Autopilot drifts off course- Raymarine

Greetings. I've got a 6 year old Raymarine autopilot that has just started becoming unreliable. Sometimes, usually after a recent input change, it seems to get locked up in a given rudder orientation and the boat will start moving in a big circle. If I input a change, it will respond, but it seems like the interface between heading and rudder changes to maintain that heading is intermittent or failed altogether. Has anyone encountered a similar problem?


David Hughes
2009 Leopard 37 Powercat for charter in Cape Coral, FL
Florida Catamaran Charter the "True Love"

the first and easiest thing to do is to make sure the rudder feedback linkage is
ok. sometimes the fall o get bumped ff ad give symptoms like that....assuming your model has one.

psneeld said:

the first and easiest thing to do is to make sure the rudder feedback linkage is
ok. sometimes the fall o get bumped ff ad give symptoms like that....assuming your model has one.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

A friends autopilot started acting up and going off on headings of its own. It turned out that he had stored a portable vacuum next to the autopilot fluxgate compass. The magnets in the electric motor screwed up the whole system.

In my previous boat I had stored a metal stool near the A/P compass. That did not help accuracy at all.

How near is too near the compass?

superdiver said:

How near is too near the compass?

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Around a meter is what most companies state.

If you don't move the object while on AP...it shouldn't affect I.


That is what a deviation card is for on your steering compass.


When in doubt....move it while watching the compass.

Thanks to all for the helpful suggestions!

Many systems remain in sleep mode when off. Disconnect all power to force a complete reboot.

Watch the displayed heading and take the boat on a circle, manually. Heading should clock smoothly around the compass, if not, heading sensor is giving garbage. Also steer rudder from stop to stop, displayed rudder indication should sweep smoothly.

Ski in NC said:

Watch the displayed heading and take the boat on a circle, manually. Heading should clock smoothly around the compass, if not, heading sensor is giving garbage. Also steer rudder from stop to stop, displayed rudder indication should sweep smoothly.

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Another great tip. Will try all these tricks when I get back down to the boat on the 20th. Thanks.

psneeld said:

the first and easiest thing to do is to make sure the rudder feedback linkage is
ok. sometimes the fall o get bumped ff ad give symptoms like that....assuming your model has one.

Click to expand...

Like this:


I've also noticed that when my wife starts waving around cast iron frying pans (for whatever reason), things get wonky with the AP.....