EV-100 Auto Pilot Install

[kmclemore]

Not sure if i can put my email on here, but...
windsurfmt -- on the website -- yahoo with a dot, com.

We admins would advise against it, since 'bots' are constantly scouring the web - including this website - for data that which can be later used for spamming. You might want to edit your email address to make them somewhat obscure on this and other sites (see how I modified it in the quote above.)

[BOAT]

Hello windsurf - you can ask all the questions you want but I really prefer they all go through this website.

The whole point of posting here is to support the entire community and taking on individual requests sort of defeats the purpose of the site. It's always my preference to take questions here on the blog and answer them here so that everyone gets the benefit of the information.

The whole point of the blog is to take the things we struggle with and put them in written words - it's a lot of work to figure out how to express yourself in print and I know it's easier to just talk problems out but by taking to time to put your issues in words here you are helping the community and will be amazed at how many people will blog you and say "Wow, I wanted to know that too - thanks for asking".

[windsurfmt]

Hi Boat, you make great points... Here are the questions and thanks again for the help!

1. Also, how far from the well wall is the hole for the tiller mounting bolt hole in the wooden bracket? Is the cotter pin there for quick release?

2. The aluminum bracket that holds the rope system to raise the piston so it's un-engaged looks like another piece of 2" aluminum bar, this right?
Can you bend it past 90 degrees without it breaking? Did you have to heat it?

3. On the aluminum bracket that attaches to the existing steering, what is the distance between the bolt hole furtherest aft and the end of the bracket? Can I get close enough by guessing based on pics?

4. Where did you mount the in-boat electronics?

Probably more to come, thanks again...

[BOAT]

Hi Boat, you make great points... Here are the questions and thanks again for the help!

1. Also, how far from the well wall is the hole for the tiller mounting bolt hole in the wooden bracket? Is the cotter pin there for quick release?

2. The aluminum bracket that holds the rope system to raise the piston so it's un-engaged looks like another piece of 2" aluminum bar, this right?
Can you bend it past 90 degrees without it breaking? Did you have to heat it?

3. On the aluminum bracket that attaches to the existing steering, what is the distance between the bolt hole furtherest aft and the end of the bracket? Can I get close enough by guessing based on pics?

4. Where did you mount the in-boat electronics?

Probably more to come, thanks again...

I have the hole pretty close to the well there - I will get an exact measurement and post it. Basically, you want the piston as close in as you can without it hitting anything so you have the most room for your feet when your sleeping. The cotter pin is required - because my pilot is HANGING upside down and not right-side up it need the cotter pin or it will fall out of the hole.

The aluminum was easy to bend with no heat. Use a hand grinder ti shape and grind aluminum - it's very soft - grinds and shapes well, and does not rust. I also glued some felt inside that so it did not scratch the piston. Because the aluminum is easy to bend you can use that to make slight adjustments after install to make sure the aluminum 'guide' drops the ball right in the exact place you want.

Your number 3 is called the tiller extension. I can get some measurements on that and post here.

All the electronics are mounted under the aft dinette seat. I can take pictures for that too.

Give me some time to get good photos - I think that is going to help the most. The key to mounting the piston arm is to go under there with the arm in your hand and hold it up in position and imagine it working - move the piston around with your hands to get a good idea of the clearances you will need before you nail it down.

Come back here later for photos - give me some time.

HEY! If any other people have specific things they want to see please post here so I will catch them while I am under there. Okay guys!?

[BOAT]

There are 4 parts to deal with I guess:
First one to build I think would be the TILLER EXTENSION. Then the PILOT JOINT, and then the PULLEY BLOCK, and finally the PISTON GUIDE:



So lets look at the first part - the TILLER EXTENSION

[BOAT]

TILLER EXTENSION

MAKES SURE YOU READ THIS THREAD FOR DETAILS ON THE TILLER EXTENSION:

http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... 57#p317441



This is the rudder arm - the holes in that arm are critical and not all boats are the same. You need to know the spacing of the holes:



The tiller extension will lay on top of that rudder arm and it will use two of the holes to attach - for my model of macgrego the holes spacing is 9 inches - you would need to measure for yours:



The tiller extention lays on top of the rudder arm and two holes must line up:

[BOAT]

The PILOT JOINT.

You need to explore the space you have between the liner and the motor well. It's different on every boat. Most boats are about 1/2 inch of space between the motor well wall and the liner wall. On 'boat' it was less, closer to 3/8".

To explore that area I used a multi tool to slowly and carefully cut a square into the liner - first I used blue tape to set the boundaries for my square hole:



Be careful to not cut the motor well. Do not put any holes or cuts into the motor well.
After cutting the liner hole I could measure the space between the liner and the motor well and cut a piece of mahogany that would fit up in there.

You can make an angled wood thing like this using many joining practices - Pocket screw, straight wood screw - whatever your good at. Try to get the angle right - it's not quite 90 degrees.

REVIEW THIS THREAD WITH MORE DETAILS ON THE ANGLES:

http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... 57#p317447


The way I did it was to cut the bottom part where it joins the liner part at a slight angle so it's level when mounted. I glued and screwed it. After letting the 3/4 Inch Mahogany dry all night I removed the screws and grinded my piece down with a hand grinder and a belt sander until it fit into the 3/8" space between the liners and the well.

In this picture the space between my finger and my thumb is about 3/8" - for your boat it might be more, might be less:



So here is the finished product custom made to fit my particular hole - you make the piece after you cut the hole and make the piece fit to the hole you made by grinding it and sanding it.

