January/February 2006 Volume 1, Issue 5
Search:

®2006 Tsunami Fishing Systems

  
Look Mom! No Hands!

One of the gadgets we added to Toy Boat 2 was a Simrad AP12R autopilot. Luxury? Or irreplaceable tool?
Background  |  Installation  |  Commissioning  |  Peformance  |  Safety&Reliability  |  Summary

Installation was straightforward, but there were a few gotchas. Here's how things went down...

Removing the steering wheel
Removing the steering wheel actually proved to be more of a challenge than we thought it would be. Steering wheel pullers can be rented at many auto parts stores, but are designed to connect to automobile steering wheels via a couple of sockets built into the face of the steering wheel.

To remove a car steering wheel, you remove the steering wheel hub cover, screw the puller bolts into the sockets, then tighten the puller's central bolt so that it pushes against the steering wheel shaft. The steering wheel eventually pops off. Because everything is held in alignment by the bolts, there is little possibility for excitement

In the case of TB2, the steering wheel does not have the puller sockets. To attach the puller to the wheel, we used

3/16" nylon cord woven around the steering wheel spokes and the puller's arms. Since the cord is flexible, we were relying on the cord pulling up evenly as we tightened the center bolt, in order to keep the puller centered on the steering wheel shaft.

This looked like it would work, but made us pretty nervous. If you've ever seen 3/16" nylon cord pulled so tight that it hums, you know the type of tension we're talking about. The first time we did it, when the steering wheel came loose, the nylon cord actually popped the steering wheel a couple of inches off the shaft and it fell to the deck before we could catch it. Fortunately, it didn't damage the deck gel coat, but it was pretty startling.
Cutting out the new hole
The AP12R uses mounting brackets with a different shape and bolt hole pattern than the original Teleflex plate (left). This meant we had to make additional cuts around the original hole (right). Pretty straightforward - we just hate making permanent cuts into major pieces of fiberglass. 
Mounting the unit
The AP12R comes with a couple of different mounting plates. These plates hold the autopilot (and subsequently the steering wheel) at different angles relative to the dash. We initially installed the autopilot with the drive shaft at a 90 degree angle to the dashboard surface (the plate and shroud on the far left).

Once we got the unit mounted, we realized that the stock AP12R shaft would not work with the Teleflex tilt steering wheel mechanism. We decided to try the stationary shaft with the steering wheel in the 90 degree position. That felt uncomfortable, so we switched to the mounting plate that held the AP12R about 20 degrees more vertically (see picture to the right). That also felt uncomfortable.

Tilt wheel adapter
Since none of the stationary steering wheel positions felt right, we called Simrad to discuss other options. Imagine our surprise when we were told that Simrad made a replacement shaft for the AP12/14 that was compatible with the Teleflex tilt mechanism. We bought it sight unseen. The picture to the left shows the replacement shaft (the short one) and the stock AP12R shaft.

We didn't want to have to unbolt the drive unit to put the shaft in, so we decided to just drop the back end of the drive unit, slide the old shaft out, and the new shaft in. This worked pretty much as planned.

The new shaft worked perfectly with the Teleflex tilt mechanism. We bolted the drive mechanism back into place and re-mounted the tilt mechanism and steering wheel. The picture to the left shows everything put back together.

Mounting the junction box
This little junction box (right) is used to join the wires from the drive unit, the hand controller, and the fluxgate compass. The GPS input wires are separate and run directly into the drive unit.

The picture to the left shows the view from the underside of the console. The junction box is the little black thing with three wires on the left side of the picture. The black cylinder at the top of the picture is the drive unit.

Mounting the control unit
Since we were running out of dash space, this was a logical place to put it. It is located just to the right of the steering wheel on the vertical part of the console. The switches to the right of the controller are for the trim tabs. The unit has some pretty good seals for the keys and case, so protecting the controller from exposure to water was not a consideration.


Mounting the fluxgate compass
This was a tough one to do right. The goal in selecting a compass mounting location is to:

  • Keep the compass at least 3' away from any source of magnetic interference, such as large chunks of steel or iron, solenoids or electrical current

  • On the centerline of the boat

  • As low as possible.

In the end, we mounted the fluxgate compass inside the lower part of the console, on the front bulkhead. This is also the back of the storage container under the front seat. This was the best we could do on Toy Boat 2. The other possible mounting spots had some major flaws:

  • Putting it up front behind the casting deck was not a option, due to the two anchors and chain we carry.

  • Putting it in the bilge was not an option, because of the proximity of the motor.

  • Putting it on the inside back wall of the console, at the time, was not an option because the VRO tank was there. We also had some large solenoids mounted on the walll as well. (Note: we could move the compass there now, because the E-TEC's oil tank is under the engine cowling, and the solenoids have been removed).

  • Putting it on the front side of the console seat was not an option because of our large ice chest / fish box.

Putting it in the indicated position is not ideal, because we carry our tools in the compartment on the other side of the bulkhead. But of the choices we had available, this looked like the best. The toolbox is held in position by the other stuff inside the compartment, so it is unlikely to shift.
Connecting the GPS
We used ring terminals and our existing circuit block to connect the AP12R to our GPS. See our article in Issue 2:  "Can We Talk?" for specifics.

Powering up
We decided to draw power from the lone free switch on the stock Edgewater switch panel. Everything hooked up easily. Unfortunately, the stock Edgewater switch panel just says "Auxilary", so we have to remember that it's now being used for the autopilot.

 

 
<< Previous Page Next Page >>