Raymarine SPX5 Sport Drive Autopilot Recall

[guido99]

I have one of these units installed on my boat, and installed another on a friends boat, units worked flawlessly on both boats after doing the necessary calibration routine.
The day before the Alungi competition my friend calls me and says he is about 12 miles to the south and and his helm is locked full starboard and can no longer steer his vessel. After several attempts to unlock the helm, i suggested his only option would be to partially dismantle the drive unit via the torsion restraint, and disconnect the power cable to the drive unit, this allowed him to steer the boat and get him home safely.

On alungi competition day i noticed my unit getting abnormally hot, i allowed the unit to cool down several times by putting it in standby mode, on the final leg home with the unit in auto mode the drive unit started making some grinding sound and shortly after the drive belts inside snapped.

Both units have been returned and are to be replaced.

In the meantime Raymarine has issued this recall notice:

http://www.raymarine.co.uk/news-and-events/sports-drive-product-recall/

[skip]

Wow was this recall initiated based on your feedback?

[guido99]

No i dont think this recall was initiated on our feedback alone but it might have contributed towards it.

[benri]

@Guido99 - what is the approx. price of the unit please? Is it complicated to install?

[shanook]

yes a friend of mine is thinking of installing one.

[guido99]

The unit cost 975 sterling plus 50 stg shipping.

Install is easy, hardest part was removing the helm which although both boats were new, i had to devise a "puller" to pop off the Helm.

Installation manual can be found here :

http://www.raymarine.co.uk/products/autopilots/sportpilot-series/e12206/?esctl507199_assetdet=7303

[benri]

thanks guido99

[shanook]

cheers guido99

[guido99]

I have one of these units installed on my boat, and installed another on a friends boat, units worked flawlessly on both boats after doing the necessary calibration routine.
The day before the Alungi competition my friend calls me and says he is about 12 miles to the south and and his helm is locked full starboard and can no longer steer his vessel. After several attempts to unlock the helm, i suggested his only option would be to partially dismantle the drive unit via the torsion restraint, and disconnect the power cable to the drive unit, this allowed him to steer the boat and get him home safely.

On alungi competition day i noticed my unit getting abnormally hot, i allowed the unit to cool down several times by putting it in standby mode, on the final leg home with the unit in auto mode the drive unit started making some grinding sound and shortly after the drive belts inside snapped.

Both units have been returned and are to be replaced.

In the meantime Raymarine has issued this recall notice:

http://www.raymarine.co.uk/news-and-events/sports-drive-product-recall/

UPDATE

Well its January 2010, sent my drive unit as well as a friends in for replacement last July, replacement units have been available since November, Raymarine mistakenly sent out complete replacement retail packages to local dealer. The problem being they should only have replaced the drive unit. The local representative will not cannibalise a complete package just for our sake, and i cant blame him because this causes a billing nightmare. So in the meantime Raymarine is too busy honouring their voluntary recall towards their larger retailers and neglecting their customers ( early adopters ).
The word is that they have so many units to replace, we will just have to wait our turn. It seems kind of ironic we have to wait our turn when it appears that this recall was initiated on our feedback alone. To date Raymarine claims that they only had one report of the autopilot going into a helm lock, well if that is the case then they are referring to us and would therefore deserve some sort of priority in replacing our units.

I must also make it perfectly clear that we purchased these units from the U.K. and this post is in no way directed at the local Raymarine dealer, i truly beleive he is doing his best to resolve this issue for us.

Well ill keep you all posted on how things progress wish me luck 

[venere]

I strongly sustain all that Guido99 said. I'm the one who experienced what Guido has written in the first post. I was about 12 to 13 N/miles south out trolling with 6 knots, when suddenly the helm locked full starboard and could no longer steer my vessel.

Just God knows what would have happened if I was cruising at 30 kph and I had my son on board? A tragedy I suppose!!!!

[venere]

FYI: This is what i recieved from RAYMARINE rapresentative:

Response (Steve Higgins) 09/14/2009 01:10 PM

Hi,

I apologize for the inconvenience and Thank you for your patience.

As customer safety is of paramount importance to Raymarine, we have decided to initiate a recall of this product. We have identified a potential component problem with the SPX5 Sport Drive Pilot product which we have sold between February and July 2009. The problem is with the Drive unit only. The course computer and Pilot display is not effected, nor any of our other products. You will just need to return the drive unit only to the Raymarine agent you purchased the unit off or your local one.

A solution has been identified and test units have been built. An intensive test programme has been implemented and is scheduled to be completed by 07/09/09 and we will confirm that product is ready to ship on the 21/09/09.

Your unit will be replaced once the problem has been resolved, one will be sent out to your local Raymarine agent who uninstalled it and they will fit the replacement for you.

To date, no returned Sport drives have been found to have a component problem.
Thank you for Cooperation

[guido99]

Update:


Thanks to the local Raymarine distributor R.L.R. our units have been replaced with the redesigned units. I would like to express my gratitude to the professional staff at R.L.R. who handled our matter.

[venere]

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the local agent of Raymarine, RLR for the excellent support provided, namely Darius Goodwin & Matthew Gusman. Had it not been for their effort, I'm pretty sure I would still be waiting for the replacement of my unit. On the other hand I received no support at all from the web supplier. I now realised that I should have gone in the first place to RLR to purchase my unit. I really appreciate all their effort especially because the unit was not bought from them and they still went beyond their means to take care of the issue. I'm forever greatful guys. Thanks again. You will surely see me again in your shop

[Destination Sea]

Yes RLR are good. I like dealing with them. They are there to really help.

[skip]

That's what we like to hear and RLR are really working to support us guys from the forum. It's true buying locally tends to be a bit more expensive, but with the discounts and special offers from RLR for forum members, along with the kind of support listed above, it's definately a reason to make sure they are your first stop before going on the web.