Raymarine Sportpilot Plus Calibration

[Hoosier_Steelheader]

I have a situation and hopefully you all can help.

Late last summer I got a used Sportpilot plus and installed it on my boat (24ft Crestliner Sabre G/L Mercruiser I/O) powered it on no problem, took the boat out and calibrated it no problem, came back in to the "trough" and set my course it took the wheel, and was going fine, started to go to the back of the boat to help set lines, and a slight breeze sent us about 10 degrees to the east, the Sportpilot started turning the wheel to compensate (I thought) then it over corrrected, and sent us back the other way hard. then it realised it had overcorrected and sent us back to the other side.

We were doing 'Crazy Ivans' for about 25 minutes, and I just powered off the thing so we could troll.

I have asked around and the common responses are:

1. that I might need to relocate the Compass which is on the beam in my forward floor storage compartment (a regular compass reads and holds its reading there) or,

2. that I might need a new compass

And then there was the suggestion that I throw it overboard and get a Simrad unit...

It was great for about 20 minutes or so untill the wind pushed the bow over, after that:angry2:!

Anyone ever had that happen?

Thanks,

JC

[Paulywood]

Do you have a rudder reference? I think that the Sportpilot uses a rudder reference in order to avoid the over compensation. I am just working from memory so I could be incorrect.

[anthonyyost]

This may not be the same situation, but I was having similar problems and cleaned the electrical contacts on the auto pilot compass and that took care of the problem. It takes very little dust to corrupt the connection. You can also call the manufacturer and find out the compass settings for your area of fishing. If the person you bought the unit from was far enough away you may have to change those settings. Also, there should be a gain adustment to fine tune the autopilot compass to keep it from overcorrecting, you have to be on the water to perform this adjustment.

[Hoosier_Steelheader]

Do you have a rudder reference? I think that the Sportpilot uses a rudder reference in order to avoid the over compensation. I am just working from memory so I could be incorrect.

It has the option for it (plug)but this unit doesn't have the rudder unit.

It also has the WAAS so I can cable it to my Garmin, but I wanted to get comfortable with it before I did that.

Thanks!

[Hoosier_Steelheader]

This may not be the same situation, but I was having similar problems and cleaned the electrical contacts on the auto pilot compass and that took care of the problem. It takes very little dust to corrupt the connection. You can also call the manufacturer and find out the compass settings for your area of fishing. If the person you bought the unit from was far enough away you may have to change those settings. Also, there should be a gain adustment to fine tune the autopilot compass to keep it from overcorrecting, you have to be on the water to perform this adjustment.

I may pull the connectors and give them a going over. I called raymarine, and this unit is no longer suppoerted by them, they were less than helpful.

The majority of my information (aside from the manual) has been from other guys who have owned & used them.

I do have a gain setting and tried that but once she started Zig Zagging nothing we tried would make her stop.

I'll clean the contacts and try that. and wait for open water....

Thanks!

[anthonyyost]

On my unit, the compass inside the unit has a post sticking out of the top and there are metal pickups that are touching the post to make a connection, clean this area with alcohol and qtips, mine was quite dirty.

[BenLubbs]

Hey guys, just wondering if you ever got the issue resolved. Mine does the same thing currently. If the lake is perfectly calm and there is no wind it will steer the boat fine. As soon as there is any breeze, away she goes, back and forth. Mine has the rudder position sensor and compass. I plan on emptying out the entire front of the boat this weekend before I go to make sure there is no magnetic metals anywhere near the compass. The main cause of the problem that I see is that it starts correcting but then doesn't stop once the boat starts turning, it just goes until it reaches its heading and then starts turning the wheel the other way, after its past the right heading. Could this mean my rudder sensor is not working? It seems like it should only turn a little bit if the boat is only off a little bit.