# Simrad Wheelpilot



## RichardElliott (Sep 24, 2001)

I recently broke a drive belt on a 16 month old WP30 in British Columbia and called several marinas for replacements without luck. I was told that the nearest belt was in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia! The Manual recommends replacement every three or four years by a professional and has no instructions for disassembly. Wouldn''t this give you a lot of confidence in the Azores or Polynesia! On return to the States, the Simrad technician stated that for warranty replacement the unit must be returned to Simrad, I pay the freight plus a $50 labor charge and they will replace the $60 belt for free. How''s that for lousy customer service! Richard Elliott.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Ouch! I recently purchased an older boat with similar unit on it with a broken belt. Being the novice that I am I walked into a West Marine store a month or so ago and the salesguy said it was critical that I have the old belt in order to replace correctly. Of course old belt is gone. Simrad manual onboard was downloaded of internet so no specs included specific for my unit. With your experience seems like this is gonna be an expensive proposition for me. Not necessarily best kind of pr.


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## rcarr (Aug 17, 2000)

I have a Simrad WP30, and it is fairly easy to take apart. There are two simrad distributors in the U.S. One in Florida tel # 954-922-7700, and the other in Washington tel # 425-778-8821. I have talked with the one in WA, and they sold me parts and explained how to replace the belt. R Carr


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## RichardElliott (Sep 24, 2001)

I also talked with Simrad in WA and they will be happy to sell me the belt. The problem is that they will not supply the belt for free under warranty. I must send them the entire autopilot.


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## jack_patricia (May 20, 2001)

Richard, it was discouraging to me to read your posts. We originally installed a WP30 on our boat - or tried to - but kept finding that the molded parts were cast improperly and didn''t fit the Edson pedestal. The best the factory folks could do was send new mounts from the same pile of poorly cast parts.

We then began experiencing electrical intermittant signals from the keypad (damn near hit a nav aid piling on the ICW with that one), and as another post mentions I got quite good at taking everything apart, cleaning (alcohol) and reassembling until I could get the whole unit sent off for a warranty repair. At the time all of this was unfolding, Simrad had gobbled up Navico for their small-a/p product line and the snotty performance of the people and woeful factory support was, I thought, just a sign of the corporate consolidation and ''churn'' that can occur within an organization during such a change.

We never regained confidence in that product and, even today, it sits under the V-berth up forward as a ''last ditch'' spare part in case we have a problem with our ST4000+ Raymarine a/p, which has been outstanding. But seeing your post tells me that little has changed insofar as customer-friendly policy at Simrad.

Jack


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## RichardElliott (Sep 24, 2001)

Whoosh: Thanks for your comments. I had the impression in British Columbia that I could have found a Raytheon belt most anywhere.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

rcarr said:


> I have a Simrad WP30, and it is fairly easy to take apart. There are two simrad distributors in the U.S. One in Florida tel # 954-922-7700, and the other in Washington tel # 425-778-8821. I have talked with the one in WA, and they sold me parts and explained how to replace the belt. R Carr


You mentioned that the WP30 is easy to take apart. Can you get me started? I have some kind of mechanical problem that seems more like stripped gears than a broken belt. Thanks for your help.


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## rcarr (Aug 17, 2000)

*simrad wheelpilot*

The face of the WP30 wheelpilot is held in place by screws in the back of the unit. These screws attach to small rollers on which the unit turns. If you loosen the screws to much the roller will come off, but can be put back on.

According to the Simard web site, the Simrad wheelpilots are now own and supported by a company called Simrad Yacthing. Their web site is www.simradyachting.com/default.aspx

Good Luck

Rodger


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## Sasha_V (Feb 28, 2004)

The first thing I did when we got the wheel-pilot home. Before we put it on the boat is to take it apart and work out how to replace belts and such. I then took the fresh new belt I pulled out and took it down to the local industrial drive belt maker. And I got them to make up five matching belts in reinforced new materials that are considerably stronger then the basic rubber stuff that Simrad supplies.

Then I mounted one of the new belts back ont he unit before fitting it to the boat. The Simrad belt gets to sit ina drawer as a guide for the next time I need the factory to make me some new belts.
I am already wishing I had bit the bullet and ordered 8.

