Tiller Pilot for CD 28

[VanCitters]

Pu'uhonua again! I am considering the addition of a tiller pilot. I note that the Raymarine ST2000+ is on the borderline for the displacement of a CD28; the step up is really big in price. I have a good friend and excellent sailor who had a tiller pilot on his Tartan 27. He thinks the 2000+ will work fine for most of the conditions that you would trust the pilot to take care of. Longish periods of motoring on a calm Chesapeake and short periods of heading into the wind or otherwise while I attend to things while single handing is what I have in mind. Does anyone have a 2000+ (or equivalent) on a 28 who wants to comment, please?

Wayne

[Ldybg]

yes the raymarine 2000 will work fine for moderate conditions



Dennis
CD28 #125

[VanCitters]

Dennis,

Thanks! Do you have one? If so, how did you handle the mounting of the drive pin on the tiller, which is at quite an angle relative to the (apparently) ideal vertical if mounted at 18 inches from the center of rotation of the rudder stock?

Wayne

[Ldybg]

Yes I have one,

I haven't used it this season (barely use it all), IIRC the extending arm will swivel. I mounted the outboard "pin" end on the starboard cockpit locker lid w/ a backing of wood. the pin on the tiller is roughly at the mid point (or 1/3) of the tiller length (pretty close to what the vendor recomended).

I can take pix & measure what I have.

DD

[VanCitters]

DD,

Some pictures and measurements would be great - no hurry as I am not about to run to West Marine and buy one this weekend; but I would like to make up my mind before the fall sailing ends down here.

By the way, I found Pu'uhonua (then "Sea Fever") at Lockwoods Marina in South Amboy. Spent six weeks commuting weekends to work on her, then sailed her down from South Amboy, around Cape May, up the Delaware Bay to the canal and down the Chesapeake to Annapolis. Great adventure!

Wayne

[Ldybg]

is Pu'uhonua (Sea Fever) a '75, did you purchase her approx 10 yrs ago? I remeber a CD28 at Lockwoods when I was searching, but never saw Sea Fever in person.

I will try to get pix this w/e. Don't be bashfull, prompt me if I don't send you something!

Dennis

[VanCitters]

Dennis,

Wow, what a nice coincidence! Yes, Pu'uhonua ("Place of Refuge" in Hawaiian) is a 75 hull and I will check papers, but I am pretty sure I bought her in the fall of 1998; Must be the same boat! She had been on the hard for a number of years and took a lot of work (all cosmetic) to get her back in the water.

I have done extensive work since on the interior as she was one of a few early hulls with a pilot berth. After one season we decided that did not work well on a boat this size (clearly CD came to the same conclusion). I cut back the berth area (port side) so that the setee had a reasonable amount of room, but preserved the three storage drawers. In doing so I have replaced most of the fake "teak" laminate with real teak ply (port and starboard), which has lightened up the cabin. Not easy, but worth the work. I will take some pictures and send them along this weekend.

Table and refinishing that forward bulkhead are next, followed by a re-do of the head. Sometime if we meet I will recount the story of a night of following seas in the Delaware Bay on the way back here from South Amboy to Annapolis, dealing with an exploded head bag!! Not for the faint of heart! At least it was in October and not July!!

Looking forward to your pictures.

Wayne

[Queen Elvis]

Ldybg, I would love to see those pictures, too, please, because I am looking at the various tiller pilots for my CD28. Of course, West Marine won't be the place I make my purchase because I prefer the best price!

Wayne - My concerns about the ST2000 being at the end of its recommended range echo yours. I have actually just about eliminated it from contention, and am waffling between the Simrad TP22 (about $100 cheaper than the ST2000) and springing for the Raymarne X-5. The X-5 seems to be a much more robust unit, but do I really want to spend a grand!

There are a few comments about lousy customer service on here for the Smrad, but when I looked around a bit more, off this board, found that many people are delighted with their Simrads. They seem to be particularly popular in Europe.

I would love to hear from X-5 users to see if they feel it is worth the money. I'd like to buy just once and be happy for 5 years, in which case the $1,000 would be worthwhile.

[Neil Gordon]

>>I note that the Raymarine ST2000+ is on the borderline for the displacement of a CD28<<

Displacement is just a shortcut measurement. What really matters is how much force is used to move the tiller; that's the range you need to ponder, although I've not seen that expressed anywhere.

The ST2000 manual does note that sail trim is important and that reefing early will improve performance.

My limit with the ST2000 has been in motoring into heavy seas and strong headwinds, which combine to slow the boat and blow the bow off. Steering manually, I have more range of rudder angle than the ST2000 affords.

[paul marko]

Hello,

here is my 2 cents worth for the Simrad TP 20. I have owned it for about 7 years and have had no problems with it, I especially like the remote key pad which I some times use while on the foredeck.

since I mostly sail single handed I rely on the TP 20 while I set sail and Motor. However when on over nites and long passages I prefer my wind vane ( Navick) no noise and current drain.


Fair winds Paul Marko

[Ldybg]

sorry for the dirty boat

socket 6.5 inches from coaming




24 inches from end of cockpit





pin on tiller 17 inches from post




inner jib track that was included on this album, the best improvement yet!

[VanCitters]

Dennis,

Thanks much - this is what I thought the installation would look like, so very reassuring. It works well for you? Do you have it interfaced to GPS and/or wind instrument, etc.?

Wayne

[Ldybg]

No, no interfaces, Ladybug is pretty bare bones.

It works well for me, I use it for those days when I have to motor a decent distance.

Not having interfaces keeps me paying attention, I'm less likely to wind up doing something stupid (easy enough w/o help).

DD

[Neil Gordon]

Not having interfaces keeps me paying attention, I'm less likely to wind up doing something stupid (easy enough w/o help).

Steering to a waypoint doesn't seem any dumber than steering a compass course. On the other hand, in coastal situations where there's any possibility of traffic, integrating with wind and/or GPS course changes, where the boat turns without knowing who might be in your new path, seems suicidal.

By the way, so as not to interfere with the cockpit cushions, I opted for the extension and mounted the ST2000 on the cockpit combing, using a fairing block to true things up.

[2tocruise]

We just bought and installed a ST2000 on Avanti. "Tilly" was extremely helpful during our trip up the Chesapeake. Great for motoring through those long calms and it seemed to handle moderate conditions without too much trouble. It is pretty sensitive to trim and it doesn't like much weather helm while beating. (The wind was nice enough that when it did fill in it was always from the direction we wanted to go).

Installation was pretty straight forward, I mounted the pin on the STBD cockpit locker with a wood block epoxied under as a backing plate.

I do think I need to re-run the calibration and alter the settings somewhat though as there were periods where it would only maintain about 20deg either side of proper course, and sometimes it would fixate on a course even after hitting the +/- 10 button a couple of times. Anyone with more experience have any suggestions?