From: Hugh Lucas
Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2015 10:04 AM
To: John Curry
Subject: Alignment of Hydrovane

John

Just to say that we realigned the whole unit as this only involved the two bracket mounts and was easy to achieve. Needless to say we over rotated which became apparent when the free swinging alignment of the rudder under way meant that the tiller was not aligned with the collar hole behind for the locking pin. Nevertheless we set up the vane to see if it would work as we assumed the rudder would find the correct alignment, even if the tiller was out. Amazingly it worked perfectly first attempt!! Several people had told me it would take a lot of tweaking and adjusting before working satisfactorily. Maybe we will need to refine for different wind strengths but on the first showing the operation is much more straightforward than I had feared.

I am reluctant now to align the rudder by adjusting the bronze attachment for the tiller and drive rods although I suppose that by holding the tiller in position you could turn the rudder and this would bring the collar on the top of the rudder shaft into alignment with the hole in the tiller for the locking pin. Everything seems to be set up according to the highlighted instructions you sent through (other than the rudder alignment) so I will turn the whole unit slightly back to ensure everything else stays as it should be.

Like most equipment things are more straightforward when playing with it rather than trying to imagine things just from the manual. It seems to be a great piece of kit and for it to work first go was, for me, just amazing!!

Kind regards

Hugh

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From: Hugh Lucas [mailto:hugh.lucas AT icloud.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 16, 2015 10:06 AM
To: Will Curry
Cc: John Curry; Sarah Curry
Subject: Re: Alignment of Hydrovane

Well, sailed over from Padstow (Cornwall) to L’Arberwrach in Brittany overnight and mostly with the Hydrovane. No vibration so the realignment fine tuning seems to have done the trick. Discovered that the third setting (least rudder movement) works best in light wind from behind. Also found that keeping the vane vertical gives the best performance, at least in the 5 – 15kt winds we experienced. It even worked when we were motoring! Some elastic to secure the locking pins when not in use stops them dangling around and you have to remember which way to pull the steering line when adjusting direction but apart from that amazingly easy and effective!! So much nicer and more efficient than using the autopilot that I would recommend one even for non long distance cruising boats.

I’ll send some pictures of the mounting when I get a chance.

Kind Regards

Hugh

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