From: Martin Wheeler
Sent: June-22-12
To: Hydrovane Will
Subject: Hydrovane

Hi Will

Just checking that you got the photo’s of the boat with the Hydrovane fitted.

We ended up being able to fit the whole unit in one weekend. The hardest bit was getting the A bracket to stay in the position we needed it before we clamped it all up. Once we got that it was relatively easy, we only had to cut one arm in one place and the offcut from that fitted the other side! When we finished we also noticed that we hadn’t even covered up the boat name, so saved ourselves major hassle there too!

I went out and tested it on Sunday and was amazed at how good it was when I had set it up. I am going to have to take a lot of books with me to read, so I don’t get bored!

I did notice that the adjusting line didn’t work when the I was adjusting the vane in the beginning. I had both the rudder and vane unlocked, with the adjusting knob in neutral, but the friction was too great for the vane adjusting line to turn the wheel so had to do this by hand, once I was close to the required setting I engaged the rudder in the 2:1 position (10knots of breeze) I was able to adjust the vane with the line easily.

The only thing I can think is that when the rudder is in neutral there is too much friction. I fitted the tiller arm as per your instructions and the dark collar spins freely when the unit is set to the 4:30 position. Any suggestions as to how to reduce the friction, or am I doing something wrong?

Regards
Martin

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