View Single Post
Old 06-05-2016, 05:22 PM   #23
CaptTom
Guru
 
CaptTom's Avatar
 
City: Southern Maine
Vessel Model: Prairie 36 Coastal Cruiser
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 2,717
I'm no expert. All I have is my own recent experience. After I bled my upper helm and thought no more air came out, I spun it back and forth like 1000 times. The folks in the yard all thought I'd lost my mind. After a while I gave up and decided it was totally broken and went looking for a mechanic. Finding none, I went back to flopping the wheel back and forth. And suddenly...success!

It happened again, a couple of times, after running the (new) autopilot for a few hours. I bled one more time, and (knock wood) so far, so good.

All I can say is try persistence. Failing that, I found (as explained in the rest of this thread) that it can be incredibly cost-effective to have a good local shop rebuild it. Or give it a shot yourself. It would be a good skill to learn.
CaptTom is offline   Reply With Quote