My ST4000 clutch mechanism failed just two hours from my destination after several days of sailing on a two week cruise. The lever has a little off-center lobe (not sure of terminology) and the pins that hold it in place (hold it off center) are miniscule. When one of those snaps the clutch will no longer engage because the lobe is then free to turn. I dropped anchor (for the first time ever) and proceeded to take the whole thing apart and I finally figured it out, it was a good day for fixing (you know, first day of restful vacation). I jammed a drill bit into it and broke it off. I think the drill bit is stronger than the little pins that were in there. OT but sort of not in the event that this happens to someone else, it's fixable but a little hard to get at. I was smart enough to fix it but not smart enough to put it back together properly. Now you have to pull the lever UP to engage the clutch, still works fine just took a little getting used to but it worked all the way home thankfully, our last day was a 17 hour run. I really love my auto-helm.
Steve Suhana, C&C 32 Toronto On Wed, Aug 28, 2013 at 1:05 PM, Mike Brannon <ff1...@aol.com> wrote: > Ron, when I was cleaning out some stuff a couple of weeks ago I found the > original AUTOHELM 4000 and drive unit that came with my boat. It still > worked when I removed it from the boat. I wanted to upgrade. If you are > interested let me know off line (mbranno...@cox.net). > > Mike > Virginia Lee > C&C 36 CB > VIRGINIA BEACH, VA > mbranno...@cox.net > > Sent from my iPad > > On Aug 28, 2013, at 11:14, Ron Kaye <ronkaye...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > We are approaching our 1 year anniversary with our 35-3. We have > finally got her back in the water after a new bottom job with soda blasting > and base coat etc, and then replacing essential fluids, fixing running > lights and a new head etc. and have been learning her ways and starting to > enjoy her company very muchl. Last weekend we sailed from our home port in > the Rhode R. to St. Michaels for a two-day trip which was great - with one > notable exception and even broke 6 knots under sail a time or two in > moderate wind. On the return trip the Raymarine Autohelm 4000 (PO- used > this for years) decided to freak out and wanted to turn the boat in hard > circles to starboard. We couldn't get it to snap out of it - pushed the > Standby and Auto buttons repeatedly, held them in for longer periods, > turned the unit off and back on, unplugged it - essentially everything > short of "percussive maintenance" - which might actually have been a good > idea. I cant find anything in the user manual that covers this issue > unless some internal mode got somehow switched. > > > > I'm wondering if this scanario sounds familiar with anyone and hoping > there might be a "Doh!" fix. We know the unit is old and pretty basic by > current standards. There was an upgrade kit by Raymarine that used the > same drive hardware with a next generation control head (at4000 model I > think it was) but even that system is now older and the kit has been > discontinued by Raymarine. Is there some kind of work-around if it comes > to that where a new controller can interface with the existing drive motor? > Is there any inexpensive way out of this? If the system really should just > be completely replaced we'll do that but hopefully we can avoid that. > > Thanks for any help with this. > > > > -- > > Ron & Lisa > > To be Renamed > > 1986 > > _______________________________________________ > > This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album > > http://www.cncphotoalbum.com > > CnC-List@cnc-list.com > > _______________________________________________ > This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album > http://www.cncphotoalbum.com > CnC-List@cnc-list.com >
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