Location of binnacle for Benmar autopilot

[LARRY VALENTINE]

Any one know the binnacle or compass location on a 1985 53ft Hatt, ED that is part of the Benmar autopilot Comp 2000 system? I understand a burned out light bulb in the binnacle can shut the system down. Could the hidden box be behind the wall in the port stateroom closet? I found the hydraulic pump in the port engine room labelled Centec-Benmar Power Unit, no S/N available, but"HS 100 ,32V , 000-0128" on top of the unit.

[fissioneng]

I don't know about your boat, but on our 43 it was under a FB seat that had no hatch above! It had to have been screwed in before the FB seating was put on.

If it is the same as ours was, it will be mounted on the centerline of the boat away from all machinery. It looks like R2D2 of Star Wars.

[LARRY VALENTINE]

Iam sorry but what is FB?; forward birth?

[fissioneng]

It was under a fly bridge seat located aft of the helm station away from all the wiring. I'm not really familiar with fly bridge seating on a 53, but you might look under the seating hatches in some of the corners.

The binnacle is about a foot tall and dome shaped sort of like a telescope enclosure you'd see on a mountain top.

[smoothmove]

This is a pretty old picture. Yours may be newer. The compass is shown on the left and it mounts into the bullet shaped contraption to its right. I just removed my compass and replaced it with a small processor board with enough sensors that it can perform all the same functions. Managed to reuse all the same housings though. You couldn't tell to look at the control head unless you peeked underneath and spied the USB cable we use for connection to a laptop.

I have the full documentation for this unit. It wasn't easy to find. Let me know if you wnat it.

Eric

BENMAR.jpg

[LARRY VALENTINE]

Thanks guys. On my 53 the seat behind the two captain chairs doubles as a life preserver storage but I will open it up throw the preservers aside and look there[ This is on the fly bridge]. I did crawl under the forward fly bridge area and found the Benmar APU [not sure what APU stands for] and found a cable attached to the APU saying "binnacle". In the multiple wires and 100 degree heat I was unable to track the cable to the Binnacle. I did see a Furuno Fluxgate device mounted nearby with a different size cable and I presume it goes to my radar. I located a manual on line for the Centec-Benmar compuserve2200 and it should arrive soon.

[Fanfare]

Mine was in the aft stbd. corner of the stern steering compartment where the rudder ram is. A cable connected the two to pre-load the rudder follow-up device. They don't have to be on the centerline although that makes sense.

[smoothmove]

The direction is the same whether centerline or athwartships. Centerline mounting would however "balance" the effects of the two massive pieces of iron presented by the mains. Mine is mounted to port and it can definitely "see" the port engine.
Eric

[MikeP]

On our 1980 53MY the original autopilot (Raytheon Neco) compass is located under the outboard guest room bunk.

[LARRY VALENTINE]

Thanks guys and Mike in particular. The Binnacle was found mounted in the guest stateroom under the outside bunk, aft bulkhead! Now I seem to recall someone mentioning that a light bulb might need replacing in the binnacle. Is the light bulb obvious and on top of the electronics that sit atop the compass or do the top 2 layers of electronics need to be pushed aside to expose the light bulb? Is the light bulb a tiny ,red, wired into the panel bulb that seems to dimly flash at a rapid rate , about 4mm in height and 2 mm in diameter?