who cares what the rudder does, as long as the boat is going in the
right direction?

On 13 Mar 2006 16:18:26 -0800, "luc" wrote:

who cares what the rudder does, as long as the boat is going in the
right direction?

Particularly with a single engine boat, and sometime with twins, you
use the rudders to direct prop thrust during slow speed maneuvers.
Knowing in advance where the rudders are saves a bit of trial and
error with the wheel.

"luc" wrote in message
ups.com...
who cares what the rudder does, as long as the boat is going in the
right direction?

How true. However sometimes the boat is not going in the right
direction! Now, a decent autopilot has to "think" how quickly the "wrong"
direction came about, how long does the Captain want to wait until we are
back on course, how many over (or under) steering swings he is comfortable
with, and how often these course errors are taking place.
How much should the autopilot move the rudder to achieve what makes the
Captain happy? How does the autopilot know when the rudder's pump or grinder
has moved the rudder to the correct position? Computer determined timed
motor runs are often used, but are not nearly as accurate and positive as
simply telling the "Iron Mike" where the darned rudder is at all times!

Old Chief Lynn

In article . com,
"luc" wrote:

who cares what the rudder does, as long as the boat is going in the
right direction?

Obviously you have never piloted or docked a large vessel.......

yeah, you are right about not piloting or docking a large vessel...
but you use an autopilot to dock your boat? Sometimes I wonder why
people even bother owning boats, if they need to have everything done
for them.

I use my autopilot only at sea, for long passages, when I can't steer
indefinately by hand. Docking I do by eye and hand.

luc wrote:
yeah, you are right about not piloting or docking a large vessel...
but you use an autopilot to dock your boat? Sometimes I wonder why
people even bother owning boats, if they need to have everything done
for them.

I use my autopilot only at sea, for long passages, when I can't steer
indefinately by hand. Docking I do by eye and hand.

I think he was talking about the rudder angle indicator. Sometimes when
docking you just want to center it or set a certain angle and wait
awhile for the boat to respond and the indicator makes it a lot easier
to tell what is going on.

It can also be handy for balancing the boat under sail too because you
can watch the the effects of trim changes on the rudder angle.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)

"luc" wrote in news:1142295506.893349.49870
@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

who cares what the rudder does, as long as the boat is going in the
right direction?



You'd have to watch our B&G Network Pilot steer a perfect course on
Lionheart with its rudder position sensor to see the difference. She also
has gyro input for rate-of-turn from a Raymarine Smart Heading Sensor.
Watching the wheel go through a turn at the moment of a waypoint turn is
like watching a ghost at the helm.

"Larry" wrote in message
...
"luc" wrote in news:1142295506.893349.49870
@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

You'd have to watch our B&G Network Pilot steer a perfect course on
Lionheart with its rudder position sensor to see the difference. She also
has gyro input for rate-of-turn from a Raymarine Smart Heading Sensor.
Watching the wheel go through a turn at the moment of a waypoint turn is
like watching a ghost at the helm.

Larry,

How did you connect the Smart Heading Sensor to the B&G Network Pilot? I've
got both of these (I'm using the Raymarine "gyro" to stabilize the radar
display and MARPA functions), but looking at the B&G manuals I can't figure
out how to attach the gyro input. The NMEA data decoded by the Pilot
doesn't include the ROT sentences

Contact me off-group if you prefer:
(remove the x's)

Thanks,
Paul