Raymarine Evolution EV-100 Wheel Autopilot review

[rgleason]

Originally Posted by Mainebristol

I have an old Wheel Pilot. Has to be at least ten years old. I found it a true pain to install, largely because of the rudder sensor. There is no room in the butt end of a B32.
Also, the wire connections to the central brain are so flimsy as to be ridiculous. I reattach them every year, sometimes stripping those that have obviously degraded.

With that out of the way, it has performed flawlessly. A bit of a power hog, but it works great! When it breaks (which it soon will) I will replace it with another.

Two things; it needs that rudder sensor. I know the new ones claim not to need it, but I don't believe it. The old ones simply don't work without it.
My B32 ways about 11,000 pounds fully loaded, and that is about right for this pilot. Putting it on anything twice is heavy is just asking for trouble. JMHO

Our ST4000 is starting to fail at the control. If I can't get it working again we will need a new AP. My current AP has only 22 ft-lbs of torque. The formula for rudder torque using the B32 rudder is 24 ft-lbs are needed, this is underpowered for heavys seas and high winds. What is your experience with your RM wheelpilot? Thanks!

[Topsailb]

I found the squeaking came from the poly belt, not the rollers or from being out of adjustment. I’ve since replaced the poly belt with this:

https://westcoastbelts.com/product/h...000-mk2-875mm/

After more than two years it continues to work better than new on my boat. It frequently struggles sailing downwind, and I did not install a rudder position sensor.

[Shanachie]

What the EV 100 wheelpilot excels at is making minor adjustments to hold your course so you can be off doing other things.


This means you need a well-balanced sailboat. If steering your boat is a wrestling match, the EV 100 won't work well and probably won't last for years.


I used to have a long-keeled Bristol 30 that got cranky whenever the mainsail wasn't set perfectly. In anything over about 12 knots, the ST 1000 would be working overtime to try to hold a course.


My current boat, a Catalina 320, is perfectly balanced. Most of the time, the king spoke on the wheel is straight up or indicating a touch of weather helm.


It will sail fairly straight without an AP at all. The EV 100 keeps me from having to return to the wheel to make the minor adjustments to hold my course.


Over about 20 knots, in bouncier seas, it does get more of a workout. Sometimes, I just have to take the wheel when the conditions are wrong. But that's a good idea anyway when the wind and seas are kicking up.

[Mainebristol]

Originally Posted by rgleason

Our ST4000 is starting to fail at the control. If I can't get it working again we will need a new AP. My current AP has only 22 ft-lbs of torque. The formula for rudder torque using the B32 rudder is 24 ft-lbs are needed, this is underpowered for heavys seas and high winds. What is your experience with your RM wheelpilot? Thanks!

My wheel pilot does a good job for me, but I don't ask a lot of it. My B32 is a ketch(well, given where the mizzen is, more of a yetch) and is easy to balance. A simple adjustment of the mizzen and jib sheets keeps the weather helm in check, and the autopilot does fine. But I don't really sail in anything over 30 knots, and I think it might fail under those circumstances.
I consider this to be a cheap consumer autopilot, and the only reason it has lasted so long is that I am cheap, and won't replace it. In summary, perfect for a well balanced boat that is used onshore, 10,000lbs or less.
If you want to do the Atlantic Circle, I would look for something else.

[rgleason]

Maine Sail, thanks for your thoughts. Nell is easily balanced perhaps not as simply as your yawl, but I tend toagree with your assessment and will probably not go with the easier and accessible install of a new Evo 100 wheelpilot. Thanks again.

[Mexican Hat]

I've had an EV100 wheelpilot on a 5000 kg, 38 foot catamaran for about two years now. No rudder position sensor. As a solo sailor, I use it a lot. I did have to make an adapter to mount it on my wheel.



Had difficulty with it initially. It would wander and over-correct, eventually shutting down with an 'off course' warning. Raymarine customer service were helpful and after adjusting the various parameters, it has worked flawlessly in all the conditions I've thrown at it. Setting all the various parameters correctly for your boat is critical. Power draw seems very reasonable.



It's a bit noisy and I do worry about the long term durability of the various plastic parts, but so far it's been good.

[Kelkara]

I've had one for 5 years now on my 27ft 8000lb boat (no rudder sensor) ... It has been great. It is a bit noisy, and does start to struggle if the sails aren't well balanced (but it would be quite physical hand steering at that point too). Power draw is as low as 0.5A in calm conditions, up to about 3A when it is working hard.

The drive belts seem to last about 2 years, so I always keep a spare onboard ... so far nothing else has broken.

