3/28/03

Notes on the installation of a simrad tiller pilot on the capehorn vane. 

After completion of the installation of the windvane itself by Yves Gelinas of capehorn marine I took on the task of installing a tiller pilot so the vane can steer the boat under power as well as under sail.

The capehorn vane (CH) is designed with the use of a tiller pilot in mind.  A control rod comes through the vane mounting tube and provides an attachment point inside the lazerette for the attachment of the tiller pilot. When the control rod is moved from side to side the vane crescent moves just like it was being moved by the angle of the wind.  All the tiller pilot provides is "information" not the brute force to steer the boat. 

In most installations all that is necessary to mount the tiller pilot is to drill a 1/4" hole all the way through the plastic tip on the tiller pilot push rod.  The lever from the vane is passed through the hole and the connection complete.

I had expected this installation to be a simple matter of dropping the tiller pilot onto the lever that is provided on the vane.  Unfortunately the curve of the stern on the TY 37 did not leave enough space for the tillerpilot to be installed at right angles to the centerline of the boat so I had to come up with a system of light lines to connect the tiller pilot to the vane.

In the course of this project I tried a few things that did not work very well and thought that describing those approaches might save someone else some time in the future. 

In the near future I will draw up some of my failed ideas and post them here.  for the time being I will just provide the pics of the system that I think is going to work. 

As of april 14, 2003 this setup has not been tested under way.  I have run the tiller pilot manually from the remote and observed that it turns the windvane crescent without any lag.  I fully expect it will steer the boat just fine but cant say (at this point) that I have tested it properly. 

Here's a brief description of each of the pics in this folder: 

0038 shows the end of the tillerpilot push rod attached to the light lines that run to the capehorn vane.  To use the wind vane to steer it is necessary to remove the wing nut and lift the tang off the 1/4" bolt that I ran through the end of the tiller pilot push rod. 

The pink lines are some kind of high tech stuff that is used on small racing boats.  The green lines in the photo are the lines that take the power of the vane to the boat's steering quadrant. 

The end of a 2X4 that I mounted the tiller pilot on is visible under the tiller pilot.  This is 2x4 is resting on the ss L bracket that hold the bearing for the top of the rudder post. 

0037 shows another view of the mounting.  I attached the 2x4 to the angle ss with hose clamps and fastened the tiller pilot to the boad with bungee cord.  When I have determined that this setup works Ill clean up the loose ends. 

0036 does not show much more that the other pics


0039 shows the attachment of the tiller pilot control lines to the lever on the end of the vane mounting tube.  The attachment here and to the tiller pilot is by a small ss tang that is sold for rigging on small boats. 

0040 shows the where I installed the remote for the tiller pilot on the side of the inside helmsman seat in the pilot house.  The simrad tiller pilot came with a free remote and plent of cord for use in the pilot house or out in the cockpit.