Autopilot pump in place of second helm

[Pizzazz]

I have an old Hynautic hydraulic steering system with two helm stations and a constant running pump autopilot drive controlled by a Raymarine X30 Solenoid system. The boat is around 32,000 lb displacement, 30 knots max speed. The upper helm is close to 7.5 turns hard-over to hard-over, while the lower helm is only 4.5 turns. I am not happy with the upper helm ratio and have been considering a bigger helm pump. At the same time, the constant running pump is 40 years old, noisy and may need a replacement soon. Which option would you recommend?

1. Get a bigger helm pump, around $1,000 plus install (still no autopilot backup)

2. Eliminate the upper helm and replace with a joystick that drives the CR pump solenoids, around $20, unusual, need to figure out how to plug the hydraulic lines, the steering experience may be different

3. Replace the upper helm with a reversible autopilot pump that could be driven by the joystick through two relays in H-bride configuration, around $600. I could also pre-wire the X30 Solenoid autopilot to the H-bridge, so that if the CR pump fails, I could quickly switch to the reversible pump.

By the way, I realize that using X30 Sol on a reversible motor is not ideal and I will be losing the feedback loop vs. a dedicated reversible pump autopilot controller. However, it is not a big deal and the current drive works well.

Thank you for your input.
MV Ithaka

[pcmm]

Is it possible that you have air in the system? are both helms the same model?

If both helms are the same model, there should be no difference in the number of turns required regardless of if its the upper or lower helm.

If you change the upper helm pump, you might have to change to lower helm pump also as Hynautic has discontinued these pressurized systems a couple of years ago . You can still fiind parts but new helm pumps aren't made any longer ( though you can still find them as NOS)

[deblen]

You don't need to remove the upper,or either,helm pump.
Just mount a jog stick beside it & run a 3wire cable to your existing solenoid,or to your AP control box.

I recommend you have an analogue,easily readable,rudder angle meter with the jog stick.
Cheers/Len

[Pizzazz]

The upper and lower helms are of different sizes and the number of turns matches the manual. I have bled the system many times. It is just that the upper help pump was replaced many years ago by a PO with a smaller size. My understanding is that the helm pump could be from any vendor. They are still super costly though.

[pcmm]

Originally Posted by Pizzazz

The upper and lower helms are of different sizes and the number of turns matches the manual. I have bled the system many times. It is just that the upper help pump was replaced many years ago by a PO with a smaller size. My understanding is that the helm pump could be from any vendor. They are still super costly though.

A lot will depend on what helms you have. If you have a 3 line pressurized system or 2 line system.