Robertson autopilot head. HELP
In the Dominican Republic where I just bought a Hatt 61 cockpit motor yacht. It has a Robertson
AP 300 auto pilot but the control head screens are broken. Anyone know where to get a new or rebuilt head unit fast? I tried Max Marine inn Florida no luck. Stuck here till I can fix the system.
HELP
Re: Robertson autopilot head. HELP
Have you tried using it, just because the readout does not work you till should be able to drive the boat to your course and Engage the pilot and it will hold the course, mine did. Might be enough to get you back to the states, john
Re: Robertson autopilot head. HELP
Re: Robertson autopilot head. HELP
You can mix heads also. My old boat had a AP300 and and an AP 20 head working off the same system. Simrad will tell you it does not work , but it it does. Also try disconnecting one of the heads and see if the other will power up with the screen , I had a 300 which was malfunctioning and took the whole system out , when I DC'd it the other (pilothouse) AP20 worked fine.....Pat
Re: Robertson autopilot head. HELP
You're stuck? You could run it with no autopilot. Watch the compass and steer a course. Funny how we forget how we used to do it. :)
Re: Robertson autopilot head. HELP
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SKYCHENEY
You're stuck? You could run it with no autopilot. Watch the compass and steer a course. Funny how we forget how we used to do it. :)
Maybe so, but watching a compass on a long open water cruise is both very tiring and inefficient.
Re: Robertson autopilot head. HELP
Quote:
Originally Posted by
racclarkson@gmail.com
Maybe so, but watching a compass on a long open water cruise is both very tiring and inefficient.
A following sea with 3-5's at 3 seconds is no fun without auto pilot either.
Re: Robertson autopilot head. HELP
After 20 minutes in calm seas the fun wears off!
Re: Robertson autopilot head. HELP
I sent my Robertson double LCD screen AP unit to Marine Max. Took two months to get back to me in Australia, but the results were were perfect. Highly recommended.
You will be able to turn on the AP pressing the STBY button. Then determine your heading on chartplotter, point boat in the right direction and then press AUTO. As long as the AP does work, then you do not need the LCD screen at all. Adjustment at sea is only one or two clicks on the dial. We travelled Melbourne to Sydney like this with no issues.
You can eventually connect a NMEA output from a plotter to AP, but operation may be difficult if no display readout.
Do not leave the display in direct sunlight when hot using. The screens are sensitive to bright sun/heat and will become unreadable.
Re: Robertson autopilot head. HELP
Quote:
Originally Posted by
racclarkson@gmail.com
Maybe so, but watching a compass on a long open water cruise is both very tiring and inefficient.
Oh I know all too well. My dad bought a 49 Gulfstar MY new in 1984. He had that boat 10 years and never did put an autopilot on it. Did the loop once and cruised the Great Lakes. It had 1400 hrs on it when he sold it.
Can you guess the name of the autopilot?
Yep, it was me. But, at least we had Loran C and Radar.