Raymarine st 1000 tiller pilot

[dinajui]

Hi,
I got a new Raymarine st 1000 tiller pilot for my boat, reading the owners manual i notice that the ST 1000 is for 3 tonne boats maximum, the only difference is an extra 20 kilos of torque. My boat weights 4.5 tonnes.
Anyone knows if this is an issue?
Should i stick with the ST 1000?
Thanks.

[DeepFrz]

What kind of rudder does your boat have? Is it balanced or not? Is your boat itself easy to balance or does it have a lot of weather helm? How much force do you have to put on the tiller under different sea conditions and heavier winds? Those will determine the size of tiller pilot you will need more than the weight of the boat. Many light weight tiller and wheel pilots will work under light conditions but wont work well when the going gets tough.

[dinajui]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

What kind of rudder does your boat have? Is it balanced or not? Is your boat itself easy to balance or does it have a lot of weather helm? How much force do you have to put on the tiller under different sea conditions and heavier winds? Those will determine the size of tiller pilot you will need more than the weight of the boat. Many light weight tiller and wheel pilots will work under light conditions but wont work well when the going gets tough.

The boat is very stable, it is a Fin with rudder on skeg boat.
see below a link to the boat data:
MOODY 31 MKII sailboat specifications and details on sailboatdata.com

thanks!

[DeepFrz]

It has a partially balanced rudder so you might be good with the 1000. You may find that when the wind picks up the forces may overpower the autopilot, or your boat may be so light on the tiller that it will handle it okay. However, as I said in the previous post, many times the smaller units will not handle heavy conditions.

[markwesti]

I have a ST 2000, I think its rated for something like 5 tons I use on a 7+ ton boat. I don't ask too much of it ,like DeepFrz says. I basically use it just so I can set the sails by myself . However the other day I put 5 hours on it. Conditions were no wind 5ft. swells . Skipper green and asleep. First mate on look out and having a blast. It worked perfect. I had a Raymarine Auto helm on my first boat, I forget the mod.# It worked perfect right out of the box ,as does my 2000. I started out with a Simrad Navico(on my W28) It never worked right, by the time I called the factory they had changed owners and would not even look at the unit. Just buy a new one they said. So I did a Raymarine !

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by dinajui

The boat is very stable, it is a Fin with rudder on skeg boat.
see below a link to the boat data:
MOODY 31 MKII sailboat specifications and details on sailboatdata.com

thanks!

Dinajui hi, we have a moody 31 Mk2 and use a ST2000 which works well. However, we have both tiller and wheel connected and the ST2000 manages both these.

The one point of sail you may have problems with is hard on the wind with F4 or higher as weather helm can be a problem even with the main sheet lowered down the track.

If you can take it back then I would do, if not then just use it and see how you get on. Do however, make a water proof jacket for them as they can get water in them in rain or rough conditions.

If you find another buy it too as a back up. Unfortunately they sell for nearly new prices during the summer in the UK so many people want them.

Pete