[Greatest Lakes]

I installed one on my Columbia 9.6. 12000lb 32' and slightly more than a touch of weather helm when going upwind. 6 years of operation, no major issues. It is recommended to put the sensor saucer forward, mine is near the companionway, where most motions are minimized. It did not do well in a following sea until the rudder position sensor was installed. That helped all points of sail. In a heavy following sea, it could still be overtaxed, but would still straighten itself out. It worked with information from the Axium 7 and you could adjust course from that as well. I'm told you could get it to track average wind direction, but I never really tried. The different settings for racing/cruising mainly just changed the response speed and how aggressively it would maintain a heading. I mainly left mine on racing.

The silver paint on the wheel mounts flaked a little over time, and the rubber boot on the motor crumbled in just a few months. Other than that, Otto the autopilot always got off his ass and steered when requested.

[rgleason]

The EV-100 Drive (Max Torque: 9.6 Nm = 85 lb.in) is basically a good coastal Autopilot Drive, but it is weak and probably installed with slower rudder rotation than most below deck drives. Max. Rudder torque increases with boat speed. Our boat's rudder torque can exceed the EV-100 9.6 Nm torque very quickly at low speeds, when this happens the AP gets less responsive and much slower, resulting in poor performance.

The two AP drives I've studied for our 11,500 lb 32' sloop, I've purchased the LD100.

Jefa LD100 (Garmin Class A, by Jefa, w/Rudder Feedback)
7.08" arm (180) (max Torq: 703 Nm =.718x980) Rudder rot.: 8.18 deg/sec

7.48" arm (190) (max Torq: 750 Nm=.765x980) Rudder rot.: 7.68 deg/sec
9.85" arm (200) (max Torq: 980 Nm) Rudder rot.: deg/sec 5.88 deg/sec

Hard over time 12 secs/70 deg
5.88 degrees/sec x 12 seconds = 70 deg.

So I may have to drill another tiller hole at 7.08" from the center to get 8.18 degrees/second rotation, even then there is 703 Nm available. I hesitate to make an arm even closer.

OctopusRS with 7” arm (Max Torque: 656 Nm) Rudder rotation: 5.9 deg/sec
OctopusRS with 8”arm: (Max Torque: 750 Nm) Rudder rotation: 4.8 deg/sec

Hard over time 14-16 secs/70 deg
5 degrees/sec x 14 seconds = 70 deg.

Our boat has a full keel an unbalenced "barndoor" rudder with an aperture. At hull speed, the rudder area available results in a max torque of about 235 Nm, which is available to keep the boat on track in heavy seas. The selected autopilot must provide adequate torque to the rudder to meet the Rudder max torque (235 Nm) plus the friction from the gear, plus any forces from large waves. Having enough extra torque allows some shortening of the tiller arm (reducing the max torque but speeding up rotation (degrees/sec)) which I've found is critical when reaching and broad reaching downwind near hull speed.

Sean Depagnier advises smaller boats require faster rudder rotation. He likes 10-12 degrees/sec, but that is difficult to achieve. A 32’ sailboat's preferred rudder shaft rotation speed is about 12.3 degrees/second, which ensures that the autopilot can make necessary helm corrections.

Both of these mechanical linear drives have low power use and should be reliable offshore, provided they stay dry. The Jefa LD100 appears have stronger and better engineering. The cables need to be changed periodically (2-3 years) and spring season maintenance and checking of the drive and connections is suggested.

For our size boat, we can make the drive somewhat faster (closer to Sean's ideal of 10-12 degrees/sec by reducing the lever arm length, resulting in a faster drive (with less torque).

Rudder Speed Rotation Downwind Post #94

Impact of Rudder Shaft Rotation Speed - degrees/sec (Post #45)

Autopilot Drive Specs Spreadsheet (PDF) for comparison (Post #96)

[sonofjackspj]

Yes. Need to keep flushing out the salt buildup. Just hose fresh water into holes

[Mexican Hat]

Update on my raymarine EV 100 autopilot. Started making clicking noises a few days ago. Now it has stopped working all together. Seems that it doesn't engage belt and motor. I can hear the motor spinning but there's no movement at the wheel. Perhaps the belt but I have to wait until I'm safely at my destination to strip it down and check it. 2.5 years of use, perhaps 3000 miles, but I use it almost all the time when I'm sailing

Time for a CPT perhaps.

[Greatest Lakes]

Originally Posted by Mexican Hat

Update on my raymarine EV 100 autopilot. Started making clicking noises a few days ago. Now it has stopped working all together. Seems that it doesn't engage belt and motor. I can hear the motor spinning but there's no movement at the wheel. Perhaps the belt but I have to wait until I'm safely at my destination to strip it down and check it. 2.5 years of use, perhaps 3000 miles, but I use it almost all the time when I'm sailing

Time for a CPT perhaps.

One of the nice things about them is how easy it is to unscrew the motor/gearbox portion and screw a new one on. Worth carrying a spare. Way easier than changing out the hydraulic pump on some.