True Stories

From: Rachel Hibberd – World Cruising Club
Sent: December-02-11
To: Will Curry
Subject: Hydrovane comments from Watergaw ARC

Hi,

Thought you’d all like this from the log of Watergaw in the ARC:

——

We have not said much about equipment, except for mentioning things that have given us trouble (even if self- inflicted, like the spin pole), but some folk (the geeks amongst you) might be interested. If we have nothing more important to impart, we will pick something – good or bad – and give you a few words about it.

For today’s sermon, we will talk about the Hydrovane. There are several types of wind vane, which control the rudder and course of sailing boats, and avoid the sometimes tiresome task of hand steering (though most of us enjoy this, but not for 3000 miles!).

I took a bit of persuading that investing a small lottery win in a less than pretty (sorry, but it has to be said) addendum to the stern of a yacht was a smart thing to do. They are the preserve of the anorak brigade and sea hippies, and let them keep them, I thought! With some reluctance, we acquired one and had it fitted in Gibraltar, as much because it is also a spare rudder in case a passing whale (see earlier post) deliberately or accidentally destroys your primary steering gear with a casual flick of a tail. Missing St Lucia and hitting Brazil because you can’t control your course would not be popular with all of the crew.

We gave it a fair workout in the western Med, not in Atlantic conditions, but began to warm to its attractions – at about the same rate as we worked out its idiosyncrasies (like how you have to strip down to your underwear or worse and go off the back of the boat to put the rudder on (funds are available to buy the negatives of the photos taken by the hen party boat off Formentera island) ).

We played around with it en route to the Canaries with the full crew, and started to really understand it’s potential. It does not whine and groan in the way the boat’s main autopilot does (or a grumpy crew mate!). It seemed to cope well with big swells, though it does take a bit of time to return us to our original course if we have skied down a big one.

Since we left the Canaries, it has steered the boat faultlessly for almost all of the 1400 miles we have run. It clicks and clacks a bit, sometimes clunks when it has to make a big course correction, and responds (slowly but steadily) to tweaking of the control line from the cockpit. All in all, a worthy addition to the crew complement and proof positive that even an old cynic can be persuaded to revise his opinion. 8 out of 10 (lifting rudder would get it full marks)

——

Rachel Hibberd
Communications Executive

World Cruising Club
120 High Street, Cowes PO31 7AX, UK

From: Dan Hogarth
Sent: October-07-11
To: Will Curry
Subject: Eschaton’s Hydrovane

Hi Will.

Good to meet up with you all at the Boat Show a couple of weeks ago and to see the latest improvements – by co-incidence, I had already moved my stern light to the case frame to improve visibility and reduce reflection. Admittedly your version is rather more elegant!

Henry (after the Navigator) has now completed 3 Transatlantic circuits plus a wee diversion up through Norway to Svalbard to chat with Walrus. Without complaint he has successfully steering my Rustler 36 through all weathers and conditions including the tail end of a hurricane and downwind for several days in very light airs. If he could just make cups of tea…..

He was fitted from new based upon the experience from other Rustler owners who are, to say the least, strongly opinionated about most things, and of the ones that I spoke with that cross oceans the consensus was that a Hydrovane was the answer. I concur. Whilst one could ramble on about its virtues, I believe that they can be summarised very simply:

It works as and when required;
It is completely independent;
It is very robustly built.

I speak with experience on the latter as it has been proven on several occasions when other boats have tried to share the same spot as me. The most dramatic was a heavy 42’ yacht that blew down hitting Henry square on with their CQR anchor. It stopped. Smartly. The only damage to Henry was a chip out of the axis knob plus some scarring to the casting.

My one regret (apart from tea making) is that I did not affix my Tillerpilot to the tiller arm. Having a Tiller steered yacht this would make obvious sense (after the event of course) and I suspect that it is only a matter of time before I add that option as the load – even on a reasonably balanced rudder – must be far less and will thus reduce the stress on the pilot as well as consuming less power. Having fitted a Duogen wind/water generator a year after commissioning, I would have gone for the offset mounting but it all works just fine although a tad tight.

The personal service provided by the Curry’s is excellent and it is always a pleasure (well for me anyway) to meet with them at Boat Shows and to find out the latest improvement/enhancements. It is good to know that the product is continually being enhanced to keep up with the improvements in materials and engineering capabilities.

