Raymarine wheelpilot upgrade

[roland stockham]

Like a lot of people I have broken my wheel pilot! Yes I know they are lightweight and not designed for offshore and yes I was doing and Atlantic crossing with it!!! I expected to mostly use the windvane but that broke as well or would not cope so the wheel pilot finished up as the main system instead of the backup. To be fair to Raymarine I was very impressed by the performance and it steered exceptionally well in some demanding conditions. Problem was that it is not robust enough so things broke.
I will not be doing any more long passages so will be using it within it's design spec'. Problem is how to repair it.
On the last leg stripped the gearbox. When I looked at it I found that the gears are very light plastic which I am not happy about so three options
1. Get a new one from Raymarine - very expensive as you have to buy the complete motor unit and still have those little plastic gears!
2. Find a supplier that has identical gears but in metal - Cheap, might then have problems with the outer teeth which are aluminum, any one tried this and know of a supplier?
Replace the complete motor and gearbox unit with a better one - this is what I favor and have found an ebay supplier that seems to have suitable units, all metal and designed for continuous use in industrial control gear. Also despite a much higher spec they are cheaper than the Raymarine one. I am assuming the motor is a standard DC motor and all control is handled by the course computer. I still need to check the fitting for the drive wheel but they use standard industrial belts so that should not be a problem. Also need to measure up to get the exact gearing required.
I am wondering if anyone else has tried this option? The units I am looking at are here. 1pcs DC 12V 60W 10rpm Reversible Direct Current Reduction Gear Motor | eBay