Tiller pilot installation

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.

Using a sharp drill bit, bore holes to the size specified in the instructions. I drilled 1/4 (holes for the stainless-steel mounting bolts.

Do a trial dry fit (without sealant) first to make sure everything is right. Then bed the pedestal with a generous bead of sealant. Don’t be tempted to use 3Ms 5200; it’s a great product, but you won’t be able to get the pedestal up again if you need to. I used brown Life Caulk; it keeps water out, and the seal can be broken if necessary.

The pedestal can now be bolted into position. I had to cut a small access hatch (I glued it back in later) so I could access the underside of the deck
to tighten the nuts.

Now it’s time to make the electrical connections. I made up a wiring loom from the socket and cut the wires long enough to snake through bulkheads and other obstacles. Follow the wiring color codes that come with the pilot. I used three wires for the power and NMEA interface.

Small setscrews hold the wires into the back of the socket. Work neatly;
even a small whisker of loose wire could cause a short circuit. Once the
socket is in place, it may difficult to service.

Mount the socket in a convenient and dry location; then run the wires back to the electrical panel and make the connections. Note that a fuse of the correct size should be installed to protect the tiller pilot. Note, too, that the tiller pilot does not get power from the Seatalk bus and must be connected to its own power supply.

When all the wires are connected, it’s time for sea trials and calibration. The red tape covers the cut out and this has since been repaired and repainted.

Early tiller pilots were big and heavy. This 25-year-old Tiller Master has a metal case, and the lifting handle is essential. The only connection needed is the power supply.

Incidentally it took me about 6 hours all told to install the tiller pilot but this will vary on your experience,tools and the nature of your boat.

I used the folowing tools and materials in addition to the stuff that came with the pilot

Tools
œ    Drill
œ    Screwdrivers
œ    Tape measure
œ    Pencil
œ    Wire strippers
œ   Wrenches

Materials
œ    Caulk
œ    Stainless-steel nuts and bolts
œ    16-AWG wire
œ    Epoxy
œ    Plastic wire ties
œ    Tiller pilot

Comments

[Captain Wigeon]

Hi from the U.K.
I'm thinking of fitting one of these.
I would be very interested in how you found this pilot in use. There are many various on-line opinions about pros and cons of the 2 main competitors items. How big is your boat, has the pilot taken much rain/seas over it, and what GPS item did you connect to it. Did you have to make up a special NMEA 'plug' yourself?

[mark]

This a Raymarine ST 1000 which has proven to be an excellent unit. It has been out in the rain and sea and has never let me down. As for the special plug I had to make up a small loom as described but the connection to connect into the NMEA connections are straight forward and are easily followed using the directions that come with the unit.

[Colin Payne]

I am installing the same unit on a 22 foot day sailer. Installation will be very similar to yours. Question: I have a wind vane, can the wind vane be connected via some control unit to drive the movement of the tiller pilot?
Thanks
Colin
Seattle

[Mark]

Yes it can. Providing the tiller pilot is connected to a suitable windvane. I have mine on the same bus as the chart plotter, flux gate compass and wind vane. In this way the pilot can steer to a way point that I have entered into the plotter, a compass course or to the wind. So in other words if the boat is a on a broad reach you can set up the tiller pilot to sail to the wind direction so if there is a wind shift the boat will alter course to maintain the boat sailing on the broad reach.

[Davey]

Some of these tiller pilots are a bit iffy and the usual problem is damp. I was asked to "look at" an old tiller pilot that had a clock dial some years ago and it was in a bit of a bad way. All of the plastic pillars that the self-tap screws go into had split. This meant that the X shaped sealing ring was not being clamped. Lengths of copper tube were glued over the split pillars and this improved matters. Whilst the device was apart I noticed that the motor wiring was bad. It looked as if it had been done by a non-technical wireman as there were two separate wires about an inch apart. (this will cause a magnetic field when the motor runs) The wires were replaced with a quick-helix twisted pair to reduce stray fields and a 0.1uF capacitor was soldered across the motor terminals. Later the owner said "I don't know what you did to it but it now works better than it ever did!" Well there you go, its just a case of getting the right staff. As to the damp issue, it is now possible to buy weather sleeves for these devices and considering the high cost of the machines Goretex might be a good idea. Material that sweats defeats the object of the exercise and can actually make the damp situation worse.

[Karen]

I own a 25 yr. old Tiller Master. Where can I find parts?

[Mark]

Karen

The short answer is I am not sure. I would check out ebay that sort of stuff comes up often.