Robertson Auto Pilot Repairs

[scottinsydney]

I've seen several old posts but none current. Robertson repairman's website seems out of business.

Where could I get the LCD replaced/repaired for this flybridge display? (Autopilot works very well and has years of service left.)

 

[piripucha]

I have had very good service from Max Marine electronics in Pompano, Fl. They have repaired my Simrad autopilot with good results. Tlf 754-220.65.65 and www. maxmainerelectronics.com.

 

[Briankinley2004]

I have had very good service from Max Marine electronics in Pompano, Fl. They have repaired my Simrad autopilot with good results. Tlf 754-220.65.65 and www. maxmainerelectronics.com.

Ditto this. They are working on my AP22 Simrad now. They also sell parts online and may actually have a replacement one if they cant fix

 

[Canuck Dennis]

Try this...

https://www.manta.com/c/mm6zd9m/west-coast-marine-electronics

 

[scottinsydney]

I sent the control head to Max Marine Electrics in Florida. They have now replaced the two LCD displays. US$550 plus say $130 freight plus Australian tax.

As we only use portable iPads with Navionics this repair to one of the control heads was a lot easier than installing a new autopilot system.

I've seen other posts on the subject, but I never liked interfacing an autopilot to the steering as previous experience has seen my boats doing hard circles when a destination waypoint is reached.

Perhaps this circling issue has been addressed or perhaps its my previous misunderstanding of how to program in waypoints/routes to a chartplotter.

The Navionics app tells me the bearing to dial into the autopilot head and also has a helpful direction indicator line that projects ahead of the the boat's position.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Just got a rebuilt 300 brain board from Max Marine for a 60C that I was traveling with. They had it to us in two days and we installed it in less than an hour and continued on our way. They seemed good to deal with.

That unit had a Simrad 22 display but an older 300x main board. Some of this stuff will work with older/newer components. My point is, you may not need the exact same model head to work with your system.

 

[scottinsydney]

In my prior research trying to locate a Robertson repair company I was informed of the following....

"These the models of Simrad/Robertson Control Units that are compatible with the rest of your original Robertson system:

AP3000 - AP3000X - AP11
AP300X series (CX / PX / DLX)
AP20 series (AP20 / AP21 / AP 22)
AP35.

Different series Control Units are not compatible with each other (i.e. AP300CX will not work with AP20).

Both Control Units in a dual station system must be of the same series (i.e. AP20 w/AP22 or AP300CX w/AP300DLX, etc)."

I thought I would add this info to the posts as a future forum resource. From previous SKYCHENEY post, Simrad heads could also be used.

 

[doc g]

I had a 300 and a 20 in the same system which worked great for 14 years. You CAN mix 'em up .........Pat

 

[krush]

About a year ago I sent my Robertson stuff (the whole package, except the rudder angle sensor) off to www.robertsonrepairs.com to be evaluated. Screen didn't work, but it would manually run the pump if I hit the arrows.

Sent it Priority Mail with a large chunk of insurance. They lost the package (first time this has ever happened). Went through insurance claim and fiasco, and after "depreciation", I got 10% of what I paid the premium for.

Somewhere out there in the post office world is a box of valuable old obsolete Robertson AP lol. AP3000x, handheld remote unit, fluxgate, brain box.

 

[Briankinley2004]

About a year ago I sent my Robertson stuff (the whole package, except the rudder angle sensor) off to www.robertsonrepairs.com to be evaluated. Screen didn't work, but it would manually run the pump if I hit the arrows.

Sent it Priority Mail with a large chunk of insurance. They lost the package (first time this has ever happened). Went through insurance claim and fiasco, and after "depreciation", I got 10% of what I paid the premium for.

Somewhere out there in the post office world is a box of valuable old obsolete Robertson AP lol. AP3000x, handheld remote unit, fluxgate, brain box.

IF the swamp is ever drained it will surface. Probably in some postmasters boat

 

[scottinsydney]

The control head was shipped to MaxMarine Electronics in Florida and about 6 weeks later I received back my repaired unit. Well worth the effort.

 

[krush]

Congrats. Glad that worked out for you.


And now I'm just more angry at the USPS for losing mine! But I already bought a used Furuno unit to replace it (I still need a rudder position sensor, though).