On 2005-10-29 22:22:18 +1000, "just me" said:

I have a 7001 smart pilot and a RL80CRC at the helm on my sailboat.

Everything worked well for about a year and then one day with the
autopilot on, the helm went hard to port. I quickly put the autopilot
on standby and brought the boat back on course. When I looked at the
plotter, the image of the boat was showing the boat going sideways thru
the water.

I went back and re-calibrated the autopilot and that corrected it.

During a two day sail, the second day it did it again. Has anybody
experienced this? Any ideas of what's going on and how to fix it?

What core pack do you have with the 7001? There is an eco out for the
S1 corepack where the fluxgate gives intermittant problems. The problem
can develop after installation.

--
Regards,
John D Proctor