Project of upgrading the boat with internally autopilot has proven a great success but it was hard work!! There is a lot of work is in tight spaces behind the cockpit. There is some hard work in modifying the rudder shaft to hold the tiller lever arm. The rudder has to come off, the rudder well has to be cut and the top rudder bering welded in place. A reflexion if I where to do it again i would chance the rudder bearings to new during this procces, All in all i used 30 hours off work time, with a lot of help from friends and about 10 to 20 different work prosses. Deffently the hardest work i have done on the boat to date.
The system where tested with great succes again during this summer'14 and the
Silverrudder singlehand race. The system funktion best with a low response rate. I use 2 both in wind mode and compas mode. This system is the S1G with the Gyroplus II this gives a good and strong response to waves.
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| Illustration of placemnet of autopilot drive motor components. |
1) Ruddershaft with tiller lever from
Jefa. The rudder wheel has to be cut in order to mount the arm on the shaft.
2) Shelf for mounting the rudder position sensor.
3) Shelf for mounting the drive unit - Raymarine type 1.
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| Princepel sketch of aligning the autopilot drive to the rudder shaft. |
1) Placement on the rudder shaft is critical to correct function of the autopilot. But on a Bianca Lido there aren't enough room to fit The Raymarine type 1 drive according to the manual. You have to make adjustments: 1. Angle of attachment/ attack of tiller lever. 2. Move the drive point of attachment in from 250 mm. to 200 mm (
check Jefa site for details) 3. Place the drive according to that. 4. All of this has to be done due to fit the autopilot drive with the boats original rudder stops.
2) Drive must be placed at the end of the space behind the cockpit at an angle to fit the Raymarine drive type 1. MOST IMPORTANT!!!!
keep the angle between the tiller lever and drive as close to 90 gr. ass possible otherwise the stroke radius wont work.
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| Illustration of Raymarine system install on a Bianca Lido. |
1) Placement of Raymarine Flux Gate Compas. Just under the seat as far to the centerline of the boat. It works great under sail.
2) Placement for the Raymarine S1 Smartpilot and Raymarine Gyroplus II in the cupboard under the nav station. (se picture)
3) Connecting the Seatalk cable to the other Raymarine instruments wind etc.
4) The drive installation in the room behind the cockpit and cockpit locker.
