Home Made Self steering gear for a yacht

This is a video of another of my design of home made self steering on my Sigma 362 , wheel steered fin keel yacht . The video is intended to show the construction , and mechanical mechanisms that allow it to work . There are no drawings ,but someone with mechanical knowledge could see what was happening , and replicate

[@dcstrng1]

Excellent... thanks for posting... nice looking welds !!

[@bilbywalkabout2969]

Beautiful work well done and thanks for posting

[@SailingOTR]

Having designed and built my own system I give you kudos for doing the same. I expect you also saved a number of boat units doing this your self.
May all your troubles melt like lemon drops.

[@bartboosman953]

The large pulley on the transverse shaft (rotated by the servo pendulum) is a good idea! Combined with a round pulley on the steering wheel this means that the wires are always tight in any position of the pendulum. Well done!

[@NigelLoller]

Thanks , it is also like that so that the entire servo assembly can rotate , and stow completely clear of the water ,with the servo oar pointing skywards

[@kayakmaneuan]

Very nice job! Looks pretty beefy! Is you wheel steering cable or hydraulic to the rudder? I've heard hydraulic wheel steering will not work with a servo pendulum wind vane, did to the lack of feed back I think. For this reason I'm thinking of mounting an external rudder for self steering duties. Fair winds!

[@NigelLoller]

The Sigma has mechanical linkage directly from helm , via one set of bevel gears on the steering wheel shaft .The only way you could get it to work would be to connect directly to the rudder shaft via the emergency tiller ,or similar. But I have built an Auxiliary Rudder system for my previous Long keel , center cockpit 15 tonne yacht , that was hydraulic steering , for that reason (Hydraulic steering on yachts always creep , so no center position is available)

[@s.v.corycia5643]

Amazing setup!

[@dominictarrsailing]

very nice design! I like how you have simplified the various linkages by using asymmetry.
my only suggestion is some sort of control lines for the vane angle, so that you can change the angle from the hatch when it's wet out

[@NigelLoller]

Thank you ! ..Yes I thought about it , and have done it in the past with center cockpit yacht , but felt that the extra spaghetti wasn't worth the agro , as it's literally right next to the helm

[@liamstone3437]

Can you explain the knobs, protrusions, horns or whatever you call them, on the vane counter balance lever? Do I see a hard stop to keep the vane from over steering? The black portion of the mechanism - is that fiberglass? What did you use for bearings? I would love to see a more in-depth presentation.

[@NigelLoller]

Hi , The knobs and protrusions from the vane counterbalance arm and it's weights ,are to fine tune and offset the weight of the drop rod and swivel (inside the vane carrier tube) The amount of counter balance you need for this drop rod varies with the position of the weights them selves vertically on the vane counter balance arm . The trick is to get the vane to sit upright ,with the drop rod attached The rest of the system is neutrally balanced so from the linkage at the bottom of the drop rod onwards ..I hope this helps !!!

[@NigelLoller]

The black portion is E glass , the pivot bearings are Acetal and the servo oar bearings are Torlon 1/4'' winch ball bearings from Lewmar or Harken available in bags everywhere