Helm locking up?

[Nancy & Hugo Shaw]

This may sound crazy but I would appreciate anyone's advice

We have Ranger Tug 29 - when I am up at speed and have the auto-pilot on navigation I just need to move the wheel and the auto pilot disengages.

But here is my problem - if I keep the auto pilot in navigation mode - and I slow doen to around 4 kts when I am coming into dock my wheel at the helm looks up - I cannot move it - it seems the auto-pilot will not disengage.

So I always need to put the auto-pilot into standby moce - or turn it righ off - so my wheel / rudder does not lock up when I am slowing right down to dock.

Is this normal?

 

[South lake]

I use my autopilot all the time but always disengage it when I start to come into a harbor or a channel. I personally would not keep the autopilot engaged in those circumstances as I want complete control of the boat.

 

[Scuba Too]

I ran across this same thing on my R29 CB navigating around Friday harbor. I wasn't in autopilot mode but may have activated it as I was using the chart to see how the harbor was laid out (it was my first time there). The helm was completely blocked and I was not headed in a good direction (of course in a harbor there really isn't a good direction that doesn't end up with a dock or boat in front of you). I used the throttle to kill speed and maintain position (quick reverse) while sorting out what was going on. Turning off the autopilot corrected the condition. It's odd though because you can break off from the autopilot using the helm while at speed. It must have something to do with the pressure in the hydraulics at low speed. It was a little unnerving.

 

[trailertrawlerkismet]

Another hazard with having the auto pilot on in a harbor, channel or coming into a lock has to do with the magnetic pull created by the auto pilot and your boats surroundings. If metal is involved within close proximity to your boat and the auto pilot is engaged, your boat could end up making an abrupt change of course. If this happens and you are not at the helm or paying attention bad things could happen. Don't have an answer for the lock up problem.

 

[Automaticman865]

You also would want to test your shadow drive. I had one that went bad and my steering would stay locked while on the autopilot. You can test it by shutting it off/on in the autopilot settings

Stuart

 

[Nancy & Hugo Shaw]

Thanks everyone. I will check shadow drive and agree that auto-pilot should not be used when coming into harbour.

Still a puzzling problem how the wheel locks up at slow speeds but when cruising you just move the wheel slighly and it disengages the auto pilot

Txs again

 

[Red Raven]

When you say "locking up" I assume you mean the wheel still turns but the rudder doesn't. If this is the case and you had the Auto Pilot engaged and Shadowdrive enabled then the Shadow drive sensitivity may be set too low. You can change this in the autopilot settings. It defaults to 50%. I have mine set to 75% which works for me. I suspect this setting will vary depending on how well the system is bled of air which could also be a problem.

In any case the shadow drive is meant to be a safety feature to allow quick return of control to the wheel to avoid objects etc. when the auto pilot is engaged. It is not meant to be used under normal manual steering conditions like docking etc. I suspect the Shadowdrive sensitivity varies with hydraulic pressure and at very low speeds the pressure needed to turn the rudder is so little that the Shadowdrive will not be sensitive enough to disengage the auto pilot under those conditions. I always always disengage the auto-pilot when taking the wheel except for emergency maneuvers which is extremely rare.

 

[Scuba Too]

In my case the helm locked up in the sense that I couldn't turn the helm. This was on my second day on the boat so I'm still getting oriented with all of the features.

 

[Red Raven]

That's really odd (and a very scary situation!). I have never heard of that condition before. Usually the wheel still turns while auto pilot is on but with limited results if the shadow drive doesn't kick in.

 

[Nancy & Hugo Shaw]

When I said helm locking up I mean the wheel will not turn and the rudder does not turn. When this has happened I am going very slow - less than 3 kts - only way I cn unlock the wheel is to turn the autopilot off and then in about 30 secs the wheel is freed up and I can turn it.

so now I just make a habit of turning the auto pilot right off as I am coming into dock - but it is still an odd problem.

 

[carlastr]

We have a 2015 31 CB that just started doing this same thing. Powered it down and rebooted and it fixed but now afraid to use it at all. Helm locked, no rudder control. We're going to download latest version but wondering if you've had this problem again and if not, how did you solve?

Thanks,
Carla & John

 

[Red Raven]

Auto pilot should always be off when docking or when you are trying to manually control the rudder except in temporary emergency situations (shadowdrive).

Curt

 

[stwendl]

Hmm interesting, I had an instance once, where the wheel was moving but the boat would not steer. Going about 14kts in a river, no auto pilot. Needed to make a turn in the river and no response. Immediately powered down throttle to avoid crashing it the river bank, and control was back. Suspect air in the lines

 

[knotflying]

As we know our boat's rudder loses authority as our speed decreases. Using the autopilot at a very low speed has its consequences. The autopilot is trying to set the direction, but the rudder input will not respond as quickly as the autopilot thinks it should so it keeps turning to get to the prescribed direction. It then turns so hard it locks up. As stated before, in low speed situations such as docking or in tight spots, use your hands at the helm.