Fitting an Autohelm without harming the teak wheel
Issue 92 : Sept/Oct 2013
I searched high and low for my factory original all-teak wheel, the top of the line of about five wheels and a tiller that Ericson offered for the Independence 31. Prior to that, I had a standard 28-inch stainless-steel wheel with an Autohelm ST4000+ autopilot drive attached.
When transferring the Autohelm to the teak wheel, I was reluctant to do any damage to the wood by drilling holes for mounting the servo ring to it. Raymarine (the manufacturer of the Autohelm) makes a kit for just this purpose, but it necessitates drilling three holes in the main part of the wheel, something I was not going to do. The kit consists of three pieces of plastic and three stainless-steel bolts with locking nuts and costs something upward of $120. That was another reason not to use their kit.
My fix was to have three pieces of .080 bronze sheet cut to 1 1⁄2 x 2 1⁄4 inches and drill four holes in each of them. These small plates attach to the ring at one end and serve to shift the purchase point of the plastic clamps to where they can attach to the narrow necks of the teak spokes.
Two of the four holes are simply clearance holes for the original screws used to mount the clamp to the ring. The other two are tapped to accept the 4mm cap screws that secure the clamp. I reused the original plastic clamps on my teak wheel without damaging it at all. This simple fix cost me less than $12.
Glyn Judson and his wife, Marilyn, have sailed Santa Monica Bay and the Channel Islands together since 1982, for the last 17 years on their 1979 Ericson Independence 31, Dawn Treader, that they keep in Marina del Rey, California. They always sail with Glyn’s current guide dog in training.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
