Introducing our third crew member… Wheeler
It seems that just about every cruiser out there has name for their autopilot, and we’re no exception. Sadly though, Wheeler, our third crew member, had suffered a bit of an injury, with 2 of the 3 brackets which hold him to ZTC’s wheel having cracked.
Shopping for replacement parts was a bit challenging. West Marine? Forgetaboutit. As previously mentioned, if it’s not a pink pirate flag or expensive deck shoes, we’re unlikely to find it there. We visited another Annapolis-area chandlery and although they had a fairly large selection of sailboat hardware, the best I came away with was some stainless eye straps to use for an emergency repair if necessary. Our last hope here was recommended by our friend Kirk. Bacons should have been the first stop on our shopping excursion. They have on hand a huge selection of used boat hardware and it took all of about 30 seconds for one of the staff there to pull out an entire bag of the clips we needed. The price, for the whole bag, was only 9 dollars! Sweet. Now we have some spares.
Bacons rocks! We have found some priceless treasures there as well (including our boarding ramp which we got the last time I was pregnant aboard). They also are a sail loft and make stack packs too!
Did they have more? one of mine just broke.
“It seems that just about every cruiser out there has name for their autopilot, and we’re no exception. Sadly though, Wheeler, our third crew member, had suffered a bit of an injury, with 2 of the 3 brackets which hold him to ZTC’s wheel having cracked.”
You might give some thought to preventing continued cracking. Somehow you have to damped the changes in stress loading of the bracket as wheeler turns from one direction to another.Before you install the replacement brackets, make a snug fitting, shock resistant pad between the bracket and your wheel spokes.
One way (there are other approaches, but this one is elegant in its simplicity. Wipe the wheel spoke with light oil on a rag. Mix up some Gougeon Brothers West Systems G/Flex thickened epoxy ( get the 655-K G/flex Thickened Epoxy Adhesive Repair Kit) The epoxy will not stick to the oil wiped wheel spoke. Lay a thick pad of epoxy on the bracket just before you tighten it into place. Let it cure overnight before loading the bracket by using Wheeler.
Another approach is a thick pad of rigging tape around the wheel spoke (not oil wiped before the tape).
John on Blueberry, Nonsuch 22 sail#48
I’m glad to hear of Wheeler’s speedy and inexpensive recovery! There are so many odd things that can break on a boat! Always good to be able to quickly repair such a vital crew member! I love reading your blog, because it’s so real. it makes me feel as though I were on board with you!
I’ve worked with autopilots for over 20 years as a professional pilot. Every pilot I know just calls it George for some reason.