Here black striped kitty kitty kitty

[mojorisin]

Mojo Risin' splashed yesterday and I went out to calibrate the new Raymarine auto pilot. Otto is now on Aquaholic and I KNOW he jinxed me. Major issues with the X-5 deciding that tight death spins at cruising spins would be the norm in the Auto Learn mode causing me to cancel the calibration process for safety reasons. I went home last night, ready the manual over and over and found no helping info on Raymarine's web site. I decided to do a system reset and try it all over again today.

Got to the boat early today and triple checked all the wiring on the X-5 and performed the system reset. I set the necessary defaults and was ready for round two with high hopes. Went out into calm seas and found the X-5 still putting me into death spin. I think the X-5 thought it was me driving recklessly in the fog because the spins were crash-avoiding-tight... Decided to say screw it and fish.

It looks like Otto talked to the AP gods who talked to the fish gods because I went a resounding 0-0 in about 3.5 hours of fishing while everyone else I know caught fish. The black striped kitty is still in the box for 2010. I suffered my first skunk since I bought that boat in 2002. No need to worry about that streak anymore.

No need to say what I used because it didn't work and I tried a lot which my 3 lines. But hey, I have not lost any fish yet this year (or equipment) but I do have a $1500 auto pilot that is trying to kill me. Given how I'm spraying the little white ball all over the course so far this year, I think the golf gods are in on this too.

Raymarine gets a phone call on Monday. Here is praying that their customer service is FAR superior to that of Lowrance which was the last technical support staff I needed for the boat. This X-5 owner is not too pleased right now. I'm also looking for fishing and golf lessons.

On the bright side, it was great to chat with Awespray (nice Kings John!!!!), Clam, Krash, Gilligan, Scrapper, NTT V2.0, and Compulsive. It was nice to see those I saw including Good Times yesterday and Wet Net as I was leaving today. And, they all caught fish too which was nice to hear over the radio. I hope some video was taken so that I know what a hit looks like on Lake Michigan. I'm going to try my luck at a pay to play trout farm tomorrow. Baby steps...

I took pics of all my fish. They follow.

[carolina]

I tried giving you a fish call aboout 6am Mojo,but you were probably in a spin and didn't hear it! ;D

Carolina

p.s. It'll get better, no doubt, so hang in there and be patient!

[munchkin]

That's ok Mojo!!! I had a true test of self control today myself!!! I wanted to go to port but the fam wanted to go for walleyes. the water was too cold and looked like chocolate milk so no keeper walleyes... However my son was able to catch me not once but twice. First in the arm and then in the ear...... I thought I was going to blow like 3 sticks of dynamite!!!!

[aquaholic]

Joe,

It's just good that these troubles are being taken care of early in the season.

As for the 'JINX' you refer to . . . all I can say is I had many other fisherman holding threats to me and my family if I didn't do it. They said they needed you to leave a few fish for them so they could feed the offspring they've been unable to due to your high fish numbers.

FYI, The JINX only runs until after you get back from your vacation

Honestly, I am very sorry to hear about your AP troubles. Otto can come back on board if you need him.

Best of luck!

[carolina]

I've heard that Rick goes wherever OTTO goes, just so that you can be prepared Aqua!

And you were so right about leaving some in the water for the others. Mojo needed a skunk so that everyone would know that he's only human! But once he get's the MR straight, there'll be payback coming!

Carolina

[busta1up]

Hey Mojo,
I was just curious about your autopilot if that is the X-5 Sport Smartpilot System. I was planning on getting that one myself and would be interested in hearing how things work out for you. What size boat do you have and what kind of steering setup. My boat is an older one and I am just trying to get as much info as I can before I purchase it. Any info and help would be appreciated.
Thanks

[mojorisin]

Yep, it is the X-5 Smartpilot System without the optional rudder reference. My boat is 29' Sea Ray Amberjack with twin outdrives and power assisted rotary steering. The X-5 is replacing a Sportpilot Plus which served its time well but was an average at best performer. This installation was pretty straight forward given the compass location was known and the needed steering system was already in place. All that was needed was a good location for the computer box.

I'll let you know how things work out but it looks to me like the computer on mine is crap and would be going in. I googled some AUTOLEARN issues and in most cases, they sent back the compass or the computer head. I don't think it is the compass in my case because it completed the Compass Autoswing phase well with only a 3 degree deviation. Also, the compass reading after that part of the calibration was right on with the boat compass. It does get all the NMEA information from my GPS just fine.

I have a feeling I'll be SOL for a couple of weeks. I would like Raymarine to just ship me a new computer module versus waiting for the old one to arrive back but I doubt they'll do that. I'm about to find out what kind of customer service they have. It totally bites to buy something brand new that fails out of the box. It makes me immediately question their quaility control department and if stuff is tested before shipping. Stay tuned...

