Can anybody help on a TR-1?

[Kern O]

A friend here on Maui just installed a TR-1 and everything works great except the shadow drive. If you take the helm while the unit is on, the autopilot remains in control. The Shadow Drive valve is mounted horizontally per the instructions and has 2 feet of hose between it and the helm and it and the pump. TR-1 tech support is closed today.

[Kern O]

So, here's the answer. To help bleed the system, you turn the shadow valve off. Once the system is bled, you can either re-enable the valve so it works properly or spend a day worrying and wondering about it until you come to the realization that it probably is not going to work until you re-enable the valve.......

[Jim Z]

Glad you got it figured out. Is everything else is working fine also?

[Kern O]

Do you mean the autopilot or my brain?

It was one of those 5 pm decisions that went something like "Hey it won't take long and we don't have to leave until 7 am" Like anything else involving hydraulic steering, you can install any complex electronics, the rate compass, make steering lines and then comes "Bleed the steering".

Bleeding the steering means:

- There will be hydraulic fluid where you least expect it.
- A single bleed fitting can send a stream of fluid 400 feet.
- No matter how careful you are, just before the last air bubble comes out of the system, you'll run out of fluid in the fill bottle and have to do it all over again.

I don't know how often most of you have to work on SeaStar systems, but I know that when I get to Hell, there will be an endless line of boats and one gallon of fluid waiting for me.

[Daddy'O]

Glad you got it figured out Kern O -

Sometimes, hydraulics are just plain frustrating - period.

Kern O, I'll get with you when you head down south later in life. Then we can talk about all of my frustrations concering inbed hay spikes, tractors, etc..

Man, you are not kidding about the 400 feet either. Don't forget the "cutting" ability - that sfuff will take a finger or an arm right off in a heart beat.

Wayne

[Kern O]

I don't really mind hydraulics and I've worked with a lot of systems. It just seems like boat steering - where you really want things to stay clean - are the most likely to spray fluid everywhere. The cheap bleed fittings on the SeaStar stuff, where they can suck air back in so easily, make it all the more frustrating.