Day 135, 3/17, 3/19 Deck painting preparation, Autopilot mount dry fit-2 , 8 hours total

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Autopilot

Autopilot drive mount built.

 

Dry fit testing. Run drive on power . Linear drive moves rudder end to end in 4 sec. Motor seems not feel load at all.

Need to make spacer for the top corner due to motor compartment wall is not flat. Bottom part mounted on cored area, top side is just 1/8 in-liner wall and it is not vertical.

Converting autohelm 6000 drive to smart drive

Decided to use Sean's mid power motor controller instead of re-engineering it. Two reasons - 1) support great work from amazing person, 2) save time for other projects. 

When controller arrived, i found the conformal coating is really bad quality, so i had to re-coat the board. But is is OK.
 
After some play with drive I found the controller board  perfectly fits inside drive enclosure and let me make much cleaner installation. Only modification was 5 holes in the aluminum cover. Four 4mm holes for screws holding the board and one 15mm for round connector to connect end switches and rudder position sensor. Motor temperature sensor connected inside the box,
 
Now I have "smart linear drive" for my pypilot solution. Inly connections - power, serial and sensors.
 
Controller board mounted  inside the cover

It looks like they intentionally added extra space on side of the motor :-)

6 Wires  between drive and the board - 2 motor power, 2 - clutch, 2 - motor temperature sensor.

Box closed, and drive tested.


Interior

Put final trim in the head corner where mast wires located over the headliner. Round opening is for vent.

 Misc

Designed and printed flashlight holders To stop looking for my "landing light" any more.

Deck


Sanded deck after fiberglass patching. Put epoxy putty over imperfections (all green dots).

Starboard side.

Cleaned not completely cured gelcoat over deck core repair.
View from bow

Port side
Around the mast step.
Port side continued

 


 

 

 

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