About half of my trips are classified as single handed although with Henry constantly at the helm, this is probably not strictly true – thank goodness.

With thanks for an excellent product & personal service.

Best regards to all

Dan (Hogarth)
SY Eschaton

From: Stein Olav Pettersen
Sent: November 11, 2011
To: Will Curry
Subject: SY Hero – Hydrovane

Good morning John and Will,

Have now used our windrudder one year and it did the steering job perfectly for us across the Atlantic and the longer distances between islands in the caribbean. Now the boat is on the hard in Trinidad and I just noticed that the shaft bottom collar is cracked and a bit corroded.

Seems like you have changed this for a plastic version. Is that right? Wondering how important this part is. If it’s just a spacer it will probably last a bit longer, but in long term I will have to change it.

Best regards

Stein Olav Pettersen

[Editor’s note – Newest version of Shaft Bottom Collar is made of stainless steel.]

From: Bill Ennis
Sent: November-04-11
To: Will Curry
Subject: Re: Installed!

Hello,

The wonderful Baja-Haha has ended and we’re in Cabo. Thank you for
supporting the event.

HV worked very well. Am continuing to learn.

B.

From: Keffords
Sent: November-03-11
To: Will Curry
Subject: Hydrovane – Tashi Delek

Dear Will,

We are in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands having had an excellent sail down from Gibraltar via Madeira. The Hydrovane was fantastic, we love it. Thank you.

However, a yacht has just moored opposite us in the marina with a dark (navy) blue stubby vane cover ……………….. and we think we would likeone too! We had not thought nor were aware that there was a choice ofcolours, having only ever seen red! How much do they cost and could it be shipped to my sister in New Jersey?

[Editor’s Note: Sorry, Stubbies are only in red – for emergency purposes, the red vane might be the only way you can be seen at sea]

With best wishes,

Mike

From: Russell Worrall
Sent: October-18-11
To: Will Curry
Subject: NC 44 Worrall Wind

Hello Will,

Our Hydrovane or “Heidi” as we call her has been our loyal and trusted third crew member. In our passage from San Francisco to Australia via the South Pacific she has steered the boat 94% of our logged hours for a distance of over 12,000 nm!

She has performed perfectly in all sailing conditions, though she seems to prefer the stronger winds and bigger seas unlike her human crew members.

The Echotec water maker has also been working perfectly.

Thanks for everything,

Russ and Roz
S/V Worrall Wind

From: Derek Shields
Sent: October-15-11
To: Valerie Williams
Subject: Re: Gibraltar Delivery Derek Shields

Hello all,

I thought you might like to see photos of my Hydrovane installation. It went like a dream, took 10 hours and was installed within 2 1/2 days of delivery, thanks to the well engineered design and fantastic instructions. Now all I have to do is test it. But there are 8 Hydrovanes on boats in Gibraltar now and all the owners have come for a look at mine and without exception have commented on how good the Hydrovane system is.

Thanks for the fantastic service to date.

All the best

Derek

—

Sent: Monday, October 17, 2011 1:32 PM
To: Will Curry; ‘Valerie Williams’
Cc: ‘John Curry’
Subject: Re: Gibraltar Delivery Derek Shields

Hello Will,
Our berth is right at the base of the stairs to the marina office opposite the showers and toilets so I think everybody in the marina passed by during the fitting. Many were very impressed and have since come back to ask about the Hydrovane. I left the vane on for the first day to show off the name! But I am really impressed by the number of cruising sailors who praise the Hydrovane and back it up by having one on their yacht. It seriously outnumbers all other makes by at least 5 to 1!

You are welcome to add my email to your web site if you wish. I will also send you an appraisal from the other side of the Atlantic you can add as a sequel. I have sailed over 50,000 miles over 26 years with my own handmade copy of the Aries design on my hand made timber 35 ft sloop Sagan including a single handed voyage from Durban to Hobart so I have some experience in this field.

But I am very proud to have a beautifully engineered Hydrovane gracing my transom and all and sundry making positive comments about it.

I had an old sailor called Ted [Ted Devey] who says he is one of your recommended installers and has installed 11 units and knows everybody concerned with Hydrovane give us very high points for the installation.

All the best to you all
Derek

From: Bryan Pollock
Sent: September 28, 2011
To: John Curry
Subject: Amazing vane results but Broken mounts

Hi John,

Bryan Pollock here. You know, the guy with the Spencer 42 and free standing mast.

