# Raymarine Autohelm ST1000 Problems And Raymarine Warranty



## petertribo (Jun 21, 2007)

I have a 2500# trimaran and sail mostly singlehanded. 

I bought a Raymarine Autohelm ST1000 with a wire remote two years ago last month. The first year all was OK. 

Last year the remote went. That was a story in itself. I was told Raymarine did not make wire remote any more, only wireless and they would "upgrade" me to that for a fee. Hmmm. That' s not what I bought and wasn't the warranty provision. Finally, they found a wire remote somewhere. 

Later last year, the display went. I continued to sail with it as it was peak season. Then the whole deal just fritzed out, couldn't keep a course at all. So, after sailing season, I brought it in still under warranty. I picked it up later in the winter. In the spring, I tried it on the boat, it did not work. Had to bring it back and they fixed it in early June.

Now the display is gone again and, if past performance is an indicator, the unit will eventually completely fail.

Even though this is about one month past warranty, with the down time I have experienced and the fact that the unit has failed in exactly the same manner as before, they should honor the warranty. I think actually that for all the hassle, they should give me a new unit. Anybody had a similar experience? What about Raymarine warranties in general. What good is a warranty when your unit is down during sailing season.

I did some research on the ST1000 on the net and found comments to the effect that you get any sort of water near it and it LEAKS. Here is one of those comments to wrap it a waterproof piece of canvas all the way to the trim tab. Have never had a single problem."

So, maybe I should take it apart, dry it out and apply the low tech solution above. Sounds to me like they know all about this defect, get you past the two year warranty and then you either pay them large fees or get another unit.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Did you contact Raymarine directly or just talk to a dealer? If it was just a dealer, it might be worth escalating the repair to one of the customer service managers, given that the product was already in for what appears to be the same problem. Otherwise, you might contact your state's consumer affairs division.


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## Giulietta (Nov 14, 2006)

Contact Tommyt, he's pretty good with fixing them


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## petertribo (Jun 21, 2007)

Thanks for all the replies. Just an update on my ST1000 problems. 

The local repair guy gave me the name of the executive in charge in this area for ST1000. I emailed him with my problems. They have supplied my with a replacement which was used as a demo at boat shows and restarted the two year warranty, which I hope I do not have to use. I will be making a waterproof cover for this unit as other ST1000 users have suggested.

So, sometimes it pays to be persistent and patient. And hats off to Raymarine for supporting the ST1000.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

As I said... contacting the manufacturer is often far more productive than dealing with the dealer/repair network. Most manufacturers want their customer base to be happy.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

I have posted here previously, about our Raymarine depth sounder problem. When we contacted Raymarine directly they replaced the unit right away. We have been very happy with their response.
Kathleen
aboard
Schooner MISTRESS
Loftrans is not on my happy list. An electric windlass still under warrenty that you have to hit each time you want to use it is just plain stupid and they will not get one drop more of our business.


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## hekeler (Jan 6, 2001)

*St1000*

I have an older ST100 which started to beep and give me an 800 on the screen. Does anyone know what this means? Also if I press +10 I get a -10 and vice versa. Worked fine until the beeping started.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

It would help if you said which particular ST1000. AFAIK, they never made an ST100, just an ST1000. Autohelm made three models, Raymarine made two IIRC.


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## Freesail99 (Feb 13, 2006)

This post is a year old and I saw somewhere that the Schooner MISTRESS had been sold. I bring it up because she had responded to this thread.


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## camaraderie (May 22, 2002)

Free...They were at the docks in Beaufort a few months ago and had an article about them in a local sailing mag...would be surprised if it was sold.
Here's the link and their website. 
1930 Schooner MISTRESS - NEWS


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