Slide your piece into the hole between the well and liner and attach it securely to the liner with a stress plate and VERY SHORT stainless screws!
DO NOT SCREW INTO THE MOTOR WELL!:




AFTER you get the piece fitted gauge where to put the hole for the joint - you want to make sure the placement of the hole allows the piston to swing in and out a few degrees because that's what it will do as it follows the arc of the rudder arm as you boat turns port to starboard.

For 'boat' this hole came out to be about 1 inch on center from the liner. For your boat it might be different depending on the hang and thickness of your wood piece and liner spacing.

[windsurfmt]

Boat,
Thank you so much for the info and pics! Great detail, helped a ton!
My auto pilot kit arrives on Friday. I've already made the wooden shelf and the tiller extension. I've cut the EMT and trimmed the knob a bit.
The aluminum backer plate is also ready to go.

This project requires me to add a second, dedicated battery. With that, I'm adding an on-board, 2 bank battery charger.

My next couple questions:
1. Can you post a pic of the "guts" mounted in the aft storage area.
2. Suggestions on where to mount the battery charger. I was going to put it under the dinette, but fear it might be too close to
the auto pilot workings. Thought it might cause interference?
3. Going to install an exterior plug in and was thinking on the side under the helm seat? Other thoughts?
4. When the project was complete, does the screw in panel that covers the steering assembly still fit or does the tiller extension come out too far?

Thanks again!

[kurz]

I installed the electronics in the rear dinette seat, facing to the forward wall.
The compass unit I installed in the side in the front dinette seat. The cable lenght was ok and I have the compass unit away from all the eletronics and so on.

It did not install a tiller extension. I want to put the AP-tiller as close as possible, so that it can turn the rudders as much as possible.

I added a remote control for the raymarine madmanmarine.com. It is much cheaper and I can remote the AP also in offline mode. Good to control the AP when you are inside the cabin and want to center it etc (this feature has to be ordered specially, it does not work in stock mode!)
In addition you can control the ev-100 with every handy via wlan

[BOAT]

Boat,
Thank you so much for the info and pics! Great detail, helped a ton!
My auto pilot kit arrives on Friday. I've already made the wooden shelf and the tiller extension. I've cut the EMT and trimmed the knob a bit.
The aluminum backer plate is also ready to go.

This project requires me to add a second, dedicated battery. With that, I'm adding an on-board, 2 bank battery charger.

My next couple questions:
1. Can you post a pic of the "guts" mounted in the aft storage area.
2. Suggestions on where to mount the battery charger. I was going to put it under the dinette, but fear it might be too close to
the auto pilot workings. Thought it might cause interference?
3. Going to install an exterior plug in and was thinking on the side under the helm seat? Other thoughts?
4. When the project was complete, does the screw in panel that covers the steering assembly still fit or does the tiller extension come out too far?

Thanks again!

You CAN fit everything in the dinette and the answers to all that are already given in the post your in right now on page 9:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=24566&start=120#p332050

That post also tells the changes I made to my original set up because I wanted to make room for a full height hot water shower but if your not putting in a shower tub and a shower sump that won't matter to you.



I have always had the top flap over the steering mechanism on big strap hinges and I have always had those strap hinges mounted so the flap is about a 1/2 inch away from the liner to give it more room to 'flap':



The solid state six axis gyro has always been mounted in the aft dinette:



Like kurz I have a remote control of the AP:



It's all RayMarine stuff and the RayMarine Base Station is inside the pedestal:

[BOAT]

Okay, I guess next I will do the PISTON GUIDE:

It's a simple piece of alum - same stuff as the tiller extension. Skip the eye - just put in a hole instead to run the line and secure it with a knot. Put the hole for that right above the slot - you can see it better in later posts.

(link to other posts when I find them)

Put a bend in it and mount blocks:



I think I botched the holes for mounting it that picture but not to care - you can re-drill holes anywhere you need so it mounts to some good solid liner material. I think one set of holes worked and the others were not on solid material so I re drilled them. Just grind out the slot for the rope with a hand grinder. Also, I put the nuts on the other side after installing because it made the fitting better.



So here it is with all the block and eye junk added and some felt carpet ready to install. Don't bother with that eye - a knot in a hole works better.

[BOAT]

the operation of the PISTON GUIDE is pretty simple:




You can see above I deleted the eye for a knot hole and also put the nuts on the other side for better clearance.

It's an easy gadget to figure out:





So, shall I proceed to the PULLY BLOCK or are you guys good?

[windsurfmt]

Hey Boat,
On your install on an M, did you need to purchase any extra cables to reach everything?
Did you provide your own wire for the run from the tiller ram to the control box?
thanks

[BOAT]

Man, that's a good question I totally don't remember.

What length of cable comes with the pilot? As I recall it's a two piece thing - The cable that comes out of the piston is rather short and terminates with a plug - there there is a longer run of the same cable that terminates with the receptacle at one end and stripped wires at the other that go into screw terminals at the brain box. I believe they made it that way because they assumed you would be removing the piston from your tiller when your not on the boat, (it is after all a TILLER pilot, not really made for a wheel boat). It seems to me that cable was long enough for my needs because my brain box has always been within 10 feet of the piston. Kurz might remember such details - I just don't recall.

[kurz]

Yes you need some extra cables, depending on your installation.

You need a cable (normal stile 12V) to get from the unit to the tiller.

For the rest you get a set with the raymarine connector cables. I could do the installation with all the came when I remember correct.
BUT: Some cables were short so I had to root not a perfect way. Maybe I would buy ones in longer dimensions.
Maybe I was too lazu to go to store or it seems the price is way much over you want to pay as the raymarine connecters are special...