You’ll be happy to know that the Hydrovane got us down here to San Diego after a rough passage that never let us shake out the three reefs and small staysail. The vane worked flawlessly steering in some very screwy waves and wind and got us through some bad gales. We didn’t touch the helm once except to gybe or tack. At one point all I could or would do was hide down below with my face buried in my pillow crying for my mommy. Mr Wobbles just merrily steered the boat through all that bad mojo with aplomb.

The main reason for this note apart from my wishing to let you to know how well the Hydrovane did under very trying conditions is that I would like your opinion on a repair I am about to do to the transom and Hydrovane mounts. During the passage the vane mounts had started to slowly pull the nuts and washers through the backing plate and transom. It was ultimately found to be pretty loose which would explain the increasingly louder and louder reverberating thuds we would hear throughout the hull. In fact it was that scary sound that led me to the discovery of the loose bolts. I think perhaps the bolts stretched and allowed the movement to slowly pull the nuts and washers through the backing plate.

Of course all of this was found out in thirty knots and very short and steep seas in the Channel Islands. Another emergency backing plate of plywood and G10 plate saved the day. I’m going to replace the core in the transom with West epoxy and high density structural filler. On top of that I will layup a solid 1/4 inch layer of knytex cloth (about eight layers lapping the entire inside of the transom. Then a 1/4 inch or so of G10 backing plates to finish up. I’m certain this structural change will help and may in fact be all the install needs to prevent a reoccurrence.

This leads me to my main question. I’m thinking of installing 45 degree angled struts either side of the lower strut in a horizontal plane in stainless steel. I thought I would collar these struts around the SS tube just aft of and snuggedup close to the lower cast aluminum collar. I think that the side forces with the single strut were enough to start the bolt movement I described above. Normally I would just upsize to the double strut kit you sell but for two reasons. One, I need to finish this repair/upgrade in the next week as we head down the Mexican coast in two weeks. And two as I recall the double strut kit you supply is breathtakingly expensive. I guess I’m asking for your blessing or at least opinion regarding a non stock modification or addition to your standard single strut mount design.

The other question I have is the bolt sizes. I cannot remember what sizes you recommend.

Anyway, sorry for the novel. I wanted to bring you up to speed with the vane. I have concluded that the earlier problems you and I witnessed while test sailing the Hydrovane on this boat had less to do with sail trim and more to do with a mainsail that has way too much shape built into the top half of the sail.

I know this to be a fact because we swapped the old rudder and wheel onfiguration for a new spade rudder and tiller setup two years ago. The boat when properly trimmed is very easy to steer with just the tiller. Very little or no weather helm. However with the vane on it still struggled keeping the boat on course. No weather helm or very little so trimming was correct. After this trip down it’s pretty evident to me that the next mainsail will have a much flatter top half to allow the vane to do its work.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts

Cheers,
Bryan

From: Steve Dana
Sent: September-27-11
To: Will Curry
Subject: Pacific Wind

Hi Will,

Left Sceptre Marine/Shelter Island a couple weeks ago. Internal auto helm not working as we left the mouth of the Frasier at Steveston raising sail so set up the Hydrovane per instruction after balancing the boat and then…

Off we went in about 10-15kn just forward of beam.

My jaw just sort of dropped a bit. The Hydrovane just worked like a dream. Perfect in fact. Just like you say – stand back and watch. One of the best 6k I think I ever spent my friend. Sure glad my Raytheon auto helm was not working since it was my crutch that I was just simply reaching for first out of habit – silly after paying for this new wind vane! Played with the vane angle and ratio a bit, then ran down wind for awhile for a test.

To be perfectly honest, all the criticisms I read about Hydrovane frightened me and I was insecure or unsure of my decision until this inaugural event. It is true that these criticisms are all from “sailors” who have never used your vane, or are based on their theories; well, you know, I’m preaching to the choir.

Thank you!

Warm regards,
Steve Dana
Pacific Wind
Scepter 43

From: Howat, Graham (UK – England)
Sent: September 23, 2011
To: John Curry
Subject: RE: Hydrovane fitting – Difference of opinion

Dear John

Thanks for the quick and comprehensive reply. Very clear message also.

We did identify that the E bracket might benefit from a through bolt to make sure it doesn’t move at all. This is what we will fitting out next season. We also thought that next time we will go for an A bracket as the forces on the unit are stronger than we imagined.

