tillerpilot installation

Did not find here a thread on the subject

Can say it begins with pbryant's thread: Round trip sail: Pillar Point to Santa Cruz.

As a trying-to-be-helpful intro
Here is an 8pg illustrated DIY on installing the ST1000 in the cockpit of a 26' Golant Gaffer.
Big print, space for notes and comments. Nice. Think MarkCorke is located in Newport. RI

Raymarine ST1000 Plus
Tiller pilot installation - On Board with Mark Corke
http://www.onboardwithmarkcorke.com/
{Site is difficult for a curmudgeon to navigate. Home page: menu bar upper left: Archives,
scroll to March 2009...
Scroll down text to tillerpilot photo and expand to full printable log.}
As with pbryant, the Raymarine was chosen to be compatible with existing electronics on board.
'It can steer a course set on a connected chartplotter.'


littlegull will be getting a new pilot. She came with a NavicoTP5000, which seemed easy to use
when tried out on the Bay, not seriously, these many years ago. Since it is a fairly serious
electronic toy, that feeds on the boat's energy system, and does an important job in the cockpit,
serious researching is appropriate. What makes SimradTP10* a serious competitor....if it seriously is?

Options, experiences, tips, explanations, photos, damnations, exclamations....?
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Generaly have a problem with entry level anything. Assume an entry level tillerpilot is the
cheapest of the litter. They aren't as robust, or waterproof as more pricey siblings on the shelf.
The pilot attached to littlegull's tiller may be asked to work during nasty conditions, when forces
on boat and rudder are sudden, jerky, unpredictable. like the skipper!

Upgrade pilots will obviously have more electronics, be able to do more tricks. But then, a more
robust unit may not be found in a tillerpilot, because more money** buys you an autopilot with a
string of squirrelly gadgets. What's necessary for us is a husky non-tempermental tool that is
capable of one simple task of keeping a small heavy keel boat on track in all conditions. Simple.
One that won't break down like pbryant's three older Raymarine ST1000s! lousey track record!

Picking this up from forums: Entry level pilots do not hold up well. Can be any number of
reasons that have little to do with the pilot. But we should expect a tillerpilot that takes abuse,
that's friendly and forgiving, and more than anything is waterproof.... reliable in blazing sun,
saltwater damp, freezing cold, neglect, and fixable. Who makes it? ...somebody in Iceland!

WATERPROOF is immersion 30' under for an hour.........why am I so unreasonable!:
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SO LET'S GO NON-ENTRY LEVEL
Raymarine EV100 Tiller Pilot review - Ahoy! http://www.ventspleen.com/?p=2124
The hype from Ray on the new EVoluition is way up there with Darwin discovering vanilla
icecream. Don't know if this unit can even fit on an Ariel, or how many other equipments the
tillerpilot has to talk with to work. Amusing account by one man wrestling with The Problem.
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*Simrad stuff: 'Entry Level' TP10, $479 "Waterproof Sealing"... GS25 GPS Antenna $199 "Fully
Waterproof"... May need a RC42 Rate "Fully Waterproof" (fluxgate) Compass $550... HSS8"
Chartplotter $2845... NSO OP40 Controller $400... The plotter & controller say nada about proofing...
But it is good to know that while the TP10 is not 'fully waterproof', the 'sealing' for the tillerpilot is
somewhat - but not wholly - protected, I guess - and the 4"x1.5" antenna is 'fully waterproof."
entry level $4000!
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**"I purchased a boat because setting fire to $100 bills was not an efficient enough way to
dispose of them..."
Found on the EricsonYachts.Org, Maintenance & Mechanical Forum