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After a series of winter storms, the weather last Saturday was chilly and a little cloudy but the light to moderate SW wind made for nearly perfect for sailing so a mate and I decided to take Oskar out for a few hours on the Sound.

Launching was uneventful and after clearing the dock area I set the Raymarine SPX5 autopilot to take us out through the harbour heads, which it did with no problem. Shortly thereafter, I used the pilot to alter course 20 degrees to starboard so as to take us out to clear the other breakwaters, then went below for a couple of minutes.

When I came up I found we were veering significantly off course to starboard and continuing to turn in that direction. I pressed Standby, manually adjusted our course then re-engaged the autopilot. It was fine for a few minutes then again started veering off to starboard. This time after I pressed Standby I checked the autopilot compass heading. It was showing significant and variable differences to the COG on the GPS - as much as 120 degrees out . In Auto mode, would not hold the set course for more than a minute or two and, when I tried to Track to a GPS waypoint, it likewise held the course for a while the again veered off to starboard.

I switched the Autopilot off and tried to enjoy the sailing for a few hours.

The harbour was almost deserted when we returned so I had enough still-water sea room to swing the compass and try to re-calibrate the autopilot. No luck! The display kept reading 'Turn Boat' and never came back with a Deviation reading. I gave up after about 10 circles.

Raymarine were responsive when I called and, after eliminating the obvious like a ferrous object being placed near the Fluxgate compass, thought that the problem might lie in the compass itself. They are sending a Technician out for some sea trials this Friday, and I will keep you posted on the outcome.

Meanwhile the moral of the story for me is that while autopilots are great, they can fail without warning so don't trust them for more than a minute or two...

Jeez, thanks a bunch. I've got my new SPX-5 in a box on my living room floor, and I'm getting ready to install it. What timely encouragement. Oh, bother.

(Okay, get off the computer, Eeyore!)

All morose-ness aside - Sorry to hear of your problems, Oskar. With a ready-to-install SPX-5 at hand, I'll be eager to find out what went wrong. (Maybe I can forestall it in my new pilot and installation.)

Your "moral," though, is absolutely correct. The skipper is ALWAYS on watch and on call, 'cuz so is Murphy!
$#!+ happens, and we've got to be ready to handle it ....

According the the technician, the problem with my autopilot was not with the fluxgate compass, but with the SPX5 core pack. I was told that it has an on-board gyro that had failed. The corepack has been shipped back to Raymarine for repair...

At least it's easier to mount a new core pack than to pull the cable for a new fluxgate compass.

Sorry to hear of your troubles, Oskar. Hope the corepack repair resolves them.

Meanwhile ...

I have completed my SPX5 Wheel Pilot installation, and while I am pleased with the results I am surprised that "Otto" is so finicky about course corrections! Bzzt-bzzt-bzzt ... bzzt-bzzt-BZZZZT!-bzt-bzzzt ... it's like Ricochet Rabbit on the helm, twitching the wheel back and forth a jot with every tremble of the boat.

Have you found that your autopilot was the same way? Will it help to adjust the "response" setting, or had I better just get used to this?

Rick Westlake wrote: Meanwhile ...

I have completed my SPX5 Wheel Pilot installation, and while I am pleased with the results I am surprised that "Otto" is so finicky about course corrections! Bzzt-bzzt-bzzt ... bzzt-bzzt-BZZZZT!-bzt-bzzzt ... it's like Ricochet Rabbit on the helm, twitching the wheel back and forth a jot with every tremble of the boat.

Wow, that's funny. I thought it was maybe just mine because the rudders & their brackets wiggled too much--sort of loose. I installed my X5 several months ago and became so annoyed with the constant correcting, I reduced the adjustment to the lowest setting. This unit seems to do a lot more "work" than the old SportPilot. Must be caused by the additonal info supplied by the gyro. I even switched it off a while and steered manually to eliminate the noise. Sailing is suppose to be restful. lol

Billy wrote:Wow, that's funny. I thought it was maybe just mine because the rudders & their brackets wiggled too much--sort of loose. I installed my X5 several months ago and became so annoyed with the constant correcting, I reduced the adjustment to the lowest setting. This unit seems to do a lot more "work" than the old SportPilot. Must be caused by the additonal info supplied by the gyro. I even switched it off a while and steered manually to eliminate the noise. Sailing is suppose to be restful. lol

Did reducing the adjustment do much to reduce the "fidgety" behavior? I suspect I'll just have to get used to it ... but I really only need the A/P to keep course while I need to be elsewhere. (Like when I'm raising/lowering the mainsail, or getting the anchor ready to drop.)

By the way, your boat name "XX" - is that just "Double Cross", or could it also stand for "Dos Equis"?

Reducing the "response" slowed down the frequency of correcting, but the unit stayed busy. It seems the unit is still learning the boat. This weekend I plan to be on calmer water and will check it out again.

By the way, your boat name "XX" - is that just "Double Cross", or could it also stand for "Dos Equis"?

I've been told it could stand for a number of things. Right after I named the boat, I was entering Ocracoke with the name on the bow, when two Hispanic dock hands ran out to help me, pointing and repeating "Dos Equis, Dos Equis!" I guess the figured they had hit the mother lode. I felt bad about not having any to offer them, but they gladly accepted a cash tip.

I also found that the SPX5 Wheelpilot AP makes frequent helm adjustments.
I compared it to what I would do with a manual helm and decided that a busy AP is probably normal for the fairly rough conditions in which I sail.

10 days now and still no word on my corepack repair

Finally got the SPX 5 corepack back with the gyro repaired. Installed it and conducted sea trials last Saturday. It works fine again now.

I have recently installed an X-5. It kept failing the "autolearn". Raymarine had me send it in. They upgraded the code and might have repaired something else (document was unclear). I reinstalled and tried "autolearn" - again it failed repeatedly. I hooked up a Garmin handheld GPS and it finally passed "autolearn". I set a course but the X-5 had a hard time following it. I talked to a Raymarine tech on the phone. He had me change (increase) the rudder parameters. It started to perform better but would still fall off course. I've been watching the rudder angle indicator on the control head and it doesn't seem to correspond to the actual rudder angle. Has anyone installed the optional rudder position sensor on the x-5 on a MacM?