drive was insufficient to avoid wandering across the ocean in imitation of a rum-soaked helmsman.
As an aside, light-air performance of any servo-pendulum vane can be improved through a trick I developed when the Autohelm 3000 failed on a light-air passage from Pohnpei to Guam.  I noticed that the servo rudder would respond to the windshifts, but the resistance of lines, steering system and main rudder, coupled with slow boat speed, prevented course following.  The solution was to trim the boat, engage the windvane steering clutch, and lock the steering system (lashing lines to the wheel in my case).  The servo rudder on the windvane then became the steering rudder for the boat and I could once again relax.  This arrangement worked well at wind speeds as low as one or two knots with the wind abeam or abaft the beam.
Integration is the answer
Using the sensitivity of the autopilot, with it's flux gate compass, and the power and speed of the windvane as an integrated system is the answer to a helmsman's prayer.  Virtually any windvane, commercial or home built, can benefit from this approach.  It is only necessary to connect the autopilot output to the windvane input, but that's where your inventive nature is required.  Following are two solutions we've used on VALHALLA.

 
 
 
The first solution was based on the Autohelm 3000 motor unit .  As shown in Figure 1, a mount was made for the motor drive unit attached directly to the vane itself.  (In the photo the vane paddle has been removed for clarity though it is normally left connected to permit quick changeover between modes).  An aluminum plate was fabricated into an attaching bracket to allow the shaft of the motor to be parallel with the vane axle.  A collar over the motor shaft, welded to a rod and coupled to the vane through a fishing net clip and eyebolt, translates the rotation of the motor into a sideways movement of the vane.
 
Figure 1   Autohelm 3000  installation
Changing modes from windvane to autopilot is simple.  With the windvane in a neutral position (vertical in this case), the autopilot arm is rotated to align the fishing net clip with the eyebolt on the vane and the clip is snapped over the eyebolt.  Engaging the automatic mode on the Autohelm control box puts the autopilot in command of the windvane.

 
 
The control box, with flux-gate compass and function buttons, was mounted near the helm, as shown in Figure 2.  Connectors to the right side distribute power and input from the Autohelm wind vane accessory (which was blown away during Super Typhoon Paka in December 98).  A remote control unit attaches to the bottom of the control box and isn't shown.
 
 
 
  Figure 2 Autohelm Control box
The upgrade
The Autohelm 3000 line of equipment is obsolete and no longer supported by the manufacturer.  Efforts to locate spare parts and components failed, though I searched the media, manufacturers, sailing websites, and the SSCA membership.  It was only a matter of time before these old units would fail and that time came during 1999 while cruising the waters and islands around the Republic of Palau.

The second solution was to replace the "Rube Goldberg" motor conversion with a tiller steering autopilot.  My first attempt was to use a Navico Tillerpilot TP-200CX and it's companion Hand Programmer CP-600.  Unfortunately, over a four month period, I experienced infant mortality failures (within two to six hours use) of two Tillerpilots and four Hand Programmers before sending the units back for a refund.
As a final solution, I installed a Raytheon-Autohelm Tiller Pilot ST1000+ and the Control Unit ST600R.  I've had completely satisfactory performance after over 50 hours of use with these units.
Connection to the windvane is simpler than my first solution. (Figure 3) The plastic fitting on the end of the Tiller Pilot pushrod was drilled slightly larger than a 1/4 inch bolt. A small metal bracket was fabricated with a 1/4-20 bolt extending through it.  This bracket was fitted to the windvane using one of the existing windvane bolts.
 
   Figure 3  Simplified mounting bracket

 
The Tiller Pilot is mounted on a sturdy wooden brace (Figure 4) attached to the pushpit stanchions with quick-release brackets (the same ones used with the Lifesling hard case).
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                                                    Figure 4  Tiller pilot mounting
Changing modes is similar to the previous.  With the windvane in it's neutral position and turned to match the axis of the Tiller Pilot at a 90 degree angle, the pushrod is slipped over the attaching bolt and the unit engaged via function buttons on the top of the Tiller Pilot or the remote Control Unit.  Although the angle of the attaching bolt and the friction of the threads on the bolt  provide a secure fitting, a nut is placed over the end of the attaching bolt for extended use or during rough conditions.

Activating the Tiller Pilot and making course changes is done through function buttons on the top of the unit or from the Control Unit, located convenient to the helm. (Figure 5) Though close enough to reach over the pushpit from the helm seat, it doesn't permit course changes while seeking shelter under the dodger or from below, which is possible with the Autopilot Control Unit.  Both the Navico and Raytheon-Autohelm tiller pilots are designed to be mounted 90 degrees to the axis of the boat, to permit tiller steering.  Using the units in approximate alignment with the axis of the boat causes the boat heading in the display of the Tiller Pilot and the remote controllers to be in error by 90 degrees.  A bonus feature I discovered about the Raytheon-Autohelm units was the ability to adjust the display to any desired heading, unlike the Navico unit which only permitted a plus or minus ten degree adjustment.
 
  Figure 5  Autopilot Control Unit
Other vanes
The Monitor Windvane is a servo pendulum vane similar to the Aires and is easily integrated as I have done on VALHALLA.  I previously integrated a tillerpilot with the Auto-Helm windvane (not to be confused with the Autohelm brand), which is an auxiliary rudder/trimtab type of self-steering system.  It's vane is similar in motion to that of the Aires and Monitor - rotating about a horizontal, or nearly so, axle.  Other vanes, such as the Saye's Rig, using a pendulum trimtab on the main rudder, rotate about a vertical axis but can be integrated easily with a mounting lever.  Whatever the brand,  Windhunter, Windpilot, Fleming, Cape Horn, Sailomat or those previously mentioned, the integration of an electromechanical autopilot with the windvane gives the best of both worlds.