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S&S Swan Maintenance - Swan 57 - New Autopilot Installation |
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Join Date: 17 March 2010
Posts: 16 |
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Swan 57 - New Autopilot Installation Dear Friends I have struggled to keep my Neco autopilot working with the kind and valued help of member Daniel Fua and the UK expert Derek Coventry, HOWEVER, I have had a number of problems over the l;ast 2 years (10,000 miles) and as i sail long distance short handed and on my last passage Antigua to Bermuda, it failed again. I am very reluctant to give up on the Neco as I like simple and strong as a design maxim on boats but I worry that the equipment is now getting a little old and worse the expertise to fix them is lacking internationally. I have decided to insatall a new autopilot, possibly keeping the Neco if repaired as a back up system, if not I would install 2 new systems to give me redundancy. My question to you all is what should I fit, I want at least one to drive directly onto the quadrant and I guess at my size it should be a hydraulic drive but whether this should be Raymarine, B&G, or something else and whether to integrate (I have heard the B&G Hydra shuts down if log impellor stops etc which I dont want.)
If any 57 (or similar sized boat) owner has any experience or anyone can recoimmend a US east coast boatyard to help me it would be much appreciated.
Thank you as always in anticipation of your help.
Kind Regards
Graham Applin SY. Nakesa, St georges, Bermuda |
Join Date: 15 April 2011
Posts: 393 |
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Hi Graham, I lived aboard a Shannon 50 with my wife and kids and used a Robertson Auto Pilot. Apparently, these were the units used by commercial fishing fleets almost exclusively - at least, that's what I was told. It was a great unit, but like yours, it was old and we had trouble finding parts and qualified mechanics to make any repairs. I understand that Simrad bought Robertson's auto pilot system, if not the whole company, and that their auto pilot is about as good as it gets. I would definitely add Simrad to your short list. With warm regards, Chris |
Join Date: 20 February 2007
Posts: 119 |
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Graham: Although my Swan 43 is a much smaller than your boat I have had good success with my Simrad/Robertson autopilot brain connected to a direct drive Whitlock electric motor. A tie rod connects the Whitlock actuator arm to my rudder quadrant. I opted to not install a hydraulic system inorder to eliminate all of the hydraulic hoses and hydraulic pump. The Whitlock motor is a single self enclosed motor unit that has been utterly reliable and has plenty of power. I know they have different size motor units for larger boats. You can see the install on this web site under the Swan 43 Maintenance link. A good east coast boatyard especially for Swans is Jamestown Boat Yard in Rhode Island. Hiro
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Join Date: 02 January 2008
Posts: 1547 |
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Graham
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Join Date: 30 January 2007
Posts: 461 |
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Lars, |
Join Date: 02 January 2008
Posts: 1547 |
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Daniel
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Join Date: 01 April 2007
Posts: 106 |
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Dear All, Like Hiro I have the Simrad/Robertson autopilot with the whitlock direct drive. Due to the lack of space on my Swan38, I couldn`t fit the direct drive in line with the short arm of the whitlock. And I found it quite difficult to align the proper distances and angles of the short arm relative to the tiller on the rudder stock. Maybe that is why I am not very content with the performance: perhaps I did not install it the correct way. When motoring everything is ok, but under sail and reaching it doesn't do very well. With winds above force 5 I have to take over by hand (to avoid gybing). Does anyone know if installation is necessary with arm and direct drive in-line ? Does anyone have an explanation why the autopilot, when motoring is ok and when reaching it is not ok ? Surely the pilot doesn't know when I am motoring ? Or ? Jan (YULUNGA, Swan38/110)
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Join Date: 02 January 2008
Posts: 1547 |
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Jan, do you know how much torque your drive produces?
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Join Date: 01 April 2007
Posts: 106 |
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Hi Lars,
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Join Date: 02 January 2008
Posts: 1547 |
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Jan, can you find a torque figure in the manual? Should be 248 kgm, and this is more than sufficient for the Swan 38, corresponds to a wheel rim load of 64 kg, more than you achieve with your hands. Next question - how long is your tiller arm on the rudder stock?
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Join Date: 01 April 2007
Posts: 106 |
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Sorry Lars, I haven't had the time to figure things out. Hope this weekend when I visit the boat. Kind regars, Jan |
Join Date: 13 March 2008
Posts: 16 |
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Hi Graham,
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Join Date: 14 November 2012
Posts: 3 |
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Hi Robert--
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