Recently installed an ST1000+ tiller-pilot on Teria and went for a test sail to Magnetic Island.
Definitely a game-changer for singlehanded sailing, "Tyranny of the helm" is no more thankfully. the pilot is powered by Teria's 12 volt, 105amp deepcycle battery. It can hold Teria on course for hours, so old skipper can rest, lookout, navigate, reduce sail or attend to other tasks and the boat won't veer off course tack or gybe unexpectedly etc. Takes allot of worry out of sailing to a destination and can arrive far less tired than before. Well worth all the time and effort to set up.
The ST1000+ is made by Raymarine (now owned by FLIR, Teledyne) It has an inbuilt fluxgate compass and a screw driven push-pull rod that connects to the tiller.
I use it in it's simplest mode. Just get Teria sailing and well balanced on course, connect pilots arm to tiller, then press "Auto" button to engage the pilot. Other buttons can adjust course by 1 or 10 degrees port or starboard and a "standby" button disengages (freezes) the pilot's arm (then manually disengage from tiller)
To turn pilots power on or off, there is a switch in the cabin's electrical cupboard. It's in a 3 gang switch board with a 10amp glass "slo-blow" fuse (12 amp is recommended, but no-one up here has that size).
Safety. Now man-overboard could mean bye bye boat over the horrizon. Teria bow and stern rails connected with staunchion lifeline wires all around gunwales plus a safe cockpit area. I now always wear a belt bag with PLB (personal locator beacon) and a 150 offshore inflatable life-jacket for the worst case scenario. The Personal Locator Beacon has GPS in it too, so is quick and accurate but hope it's never needed. Other measures to stay onboard, are pick the best weather conditions/times and set up correct sail area/routes in advance (to avoid worst rough stuff). And always "one hand (or both legs) for the ship, one hand for yourself" if moving foward on deck, windward side and sit down when doing a task. Read a few stories on this subject, some good and some fatal. The good ones had PLB's and life jackets.
Bought my ST1000 from Road Tech Marine in Townsville. Couldn't find an 8" ram-arm extension rod anywhere here, so made up a jury-rigged one for the first test sail. (Have parts on order through Boating and RV, Townsville)
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| Electrical cupboard - new ply backing board holds 3 gang switchboard, Mains switch and solar charging regulator |
ST1000 steers and Tohatsu sailpro 6hp push Teria into 10 knot Sou'easter and 2-3 foot waves, bit bumpy but best/shortest way to get back to Townsville early mornings
Sailing back from Magnetic Island on port tack reach, the ST1000 in operation.
The tempoary ram extension eventually gave out at its join (just a 19mm low density poly pipe tube sleeved over ss rod end). So reverted to hand steering and sometimes the Huntington helm impeder (tiller lock) (which sometimes helped self steering for over a minute ant a time if the wind was foward of the beam, a good back up. The helm impeder is also great around the river estuary etc)
