From: Terry Osborne
Sent: December 22, 2017
To: Will Curry
Subject: Shuddering

Hi Will,

Our Hydrovane has started to shudder and shake when on a beam reach, with significant seas also on the beam.

I can’t find anything wrongly loose, I can see it’s all meant to be loose jointed for good reasons. But could there be wear and tear in the system somewhere? Or something else? Or simply the force of ocean seas 3 / 4 metres, hitting the rudder beam on and transmitted through the system to the upper parts?

[Editor’s note: Hydrovane has steering almost 30,000 nm. Recommended checking Rudder hole for wear, replacing Drive Sleeve and Bottom Bearing, and also adding  some weight on the Hydrovane tiller (a shaft zinc works) to prevent any harmonics and help dampen this shudder]

We crossed the Pacific this year and once again the Hydrovane was far and away the most important bit of kit we had.

After tusselling with 3 x 40 knot squalls I quickly learned to let the Hydrovane hold our wind angle, take us off as the breeze swept in and backed, then bring us back on course as it passed.  No fuss let life go on…Wonderful Stuff.

Regards

Terry Osborne

Yacht Little Dove

 

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