There were about 8 yachts in the AZAB carrying Hydrovanes and all were interested in our problem and shared their past experiences with us. Most agreed that a stronger than expected fitting was required to the stern because of the forces. One owner even had to strengthen the GRP of their stern of his yacht because that was flexing. All agreed it was a fabulous piece of kit which worked very well so long as it was properly and robustly fixed to the boat.

Despite our fixing problems, a converted Hydrovane user!

Many Thanks.

Graham Howat

From: Keffords
Sent: September-13-11
To: Will Curry
Subject: Tashi Delek Hydrovane

Dear Will,

The Beneteau 42 is a normal light displacement plastic boat and perhaps rather thin and flexible at the stern.

We strengthened the transom with two layers of 6mm marine ply glued to the fibreglass with Sikaflex glue. Because the hull along the transom is not completely flat we bedded the wood backing plates onto the fibreglass with ISOPON Fibreglass filler to take up the curves as the bolts were tightened. We cut off the excess fibreglass while it was still relatively soft, thus creating a perfect edge around the wooden backing plate. The bolts inside had 4mm steel backing plates (discs or flat oblong) made to better fit the hull shape.

The main problem we had was the position of the locker in the swimming platform and the fact that we could not get any access to the rear transom to hold or tighten bolts. We overcame this by cutting a panel in the locker (photo included) gluing the two layers of marine ply in place before drilling and fitting backing plates. (Unfortunately I did not think to photo the inside before we sealed it up). The panel was made into an inspection hatch by using a piece of FOAMALITE cut oversize and glued onto the original panel of fibre glass we had cut out. Finally we used self taping screws and fitted it on a bed of sealant.

We put the whole thing together using plastic pipe to check that the pads sat correctly and everything was in line and vertical etc. Only then did we find that the outer tube strut that you had sent was not long enough and did not fit our design! As you know we found another piece of tube and the rest is history.

We are VERY satisfied with the way it fits the transom (especially as we did not then have to move the name etc). We have just sailed to Madeira using it with ease and great success all the way. Another satisfied customer!

May I order some spare securing pins?

With kind regards.

Mike

Dear Valerie,

Please forgive me for being so late in letting you know that we arrived in Gibraltar on 29 Aug and collected the Hydrovane on 30 Aug. I rang the freight company at 0900 and after a quick visit to their offices 10 minutes walk away the equipment was on board by 1200. Very efficient. We are now hard at work fitting it all and having great fun in the process.

Luckily there is a guy in the marina who has fitted one to his own yacht and who has been very generous with advice, as well as singing its praises!

Many thanks for all your help.

With best wishes, as ever.

Mike

From: voilier morigan
Sent: September 17, 2011
To: John Curry
Subject: News from morigan

Hi John and the staff !!!!

We left Canet en Roussillon in the beginning of July and now we are in Lanzarote, Canaries.
We are very happy with our hydrovane, it’s running perfectly.

Cheers

Didier, Marie and Roko the parrot !!!!

kisses from Marie to Valerie !!!!!

From: Andy
Sent: August 29, 2011
To: Valerie Williams
Subject: Bearings for Hydrovane

Hello Valerie,

Since we were last in touch from Bermuda last summer we have gone back to the UK and bought a different boat. This vessel, as you have probably guessed, is also fitted with a Hydrovane steering.

We now have a Hallberg Rassy 42 and the Hydrovane steered her beautifully during the 1,300M trip down to Madeira from the UK last week; we managed to try out most points of sailing with the vagaries of North Atlantic weather.

Best Regards
Andy Warman
s/y Spruce
Porto Santo, Madeira

—-

From: Andy
Sent: August-30-11
To: Will Curry
Subject: RE: Bearings for Hydrovane

Hi Will,

I believe the Hydrovane was new in about 2007-2008 before the previous owner sailed in the ARC 2008.

In all honesty I was a bit worried before we sailed the HR42 as to whether the Hydrovane would have enough guts to steer her. Particularly because the extra lever arm between the boat’s pivot point and the Hydrovane rudder was not a lot more than the distance from pivot point to main rudder…but it was all fine and probably also helped by the boat’s design (an older Enderlein) having a high degree of directional stability with quite a long and deep fin keel. Anyway, we are very pleased indeed.

Best Regards
Andy