by Dennis » Fri Nov 26, 2010 3:15 pm
Hello David and Simon
Simon is correct, I do have a Raymarine ST1000 on Mary Ann. I also had a Simrad on my previous boat, which was very similar.
The Raymarine ST1000 works well when sailing, however it is affected by the outboard (Honda BF5) when running, which causes it to hunt constantly. It does however still hold its course unless the engine is running slowly, which causes large wild and varied tiller movements.
I have to say that the Simrad did exactly the same thing with the Yamaha 4 I had on the Winkle Brig, but it did behave itself with an old Mariner 4 (two stroke).
I think the problem is caused by the rotating mass of the flywheel fitted with magnets (for the ignition system), interfereing with the fluxgate compass in the tiller pilot. At higher engine speeds the fluxgate compass does not have time to react to the rapidly changing magnetic field caused by the engine rotation, but at low engine speeds it can (and does).
To sum up, when under sail there is no problem with Simrad or Raymarine, however, when motoring there may be various problems.
I would be interested to hear the experiences of others with tiller pilots.
Cheers
Dennis
CC19 #100 Mary Ann