Question about Raymarine/Raytheon Sportpilot

starcrafttom · Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 4:43 pm Post subject:

I have a differant question. Will the sport pilot work on a steering wheel with tilt? if so can I have yours Rick?

Sunbeam · Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 5:03 pm Post subject:

A contact with Raymarine produced an exploded diagram of the autopilot, and the information that the sloppiness is not a "known" problem with a known solution. Also, Raymarine no longer has any parts for the Sportpilot (not a surprise).

The diagram does show how to take the Sportpilot apart, although it does not show any internal detail of the part that seems to be causing the sloppiness (but, maybe something will reveal itself upon disassembly).

I'll photograph and post the diagram later so that others can reference it.

Sunbeam

BrentB · Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 6:19 pm Post subject:

BrentB · Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 6:21 pm Post subject:

BrentB · Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 6:26 pm Post subject:

c-ness · Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 9:32 pm Post subject:

This is not a solution, but I found that when I replaced the sport pilot with a s1000 that I had much more room at the helm without that bulky device. Really much more room.

416rigby · Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 1:22 pm Post subject:

Sent you a PM, Tom.

Sunbeam · Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 2:16 pm Post subject:

Captains Cat · Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 3:35 pm Post subject:

BrentB · Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 3:58 pm Post subject:

thanks for diagram

Ahhh there are screws in the back. easilier from iTouch

Sunbeam · Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 12:04 pm Post subject:

An update on my Sportpilot, which was giving the steering wheel on my 22 Cruiser a very annoying amount of side-to-side slop. I think the problem has been found and can be fixed. Yay! I won't be able to find out for sure until I launch, but what was found seemed wrong and allowed slop, which then went away when it was corrected. So here's hoping it fixes my Sportpilot and also the other folks' who have the same problem.

So, to review, here is what you see once you remove the wheel/nuts/steering boss (referenced in drawing in first post). This photo is Brent's Sportpilot+, but what you see at this point looks the same as on my Sportpilot. The part we are interested in is the brass "wheel" you see, which is labeled as part #6 on the exploded diagram I posted partway through the thread.

First, remove the Sportpilot from the steering column (on mine that was accomplished by removing the wheel/nuts/Sportpilot steering boss, and then one athwartships screw at the center hinge of the torque bracket ("flamingo leg" bracket that attaches bottom of Sportpilot to helm bulkhead). Note that the manual recommends you have the helm hard over to starboard and that you don't "brace" against the Sportpilot when you loosen/tighten the steering-shaft nuts - just let it spin around and let the end of the steering travel stop it.

Once the Sportpilot is removed, you'll have the entire black tombstone-and-stalk unit in your hands, with part #6 showing just as it is in Brent's photo above in this post. If you turn the Sportpilot over, you'll see six deep black holes in the plastic case - each one holds a hex screw that takes a 3mm hex wrench. Once those are out you can "crack" the Sportpilot in half and get part #6 out (there are wires and etc. still so don't just pull it apart with abandon - I just separated it enough to extract #6.

Here is part #6 "right-side up" on the table (in other words the part that faces you when you are at the helm is the "top"). I added some descriptive text to the photos - it may be a bit hard to read but I figured that way if people saved the photos they would have the pertinent info right on them. I'll repeat it here in the post though.

If you turn part #6 over, there is a black plastic, toothed ring that you can pull off. It's indexed so it can only go back on in one orientation.

There are three small screws on the "back" of the brass part. On my Sportpilot these were loose. By putting two of the case screws (same size) into the "front" of part #6 and using them as handles, I was able to tug on this part and recreate the side-to-side slop that I felt in the wheel (and let's hope it was all coming from this - I think it probably was...).

These three screws can be tightened with a 1/16" hex wrench. Once they were tightened part #6 passed the "tug test" with nearly no slop - very different from when they were loose. This is the stage I'm at now. Normally I wouldn't post until I had completed a repair and tested it, but I won't have it tested right away, and since there were other people who, like me, were about to rip the thing out and get rid of it just to alleviate the slop. I figured I'd post the information I have now.

I think I'm going to use some Locktite on these three screws, and then also check to see if I need to lubricate the Sportpilot unit at all (there was a small amount of grease on various parts that I wiped off with towels in order to work on it - although no fluid like you see in Brent's photo).

Sunbeam Hot

Sunbeam · Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 1:07 pm Post subject:

BrentB · Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 1:26 pm Post subject:

excellent writeup Sunbeam

The solution seen in my photo is either WD-40, spray silcone, PB Blaster, brake fluid or a few other lubicants. We had a difficult time removing the ap from the helm shaft

Sunbeam · Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 1:35 pm Post subject: