How to Connect a Joystick Controller to a SmartPilot

Installing a SmartPilot autopilot system from Raymarine lets you enjoy fishing or relaxing on the deck of your pleasure boat by navigating and controlling your boat for you. It compiles information about your boat and how you use it to efficiently process radar signals to ensure you and your passengers a safe, smooth ride even when you are not at the helm. Raymarine manufactures joystick controls you connect to your SmartPilot for steering from parts of your boat other than your cockpit. You can install SeaTalk joysticks in different locations throughout your boat for maximum convenience.

Things You'll Need

  • Hardware provided with kit:
  • Square mounting gasket
  • 3 - 3/4-inch #6 pan-head self-tapping screws
  • 4 threaded studs
  • 4 thumb nuts
  • 1 - 3.28-foot1 joystick cable
  • 1 - 6.56-foot SeaTalk cable
  • Joystick pod
  • Marking pen or grease pencil
  • Power drill with 3/16 inch bit
  • Jigsaw or saber saw
  • Pozi-drive screwdriver
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Instructions

    • 1

      Choose a surface on the interior or exterior of your boat that is smooth and flat and located in a part of the boat you access frequently when you are not in your cockpit.

    • 2

      Position the template included in your joystick owner's manual over the surface where you want to install your joystick. Mark the outline of the template and the holes for the mounting screws with a marker or grease pencil.

    • 3

      Cut the wood or fiberglass surface around the outline you marked using the template. Use your saber or jig saw with the appropriate blade for the material you are cutting.

    • 4

      Drill the mounting holes. Remove the protective backing from the mounting gasket and place the gasket face-up.

    • 5

      Insert the joystick into the gasket hole so that the mounting holes on the gasket line up with the mounting holes on the bottom of the joystick.

    • 6

      Thread each of the four studs under the hole in your boat surface and through the gasket. Screw each stud securely into its threaded fitting on the underside of the joystick mounting panel. Secure each stud with a thumbscrew and hand-tighten each thumbscrew.

    • 7

      Plug the 3.28-foot joystick cable into the socket on the bottom of the joystick.

    • 8

      Find a dry location for mounting the joystick pod that is accessible for service and maintenance and is no more than 2.95 feet from the joystick, 20 inches from radio receiving equipment and within 9 inches of a compass.

    • 9

      Pull the joystick pod cover off of the joystick pod assembly. Position the pod so that the single mounting hole is on top and the twin holes are at the bottom. Mark the mounting holes with your marker or grease pencil.

    • 10

      Drill three pilot holes. Align the pod with the pilot holes. Insert and tighten a pan-head, self-tapping screw in each mounting hole to fasten the pod to the mounting surface.

    • 11

      Connect the red, green and yellow wires of the SeaTalk connector cable to the corresponding color-coded top terminals of the pod. Insert the joystick transducer cable into the cable organizer channel (indentation in the plastic surface) at the bottom of the pod.

    • 12

      Press the SeaTalk cable into the left-hand part of the cable organizing channel. Bend the yellow and black joystick transducer wires over the bottom left part of the cable and the red, blue and green transducer wires over the right part of the cable.

    • 13

      Connect the transducer wires to their matching color-coded terminals at the bottom of the joystick pod.

    • 14

      Snap the joystick pod cover back onto the joystick pod assembly.

    • 15

      Connect the SeaTalk cable connector to either the SeaTalk terminals of your SmartPilot computer or to the terminals of another SeaTalk compatible device (a device that receives SeaTalk radar signals and transmits them to your navigation system). Connect it so that the colors of the wires match the colors of the terminals.

    • 16

      Calibrate your joystick and perform rudder checks according to the instructions in your SmartPilot commissioning manual before you use it. Repeat the process for any additional joysticks you wish to install in other parts of your boat.