[bruone]

Joe - I think that your wolf picture is causing your issues..... I hope that you get your problems sorted out sooner than later. If it is mechanical, I can help you out. I am no help with electronics which I believe are run by smoke. As you know, when the smoke comes out of them, they dont work. Hopefully we can get out sometime this season!!

[bruone]

Sorry for being so rude. I should have looked at my autopilot to help you out:

Attachments:

[relay]

Mojo: Sorry to hear about your autopilot problems. If you need another set of eyes, let me know.

Relay

[salty]

could just be the TRIANGLE at work -- everything may work just fine on mon

[clam2]

Joe......

As for the skunking, my first immediate thought was that hell had frozen over......my next one was that it was obvious that the auto pilot issues were weighing heavily on your mind and the last thing you were worried about was what to throw out into the spread......

You are one of the best fishermen I know hands down ---- everyone laughs when you do the "weekend hack" thing (lol).......I have alot of genuine respect for your abilities to naturally put together a spread that will create a limit of fish in your sleep.....

As for the auto pilot --- I am also with Relay as to making myself available as an extra set of hands and eyes in the event you want to give it another go while waiting for some action on the part of Raymarine........

One question for you ----- when I had to re-calibrate my Raymarine auto pilot, my book told me I should run at around 8 knots while holding a compass bearing and then adjusting the brain box to that same compass heading before setting it.......

Then (just prior to starting the auto learn mode) I was supposed to maintain that same speed as you start that process.......If I recall, I thought you said you were going around 20 knots when your boat swung wildly to one side as you actuated the auto learn mode.....

What speed does your manual say you are supposed to be at when you enter the actual auto mode phase?

Best of luck to you in getting OTTO 2 squared away and quickly! Again, please call if you want any help whatsoever!

[mojorisin]

Thanks for all the kind words and offers to help. The lack of catching fish is no biggy. The auto pilot thing to me is a biggy with some trips coming up where I know I'll need it.

The good news for me is that I believe I have the issue resolved. I googled the issue and found a couple of sailboat sites where people had similar issues and got them resolved. I went to the lake today, tried the fix, and all appears to be well.

The issue is that Raymarine has an undocumented "feature" with their X-5. The issue is in how the drive unit that is attached to the steering wheel is plugged into the control unit. The documentation says the input wires are blue and brown when in actuality they are black and red. My mechanic called Raymarine to know how to hook them up and he was told it did not matter. According to the wind bagger websites, those guys had it plugged in according to how Raymarine told them and they had the same issues. Reversing the wires solved the issues. One poster said that Raymarine knows of the issue but does not recognize it on their site nor did they change their documentation. The Raymarine technician told one poster that they are not sure how the wires are "wrapped" and therefore everyone has a 50% chance of getting it right (and wrong).

I started the boat and decided to put it in Auto at the dock tied up to see what would happen. The unit did not move much (as one would expect and hope). I then hit the -10 degree change button to port and the motor turned to starboard. Hence, the issue. I hit the 10 degree change to starboard and it went to port. I then swapped those 2 wires and it turned correctly. I took the boat into the breakwall and it held course well at 5mph and changed course well. I could not do the AUTO LEARN feature on the lake as it was too rough to do it at cruising speed but I'm certain the issue is resolved.

What was happening is that when the boat was in auto learn mode and turned to port, it then needed to turn to starboard but thinking it was going starboard it really went port and the further trid to compensate which resulted in a tight spin at cruising speeds.

I plan to call Raymarine tomorrow to tell them I experienced this known issue too and that this undocumented "feature" could kill someone. They need to recall all unsold units from the store to get revised documentation in them. But, at least one Raymarine technician was not aware of the problem having told my mechanic that it did not matter how he attached the wires. It was either that or he knew that it could go either way. In that case, he should have explained the known possible issue with an incorrect hookup.

Hopefully, I'll get my first Big Pond hit of 2010 next weekend. Thanks again to all the well wishes and offers!

[mojorisin]

Brent to answer your question, with my X-5 I am supposed to run at cruising speed on plane being a stern drive boat for AUTO LEARN. The default speed for stern drive is 20 knots and that is what is shown under the DEALER CAL screens. I know I'm configured correctly. The COMPASS SWING phase finished well with a 3 degree deviation.

[RedRider]

:'(The only day I stand a snowball chance in hell of out boxing Mojo and I wasn't at the lake ..
Sorry to hear that Joe and glad to see it looks like your new Otto will be working. Nothing but good fortune to follow, I'm sure.