Hydraulic Pump For CETREK Autopilot

[MartinCopp]

Coppercat still has thee original (1989) CETREK 727 Autopilot. Over the years this has given falutless service. Recently however we have started having an intermitent issue which I believe is caused by the autopilot hydraulic pump sticking or failing to activate. Leaving the pilot off for a couple of hours tends to cure the issue and then we'll get several days/ weeks of trouble free operation.

Has anyone else still got or had a CETREK 727 autopilot and if so have they experienced any similar issues to those we are facing.

If the issue cannot be easily fixed, I'm thinking of getting a conventional wheel pilot connected to the main wheel. Has anyone any experience of using a wheelpilot on the wheel of the hydraulic steering. Are there any issues I need to be aware of. 

[Roger]

We have an Autohelm using a conventional wheel/belt drive.

It steers the boat better than me 

[MartinCopp]

I'm presuming that you also have a hydraulic steering system. Your experience confirms what I thought would be the best route forward.

[Roger]

Yes, Morse hydraulics

[Rogermorgan]

I had a Solaris Sumbeam cat in the 90's with Hydraulic steering (Vetus) with an Autohelm 3000 wheel pilot using a belt. It worked very well. My Sunrise Sport has morse cable steering with a Navico 5000 wheel pilot, that's still working well after 10 summers. However as you have hydraulic steering I would replace it with a new hydrulic steering system. There are plenty on the market. Or you could use a tiller type auto pilot directly on the tiller bar at the rear of one of the aft cabins. My friend's Lagoon 380 uses this and  I am sure it's a factory fit by Lagoon (it seems to work well and would be cheap). Just some ideas.