From: Steve Neal
Sent: July 2, 2018
To: Will Curry
Subject: Re: Hydrovane Mounted on HR 43

Hi Will,

Firstly, I have to say I’m very impressed with our new Hydrovane. We made our first voyage with it this week, from Tunisia to Spain. The trip took three days and we had conditions ranging from very light winds to a F6 downwind run with 2 meter following seas. The Hydrovane (Doris) performed brilliantly throughout the journey and kept us on course the whole time. We’re very happy we made the decision to install her. You can see her in action on our Facebook page.

The only problem that has persisted has been the vibration we noticed while motoring, as mentioned in our last email. I’ve attached a video clip with sound so that you can hear the noise we’re getting, both outside and inside the boat as it resonates through the hull. We notice the noise much more at speed, anything below 5 kts and it’s very infrequent. Anything above 6 kts and it becomes much more frequent and much louder.

[Editor’s Note: Currently working on a solution to this. We also sometimes hear it on our current boat, Jeanneau 43, only at faster speeds. We never experienced it on our Beneteau First 405. Solution involves squaring off the rudder’s trailing edge.]

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Best regards, Steve.