From: John Andrews
Sent: July 17, 2017
To: Will Curry
Subject: HYDROVANE PROBLEM ON WIZARD

Hi Will

I bought my Hydrovane in early 2015 when you shipped it to St Lucia, and where it was installed. After getting used to the Hydrovane it has been marvelous. I am now in Menorca. On the sail from Mallorca, the vane and the circular wheel lifted up and the vane swung around 180degrees. Photo of the start of a lift off follows by separate mail. It seemed to happen each time the wind increased in a gust, after having been doing its normal job for say one hour. Any idea what is going on?
Thanks
John
Boat.WIZARD

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From: Will Curry
Date: July 19 2017
To: John ANdrews
Subject: RE: HYDROVANE worm gear ON WIZARD

Hi John,

Good to hear from you and nice to see the Hydrovane has served you well….until recently.  Fortunately your fix is fairly simple.  I’ve marked with an arrow on the attached photo what you need to adjust.  That bolt (part 89) needs to be loosened – you need to loosen the nut first as the bolt is threaded into the casting.  You can then re set the worm gear mechanism so there is a small gap above and below the black plastic spacer that sits above the bolt.  You should be able to see the stainless tube behind it both above and below.  You can then re-tighten the bolt set ans wise to put some loctite on the threads.  You can view photos of how it should all look on our parts page – See https://hydrovane.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Part-Schematic-and-List.pdf

On a separate note, can we add your email to the website?  I don’t believe we ever received any photos of your installation?  It would be great to have some for other Elan owners.

Happy to answer further questions.

Kind Regards,

Will Curry

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From: John Andrews
Sent: July 19, 2017
To: Will Curry
Subject: RE: HYDROVANE worm gear ON WIZARD

Thank you Will. Ok yr answer was clear… will try it out in a few days when i set off again. I will be delighted to send a few photos and i stand as a reference. The Hydrovane has been fantastic. Sailing from the Caribbean to Europe i was caught in a 60knot plus storm for three days.The hydrovane never faltered and allowed me to concentrate on surviving.

Thks, john

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