poor mans auto pilot

[Andy hipetrol]

Elfastream,

It would be great if you posted your results after installing poor mans auto pilot. Reading the directions it did not seem straight forward to me at all.

Andy hipetrol

[RickJ]

ive just had a look at the owner literature and all i have for the steering system is a booklet on a system by "Morse Marine" of ohio

wonder how i get spares for that?

Morse are all part of Teleflex too (in fact I think the full name for the company now is "Teleflex-Morse" or something like that).

So if spares are available, it'll be Teleflex that supplies them!

Cheers, Rick

[bastonjock]

your a mine of usefull information rick

[c130king]

Art,

Any chance you could post a picture of the part/piece on your website?

Thanks,
Jim

[Québec 1]

Wheel brake install as done by Québec 1

slide show is here:

http://s263.photobucket.com/albums/ii12 ... d9d162.pbw

Step 1 :
Take Black cap off wheel hub;
Using ratchet unscrew the nut on the wheel shaft until it is flush with the end of the shaft;
Get a strong person to pull , yank on the wheel while you hammer the flush wheel nut and shaft end and get a sudden loosening of the wheel.
Carefully remove the nut from the wheel shaft making sure to recuperate the half moon slot thing in the wheel shaft

Step 2 and 3
remove the 2 screws holding the black plastic housing to the pedestal
Remove the 6 bolts holding the plate..you have to get inside the pedestal for that
remove the plate
remove the small black plastic housing from the shaft

Step 4
Install the new plate and and the new longer wheel brake plastic housing and rubber washer on the wheel shaft
Install the round metal ring on the new longer black plastic sleeve screw and the wheel brake knob into the metal ring .
The brake knob screw fits in the crack of the new plastic sleeve and is in contact with the wheel shaft.

Step 5
Reinstall the plastic housing with the 2 screws

Step 6
Reinstall the wheel
Step 7
Reinstall the black plastic hub on the wheel.

[bastonjock]

Hi Art

I was under no doubt that if i return my unit,you will refund my money.I have a morse system on my 2001x,maybee its to do with the EC thing,looking at quebec,s pictures my shaft is twice the diameter of his (im not boasting )

Looking at the literature for my morse system,it had at one point a locking screw as an extra,is it still possible to aquire a wheel brake for the morse system?

btw your Spinnaker is the most beautifull thing to have flown off of my bow

[Québec 1]

Hi Art

,looking at quebec,s pictures my shaft is twice the diameter of his (im not boasting )

Could you post a picture of your shaft...you know........just to compare:D

[c130king]

Q1,

Thanks for the pictures. I can't wait to install my PMA. My shaft looks exactly like yours... (minds out of the gutter boys)

Did you have to line up the locking knob to the 6 O'Clock position or could you have rotated it to any clock position?

Looks like it would take an hour or less...that seem about right to you?

Give us a report on how well it works.

Thanks,
Jim

[Québec 1]

Q1,

Thanks for the pictures. I can't wait to install my PMA. My shaft looks exactly like yours... (minds out of the gutter boys)

Did you have to line up the locking knob to the 6 O'Clock position or could you have rotated it to any clock position?

Looks like it would take an hour or less...that seem about right to you?

Give us a report on how well it works.

Thanks,
Jim

Jim,
It just fit naturally in the 6 o clock position. The part I found the hardest was hammering the end of the shaft. It did not seem right but its the only way to get a wheel off a tapered shaft... unless you can get the yanking tool from your mechanic. It took a couple hours..a pretty straight forward mod. I will try it today or tomorrow when I raise and lower my sails solo. Haven't installed the lazy jacks yet and find taking down the main in a big wind solo overly invigorating.

Bert

[BigNige]

Just fitted mine yesterday. KH send two packets of bits but in fact for my 2007 M I would only have needed the longer bushing, collar and tightening screw from the one pack (probably worth <$10) if I hadn't dropped a washer down into the pedestal.

Easy to fix, only took an hour. The only problem was geting the wheel off. I had tried pulling and hitting the end of the shaft with a hammer earlier but could have pulled the whole pedestal off before the wheel. Had to use a modified 3 leg gear puller (the ends of the jaws had to be ground down to fit into the small gap between the wheel and the black bezel) even then it wouldn't come off but a bit of heat from a cook's torch did the job.

I haven't tried it yet as I creamed the daggerboard on a sandbank last week but have been using a bungee cord to hold the wheel in place for a while now and if you get the boat balanced on any point of sail it was working well except for the fact that the arrangement didn't offer enough precision so I am expecting great things!

The only comment I would have on the design of the device is that there is nothing to stop the tightening screw from unscrewing itself from the collar and dropping out but given that you would be constantly tightening it and just backing it off it probably won't present a problem and I would have liked an insert for the slot in the bezel that would hold it away from the pedestal.

[ubi_est_via]

Hi Art,(& or others)
I recently purchased a PMAP from KHM ( very quick service thankyou). I'm trying to install it & have found that the alignment of the replacement longer bush has the split running up & down (vertical) which suggests that the orientation of the knob will be around the 3o'clock mark which means I need to create an hole/ opening in the bezel at the 3 o'clock mark to allow the knob bolt to be inserted.

I note the bezel has a slot cut in it a the 6 o'clock mark but I cannot see how I can align the knob bolt to that position as it will screw between the split in the bezel.

Before I drill a new hole in the bezel can you confirm if I'm on the right track?.......Cheers, John

Dropped the ring spanner ( wrench) down inside the pedistal...Bugger!

[c130king]

Sorry to rehash an older thread but...

I was unable to install my helm lock that I got from KHM. I was not able to get my steering wheel off the shaft. I tried the Q1 method of hammering on the flush nut/shaft but that didn't work. So we tried the BigNige method and bought a Wheel Puller from Adavance Auto Parts for < $6 but the we stripped the threads on the darn thing.

Maybe I need a bigger/stronger puller. Not so sure about using a blowtorch...

Had to start a small hole in the end of the steering shaft with a drill so that the wheel puller would not slip off.

My steering wheel seemed to come off pretty easily in Spring 2007 when I replaced the steering system but now it wouldn't budge.

Any other thoughts? Of course this will now have to wait for several months.

Jim

[Québec 1]

Jim,
It was a real hard job to do. I just about called for help. Seems to me there must be some other issue for it to be that hard to do.When I reach such a level of not being able to do the job I get someone else to do it. Call the local car recycler, body shop and or garage and see what they can do (Maybe a real wheel puller will work!
Bertrand

p.s. maybe spray anti rust stuff down the shaft and jiggle it a bit!

Usually a shaft works better if you lubricate and wiggle it a bit!

[bubba]

I put mine on last fall and we love it. It holds the course fine enought to let me go get food out of the cooler to throw on the BBQ or take a leak while single handing our boat. It only took me about an hour to install and it seamed simple but 40 years as a mechanical engineer helps.

[c130king]

Bubba,

What method did you use to get your steering wheel off?

Jim