Boat Forum / Building / March 2006

Did you Google "sailboat self steering"???

Lots of pertinent hits.  There's also a neat book on setting up various
arrangements after you map the transfer function (helm to heading) for your
boat.

Unfortunately, most of these are for tiller systems and are related to
keeping a heading while under sail.  If you are wanting to steer in a calm,
you'll need a heading sensor; gyro or mag compass.  (or a very stable boat)

A friend was into homebuilt autopilots for his experimental aircraft.  For
heading change he put an optical sensor on the edge of his gyro compass (see
eBay for directional gyros).  He sensed pitch and roll with puffs of air
which traveled up between four temperature sensors (thermistors) and
generated differential cooling if the aircraft moved as the puff traveled
past (a NASA scheme).  You might send the air puffs horizontally to give a
heading change rate?  His puffs were generated with a small air pump, but he
was converting to a speaker generated puff when we last discussed it.  The
system flew as well as the costly commercial units.  Of course the actuator
is tough.  As an alternative to moving the wheel, you might consider a trim
tab since you're talking short term use.

Roger
derbyrm@NOSPAMinsightbbNOSPAM.com
http://home.insightbb.com/~derbyrm

Ray,
Use the K.I.S.S. principle . . .

The 'Age of Sail' types simply put the eye-spliced ends on lines over two of
the 'handles' around the wheel.

Today's sailor could use a couple of pieces of 'bungee cord' to do the same
thing. If you don't have handles, it's easy enough to set-up a toggle
system, or use a couple of padded hooks.

I use one length, stretched from the Port & Starboard aft docking cleats,
and make a twist {for a loop}to hold the stick at whatever slight angle I
need. Simple enough to slide a hook along and 'capture' it in the loop. {for
a wheel}

Regards & Good Luck,
Ron Magen
Backyard Boatshop