T&T: Auto pilot "hunting"

[Steve Sipe]

StWillett at aol.com wrote:
> My, new to me, 2003 Monk 36 came with a  Raymarine system including  ST6001 
> autopilot. When I put it in Auto  mode it begins to "hunt", it maintains a 
> relatively straight course  overall, but the bow starts swaying left to right then 
> back again in ever  widening arcs until I have to return it to standby maybe 
> 30- 45 second later. It  is the same in calm or relatively rough seas.
>     The unit has 3 levels of response setting which I  thought would take 
> care of this but it seems the same regardless of which I use.  It is the same 
> going to a waypoint or simply steering with the autopilot  buttons
>     The unit is connected to a Raymarine RL70 plotter. and  tridata  seatalk 
> system all of it is new to me so I can't say if it is a  new or pre my 
> purchasing it condition other than the response levels I don't see  anything about 
> this in the manuals..
>     I plan to contact Raymarine but figured I would seek  advice here before 
> playing phone menu tag with them.
> Any suggestions will be appreciated.
> Steve Willett
> Monk 36, Gumbo
>   
Steve,
You may want to try to re-calibrate the compass, there is a user 
function that should be accessible from the ST6001 screen. It will 
instruct you to turn slow circles until it completes the calibration. If 
the pilot is a gyro model, there may be an auto-learn function that will 
configure the parameters of the AP computer to actual conditions. The 
ST6001 will have a "smart pilot" logo on the face. Check the docs for 
the AP computer for configuration. The RL70 won't do much with the AP 
other than echo the data and send it steering data.
Good luck getting it working!

Steve Sipe
Solo 4303 "Maerin"
Miami Beach