J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Tiller pilot

Does anyone know what extention length and mounting accessories are needed to mount the Simrad TP22 on an Old Style (1982) J/30?

I've decided to go full-auto and am 4 hours from the boat!

Thanks - Dan

My autohelm ST1000+ shows his limit on the beam as soon it is not flat water. Nothing new but wondering if anyone has an experience with the autohelm smartpilot X5?
Is it worth the upgrade?

I've had the Raymarine X5 on my boat for 3 years now and am very happy with it. when it limits out it usually means you should have put in a reef already.

I replaced my Autohelm ST1000+ 3 years ago with the Raymarine X5, and got the remote. This is a great system.

1. The X5 is much stronger and has no problem keeping up with the sail trim where the ST1000 would loose the ability to maintain course.

2. The X5 has it's own compass with roll and pitch sensors. It is amazing how well this works down wind with following seas. It steers a straighter course than I can!

3. If you get the remote, there is no need to mount the head unit topside (e.g. no need to drill a separate hole). I built a small box out of "Starboard" and mounted the display head and remote receiver on it, then screwed it next to the X5 course computer below decks.

4. I've networked this with my TackTick system and Garmin GPS so I can steer by relative wind angle, or GPS waypoints. Here is a link to the schematics.

Here is some stuff I didn't like.

• The connectors are different - means drilling another hole.
• The length is different so it means you need to drill another hole for mounting (on Rhapsody that is on the stbd lazarette surface).

Precious feedback. Thanks a zillion fellows!

I have the ST2000+ who I refer to as "Raytard". While he is indispensable for long motoring deliveries and putting up sails, I have only been half satisfied with his performance steering to the wind (networked to my ST60+). He is pretty good upwind but downwind I find he just goes stupid every once and a while and allows the boat to just keep turning even when there is no windshift. He has gone a full 90 degrees off the set wind angle.

I do think I need to play with the calibration settings more and I haven't tested him on a reach but I don't know if he can handle it.

I think he might be drinking when I am not looking.

I have two Raymarine ST2000+ tiller pilots, the first broke one day before the expiration date of the two year warranty. I sent it for repairs and bought a replacement as I did not want to wait 8 weeks for repairs. The replacement bought August 6, 2011 died today. Both warranties run into 2014 so I should have at least one working tiller pilot for the foreseeable future. Performance is fine close hauled up to 15 knots apparent. Doesn't do well on other angles of sail. Becomes totally useless in rough weather. For the time being I have adjusted my expectations to match the capabilities of the ST2000+ but am looking at better options.

I have a Raymarine S1G. Just did the solo Chicago to Mac with it and no problems. Actually have done 3 Solo Macs with it. Going through all the configs is well worth it.

Yes heavy air is a problem, but it did great steering on wind vane seeting for me upwind and down. Reaching on windvane doesnt seem to work that well.

BTW 2 J30's completed the Solo Macs (Chicago and Port Huron) this year. My Dog Bob from Georgian Bay did it as well.

A followup on my new raymarine SP X-5. Installation was easy. Did not get a chance to sail in really challenging condition, but already an issue:
The autopilot seems to loose progressively its notion of the rudder position. After 5-10 mn in condition with moderate weather helm:
1. Rudder display shows max Starb. or Port.
2. Pilot stops correcting and after one (two?) minute in that state issues a beep stating it can not helm...

And all this while the helm is mostly centered... ;-) toggling to standby and back to auto reinit the rudder display and out the pilot back work for the next 10 mn... still not good...

E-mailed Raymarine 2 days ago. still waiting for an answer. will followup with their answer - but any feedback is more than welcome...
Cheers,

Georges

Did you try going through the calibration process again? Is it possible that you didn't follow the calibration instructions exactly? Where did you mount the ends of the pilot arm?