Never had a problem and the belts cost me around $35AUD each (that works out to about $23US each).

I was still on the first belt three years alater when the boat went up on the hard for a major refit.

It is just a matter of understanding that NOTHING on a boat is really plug-and-play. It is all componentry, whether the brochure claims different or not.


Sasha


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## sada (Jun 12, 2011)

*Gates replacement belt*

I just order two replacement belts from Royal supply

Qty SKU Description Unit Price Price
2 AT5-825-10 GPT-AT5-825-10

$10.30

$20.60

Shipping: UPS Ground
$8.61

Tax:
$0.00
Total: $29.21

Royal Supply Co.
Toll Free: (800) 222-5411 Local: (440) 322-5411 Fax: 440-322-9090


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## sada (Jun 12, 2011)

On the post got all numbers together. The belt number is:

*GPT-AT5-825-10 *


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## GaryHLucas (Mar 24, 2008)

Those numbers look familiar to me as being standard metric timing belt sizes. It's been a long time, but I believe it is an AT5 tooth profile with a total length of 825 mm, and is 10 mm wide. It would be interesting if someone checked this out. It would make getting the belt easy from an industrial distributor.

Gary H. Lucas


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## freebird38 (Jul 30, 2011)

I have a simrad wp-32. It has started to become erratic.No help from Navico or Simrad.Any ideas would be helpful.


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## cruisingdream (Feb 7, 2007)

I call my Ivan , It will just decide not to work & make hard turns right or left 
Take it apart & try strightening the compass wires & retry it seems to work for me (sometimes)
simrad just charged me to tell me they couldn't find anything wrong with it.
good luck


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## freebird38 (Jul 30, 2011)

*simrad wp-32*

Thanks,That is exactly what the autopilot is doing.I'll try that.


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## wol1 (Jul 14, 2012)

What is the trick to getting the unit reassembled after the new belt is in place?


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## GaryHLucas (Mar 24, 2008)

RichardElliott said:


> I recently broke a drive belt on a 16 month old WP30 in British Columbia and called several marinas for replacements without luck. I was told that the nearest belt was in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia! The Manual recommends replacement every three or four years by a professional and has no instructions for disassembly. Wouldn''t this give you a lot of confidence in the Azores or Polynesia! On return to the States, the Simrad technician stated that for warranty replacement the unit must be returned to Simrad, I pay the freight plus a $50 labor charge and they will replace the $60 belt for free. How''s that for lousy customer service! Richard Elliott.


If you still have the belt. Look at the teeth. If have a trapazoidal profile the belt is most likely inch sized. Count how many teeth, and measure how long the belt is. Divide the length by the number of teeth, that gives you the pitch. Measure the belt width too. The belt part number will be pitch x # of teeth x width.

If the belt teeth have a round profile it is most likely metric. Take all the measurement and convert to millimeters. 1 inch = 25.4 mm exactly.

Try a company like Stock Drive Products to find the belt. Probably less than $10. Lots of these belts are available with kevlar reinforcements, that may stop the belt from breaking. If it just stripping off teeth, don't bother with the kevlar, it won't really help.

Gary H. Lucas


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## Ritchard (Aug 15, 2011)

Dude's post was 8 yrs old.


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## HUGOSALT (Jun 15, 2004)

Ritchard said:


> Dude's post was 8 yrs old.


Yes, above is true but information is timeless...
and I thank all you Dude's for information and time saved as I am looking to inventory a belt on a so far properly
functioning although aging WP30. 
Now to remember how to retighten unit to pedestal.


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## coxjam (Nov 24, 2010)

Hey HugoSalt, will you post what you find out or where you buy it from? I buy my belts for my 3 GM30F from Autozone for fractions of the cost over the Yanmar dealer.


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## sesmith (Jan 24, 2013)

Old thread for sure. However, for anyone looking for one, I recently got a new belt for my WP10 here:

Navico Simard WP30 WP32 Autopilot Belt


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## HUGOSALT (Jun 15, 2004)

coxjam, I will report back after purchase, thinking sesmith
has found belt for reasonable enough price to make sizing
from stock belt unnecessary.


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