View Full Version : 38ft CenterCockpit autopilot
Captain465
03-26-2009, 04:20 pm
MERIDIAN is a 38 ft center cockpit sloop. I am considering installing an autopilot. I would like to know what type of system others have installed.
Wheel pilot vs below deck system. Any comments would be appreciated.
Joseph Shirley
05-22-2009, 10:27 am
The below deck system is a much better system but costs a lot more money. I have a NAVICO WP 5000 which is an above deck wheel pilot. It works fine on my boat after I installed an inside out section of toothed belt around the pulley to stop it from slipping. Unfortunately, shortly after NAVICO was bought out by Simrad they discontinued offering it. They did offer it for a short time though as a Simrad WP 5000 so you might be able to find one on the used market.
Good luck
Joe S
bigsarg
06-17-2009, 02:38 pm
what do you mean by: inside out section of toothed belt. Thanks
Joseph Shirley
06-18-2009, 06:56 pm
The belts have a smooth side and a side with cuts in it that resemble teeth. The smooth side is normally on the outside of the loop of the belt and the tooth side is on the inside. The belt normally is tightened by a cam operated by a lever on the drive motor, and the inside or the toothed side of the belt rides on a smooth pulley groove of the large pulley mounted on the wheel. On a larger boat, the friction between the inside of the belt and the smooth pulley is insufficient to stop the belt from slipping. So if you take an extra belt , turn it inside out so that the teeth are on the outside, measure the circumference of the pulley, cut the extra belt to fit just around the circumference of the big pulley and glue it there, you will have a toothed pulley whose teeth mate with the teeth of the drive belt. This eliminates most of the slippage but if you get rounded up real hard there will be some slippage because the teeth will bend and the drive belt jumps. It works well about 90% of the time however.
This little trick was given to me by NAVICO but they never advertised it because of liability considerations, but it was the only way the wheelpilot would work on 37-38 foot boats over 20,000 lbs.
Have fun
Joe S