garrymny

Tried the autopilot out today for the first time. Calibrated it fine, and it worked perfectly all day long. Held a perfect heading from 0600 to 1PM! I was able to make any correction I needed, with the press of a button. This is the best $365 I spent on gear for the boat. So nice to be able to tend the lines and not worry about it! I have it connected to its own deep cell battery.

Go to this website. Click on technical Support. Spark problems mean you have 1. a bad stator (sends the trigger to the CDI box) or 2. a bad CDI box. (develops the pulse for the coil) 3. or a bad coil (develops the high voltage pulse to the spark plug). The information on this site will tell you exactly how to troubleshoot it. If you have a coil for each plug, and none of the plugs are firing,then it is not the coil. It must be the CDI box or the trigger coil (stator) under the flywheel. Garry http://www.cdielectronics.com

I found (before I got the autopilot) with just steering the kicker I didn't have enough control. So ever since then I have to drive both motors via a rod to kicker. You are correct, not enough rudder action without the the big motor. I could not have built this without my welder. Best $500 I ever spent. I taught myself. My welds are not always pretty, but they hold. Sent from my XT1030 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Hawkeye 625, that worked, thank you. It turns easy now. I installed the Raymarine ST1000. I had to make brackets to mount to the outboard, and it had to be detachable to allow the motor to tilt. I also had to build a support for the end of the Autopilot. I had to cut an oval shaped hole in the bucket, slide the AP through it, and fabricate a bracket that I bolted to the transom. This bracket sticks out about 15 inches from the transom and supports the mount pin on the end of the Raymarine. I also replaced the flimsy plastic end on the Autopilot with a Panther marine quick disconnect. Can't wait to try it. For $363 I had to try. I posted a pictures of one of the brackets I made. The one part of the bracket stays bolted to the motor. The other half can be detached, by pulling the pin. This allows the motor to tilt. The bracket also gives some leverage and reduces the amount of force required. This is the cheapest way to get an autopilot in your boat. As I said, I have not tested yet, as the weather looks bad for the next week, waves too high. The ST1000 gives heading hold, and GPS steering.

Thanks guys.

Thanks for your reports, I have saved them to a folder for future reference. I agree, Olcott is on the ball. Why in the world the other marinas don't spend some money and buy some blue barrels for $15 each, and make some floating docks, I do not understand. Rip out the fixed docks, put in floaters, WALA, back in business. Looks like the week of 6/12 is going to be nice but the waves will be too high to fish.

I got it from bass pro. Can't remember the name. But they only had a couple. I think it was under salt water fishing. Sent from my XT1030 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Thanks for the report. So far I have been out 3X from Olcott, got two 15 ponders on one trip, nothing on the others. 250 FOW.

Gill T, what is "the fence" Thank You.

I'm out of town until Friday. So I will work on it then. I'll check and see if I can reduce the friction. If not I can make a lever type of arrangement to get mechanical advantage. Sent from my XT1030 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

I agree, with 19 thousand members, it seems like the same few are the ones usually posting, and sharing information. It would be much more beneficial , and a better sight, if there were more members willing to chime in, post pictures and share your experience. Thank You for those that do.