T&T: Auto pilot "hunting"

[Jim Ague]

> Electronics doesn't usually work that way so we examined our behavior
> closely to figure out what we were doing differently.  After weeks of
> experimenting we found that - and I'm not kidding - if my wife's laptop
> was behind the second chair in our salon, the autopilot would hunt.  Now
> to find out why...
>
> The reason turned out to be very simple.  The electronic compass
> transducer was placed "smartly" away from all electronics in the helm
> and mounted on the back of the sliding drawers cabinet in the galley.
> When my wife put her laptop behind the chair, it was right up against
> the cabinet where the transducer was located.
>
We had the same kind of epiphany on our Monk 36. Our transducer was down 
near the freshwater pump. If we used enough freshwater while underway to 
cause the pump to activate, we swung to port about 30 degrees.

The solution was to turn off the pump while underway. If water was needed 
and unavailable because the compression tank was empty, all hands were 
notified and the A/P was disabled while the pump was enabled for awhile.

-- Jim Ague