I often sail alone, and ordinary chores, food preparation, sail changes, chart work, and the like often require me to leave the tiller unattended for a time. Although my boat has a long keel and tracks well, it soon became clear that having a self-steering system would be a great asset.
There are two basic types of electronic self-steering systems one for wheel-steered boats, the other for tiller-steered boats like mine. There are numerous choices from numerous manufacturers; your search will be narrowed to some extent by what will work with your boat. Turning a wheel or pushing a tiller requires a certain amount of energy in the form of thrust, and the larger the boat, the greater the required thrust will be.
Because I have Raymarine electronics on my boat, I chose Raymarine’s ST1000 Plus tiller pilot, which is compatible with my existing electronics. It has a maximum push/pull torque of 125 pounds, which is more than enough for my modest 26-footer. The ST1000 Plus is a self-contained tiller pilot; for a larger boat you’ll need a larger pilot.
Before the advent of integrated circuits and NMEA protocols, automatic pilots were not able to share information with other equipment. My ST1000 both sends and receives information and can steer to a course set on a connected chartplotter, a very useful feature for a single hander like me.
Installation of a tiller pilot varies from boat to boat, but my installation was typical enough to give you a good idea of what’s involved and whether this project is for you. It’s essential that you read, fully understand, and follow the instructions that come with your tiller pilot.
My boat is made of wood, so I simply seal the edges of any holes I drill with unthickened epoxy a solid glass fibre boat would not be any more difficult but cored decks need more attention; you need to remove the core around the holes, fill them with thickened epoxy, and redrill the holes when the epoxy cures. The epoxy will keep moisture from entering the core.
Choose a position for the tiller pilot, paying special attention to the unit’s installation instructions. With the ST1000, the pivot point on the tiller where the pilot’s drive arm is attached must be 18 inches from the centerline of the rudder pintles. Note that when the tiller is steering dead ahead, the drive arm is at a 90-degree angle to the centerline of the boat.
The drive arm also needs to be level athwartships. This was initially a problem on my boat because the tiller was too high relative to the side deck. I solved the problem by adding an extension to the pedestal socket.
Raymarine offers a large range of optional parts to ensure that the tiller
pilot will fit just about any boat.
Following the installation instructions, mark the positions of the pedestal mounting base and the pivot pin. On my boat the pedestal is on the side deck, adjacent to the cockpit coaming, and the pivot pin is on top of the tiller. I like to use masking tape for marking positions; pencil shows
up well on it, and you can double-check before drilling the holes.
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