Raymarine Autopilot Autohelm repairs

[drbridge]

This spring when we got our boat out for the season our Raymarine autopilot system failed to function. I have spent several months without the use of this older 2004 system all the time trying to figure out how I was going to make it work again. After much scrutiny I came to the conclusion that the S1G course computer had failed.
Raymarine will no longer service these computers. They told me "they can no longer get parts for them". In reality they do not want to service the older units so that you will but a new one.
I did not really want to do that since everything else in my system besides the course computer was still in good condition. After searching high and low I finally found an individual that works on these older units. Not only that, but the only thing that he works on is Raymarine and Raytheon Autopilots and Autohelms. I sent it to him and he received it on a Thursday. The following Tuesday I had the repaired unit in my hands. The cost of repair was very minimal. I installed it and it worked perfectly. It is such a luxury to have it working again. Dan was able to tell me that my computer had only 27 hours of use on it. and that it was basically in very good condition. He replaced a capacitor and an integrated chip and installed the latest available software.
If you have older Raymarine, Raytheon Autopilot Autohelm equipment, Keep this man in mind:

Dan Gerhardt C250@mydurango.net

If you google his name and Raymarine you will find a number of testimonials regarding his services on other boating forums.
He also buys and sells used/refurbished Raymarine and Raytheon autopilot equipment.
I just wanted to share this info in case others need this service.

Doug

[thataway]

Glad you found this guy. There is a cottage industry in the "outdated" electronics field. Furuno should still be good, and the older Simrad/Robertson were covered--but not sure since Navco took over…But there is a cottage industry there for these also:

There is a guy in San Diego who works on the old systems:
http://www.mooregreg.com/electricalelectronics/autopilotsteering.html

[hardee]

Doug, Sure glad you found that and got it working. that is probably what was wrong with mine but I wound up replacing some parts instead. Sure like it when it works.

Harvey
SleepyC