From: Tom Vernon
Sent: July-19-12 4:11 PM
To: Will Curry; John Curry; Valerie Williams
Subject: Re: Fitting hydrovane

Dear Hydrovane Team,

I just wanted to write to say thank you for the service you provided while I was installing my Hydrovane.

It is now installed with the A- bracket and is working like a dream. I confess I was a little concerned about the auxiliary rudder system vs. a servo pendulum, but the power of the hydrovane has astonished me. I’ve only done about 1000 miles with it so far, but it is now the best bit of kit on the boat. It steered the boat for 3 days on a run like an arrow with the genoa poled out, far better than the autopilot could have.

I once had to put it in ‘second’ gear on a beam reach with 40 knots of wind, other than that it’s been in 1st gear with the vane angled right back the whole time. I’ve used a [popular servo pendulum system] before, and it doesn’t even come close to the performance of the Hydrovane, let alone ease of use.

Regards,

Tom
P.S. anyone installing a hydrovane on a Seahawk 35, Falcon 35, Oceandream or Oceanquest will need the A-bracket, and I would highly recommend they also go for the larger shaft. The seahawk 34 and falcon 34 might get away with the E bracket.

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From: Tom Vernon
Sent: July-20-12
To: Will Curry
Subject: Re: Fitting hydrovane

Hi Will,
Of course feel free to use my email, and also feel free to pass my address on to anyone considering installing a hydrovane on a similar boat.

The [popular servo pendulum system] is good as well, but the hydrovane is so much easier to use, and you don’t need to balance the sails so well. In a centre cockpit boat with a sugar scoop the advantages of the wheel being locked with no ropes in the cockpit, and the ability to off-set so you don’t lose your boarding ladder are great.

Regards,

Tom

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