I know there was a thread about below-decks autopilots on the Landfall 38 where discussion ended up on "bolt it to the radial drive, reinforcing the attachment point." ( http://cnc-list.com/pipermail/cnc-list_cnc-list.com/2018-May/200838.html )
I'm researching this now, with interest in installing a Raymarine EV-200 with type 1 mechanical linear drive, and I think it *might* be possible to do without bolting to the radial drive. Does anyone know if any LF38 has successfully done this? I've already read dreuge's post - http://svjohannarose.blogspot.com/2016/12/below-deck-autopilot.html - which is excellent. But he went a different route than I want to go, so it would be helpful to see other photos and installation ideas. The reason I want to avoid bolting to the radial drive is that Edson has repeatedly advised against it, calling it a "likely catastrophic failure" and saying the cast aluminum fixture is not designed for those kind of torsional forces, it's designed for pulling forces (via the cables). A Type 1 ram has 650 lbs peak thrust and a type 2 has 1050 lbs. Additionally I have found one account of someone who had their Edson radial explode (with autopilot mounted to it) - it took 15 years before this happened, but still not a risk that's worth it in my mind. The ideas I'm considering for doing this without mounting to the radial are: A) custom tiller arm, with a 90 degree bend to clear the radial drive rim. It would clamp to the rudder shaft in the 1.9" of available space (1.5" of that is within the bottom concave part of the radial drive). Note I have no diesel tank under the steering, which makes this easier. I don't have a design for this idea though. B) Jefa 270 degree quadrant with integrated tiller arm. https://www.jefa.com/steering/products/cable/quadrants/quadrants.htm I'm talking to Jefa (part of PYI now) this week. The quadrant with welded on tiller arm has less overall height than an Edson radial drive, so it would fit. But I'm not sure about positioning of the linear drive unit - it's 27.5" long and the LF38 stern is quite narrow. Sorry for the long post. The motivation for a below-decks autopilot is that the wheel pilot is not strong enough for significant wave state (it's only rated for 16.5k lbs displacement, and the LF38 is more like 19-20k when loaded for cruising). -Patrick 1984 C&C LF38
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