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Westerly Oceanlord - autopilot failure

“Once again it was @hydrovane to the rescue…”

Posted by: yachting_otters,

Date: October 12, 2021

 

Cascais to Canaries Passage – on day 1 our electric autopilot that had been fixed in Lisbon jammed, even when we turned it off we couldn’t hand steer. We had to uncouple the arm from the steering quadrant.

Once again it was @hydrovane to the rescue for 4 days and nights keeping us on track on our downwind passage, in fairly sizeable waves (built to approx. 3m)

#instasailing #westerlyyachts #oceancruisingclub #cruisingassociation #sailingcouple #sabbatical

Hughes 40

“On long and short passages it does 99% of the work needed to keep the boat going in the direction we choose.”

Posted By: velellavoyages

Date:18 September 2021

Johnny Coco is its name. Otherwise known as a @hydrovane.
This little red sail and the contraption it sits on is what steers Sunpiper when we are at sea. On long and short passages it does 99% of the work needed to keep the boat going in the direction we choose.

On our last 29 days sail it came a time we’re we wanted to swim, but didn’t want to slow down the boat. So Johnny Coco steered the ship, a line and fender was tossed to trail behind and we held on as to not be lost in the deep blue!

The moto at @hydrovane is “Surviving your dream”. I think it matches Sunpipers crews wishes quite well!

Turns out @ondinepontier can keep up with a boat going 3.5 knots.

For all you panicking sailors out there. We always have an able crew member chatting with Johnny Coco when we swim at sea!

#velellavoyages #saillife #sunpiper #swimmingatsea #swimmingdeepblue

Westerly Oceanlord

“The Hydrovane did a fantastic job despite the waves and point of sail. Best boat decision to get one!”

Posted By: yachting_otters

Date: 28 September 2021

Passage from La Rochelle to Cascais: Approx. 4m waves, double what was forecast. Luckily they were behind us.

On the penultimate night we had 4m waves, 20-30kts wind. We had the sails goose winged and despite putting in a reef before nightfall, we reached speeds over ground we have never seen before on Caris. For context she typically sails at 5-6kts, surfing the waves we were averaging 9-11kts, reaching 15kts at one point!

We decided to both stay in the cockpit that night and micronap. MVP was @Hydrovane as our electric autopilot packed in the previous evening. Hand steering for two days and night would not have been fun! The Hydrovane did a fantastic job despite the waves and point of sail. Best boat decision to get one!

#instasailing #westerlyyachts #oceancruisingclub #cruisingassociation #sailingcouple #sabbatical #hydrovane

Beneteau Oceanis 45

“A self steering windvane system plus an emergency rudder and insurers see it as a ‘third crew member’ for double handed sailing, it’s a no-brainier right?”

Posted By: walkabout_gonesailing

Date: 5 August 2021

Let’s talk @hydrovane for moment…
With our plans to sail off into the blue and explore our amazing oceans, Hydrovane was always part of the plan.

A self steering windvane system plus an emergency rudder and insurers see it as a ‘third crew member’ for double handed sailing, it’s a no-brainier right?

But, having purchased our home-on-the-water, it already came with a purpose built A-frame and solar panels, not leaving us much room on our stern for our Hydrovane?!!

We spoke to Will Curry and the team at Hydrovane who talked us through various options and reassured us that the vane would fit. So we purchased, took delivery and engaged James at G A Marine to assist us in the installation.

Firstly, a huge thank you 🙏 to Will, Richard and the team at Hydrovane for their support, reassurance, positivity and face-to-face engagement.

Also a huge thanks 🙏 to James and John at G A Marine for their skill, grit and determination to ensure our Hydrovane fitted around so many other bits of kit that are on Walkabout’s back end!

We are blown away by these guys in the marine industry who believe in support, aftercare and doing a job right the first time 👌

We still need to finalise the installation and will post some pictures when we finally get out on the water to test it all out!

Walkabout certainly won’t win any competitions for the ‘prettiest backend’ 🤔 but it all plays an important part in our soon to be realised adventures on the high seas ⛵️🙌😁👌🐬💨 🌊

Beneteau Oceanis 40

“So far Harry has done a great job across the Atlantic, Pacific and many shorter crossings in between!”

Posted By: sam_hawk
Date: August 24, 2021

Our mate Harry Hydrovane, steering us dead downwind in perfect balance with his favourite sail configuration wing on wing.

In light downwind trades this is our most effective sail and steering setup for distance, comfort and of course reducing power consumption. On occasion we do use our onboard autopilot for certain wind angles but it’s consumption is between 4-6 amps continuous, so for us using the Hydrovane with absolutely no electronics is a much more effective choice for lengthy offshore passages.
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So far Harry has done a great job across the Atlantic, Pacific and many shorter crossings in between!

Contact

Hanse 370

“…the Hydrovane really has earned its place as the third crew member.”

From: Nicola Stamp
Sent: August 23, 2021
To: Will Curry
Subject: Re: Hanse 370 – Hydrovane model VXA2D S(shaft length)/E/H stubby vane

Hi Will,

Just to let you know that our Hydrovane has been worth every penny we spent, following what could have been a very difficult passage to the Canaries.

Our instruments failed with 2 days to go before landfall, which meant the Auto-helm couldn’t work, which at that point we’d been using.  Within minutes the vane was put in place and course set and with a few minor course adjustments on route, took us the rest of the way.

As a two hander sailing boat, we would have struggled with 48 hours of manual steering, however, the Hydrovane really has earned its place as the third crew member.

One minor issue with rudder ‘groan’, which after two goes at flattening off the radius isn’t resolved – anything else we should try?

Many thanks, Nicola


From: Will Curry
Sent: August 23, 2021
To: Nicola Stamp
Subject: Re: Hanse 370 – Hydrovane model VXA2D S(shaft length)/E/H stubby vane

Hi Nicola,

Thanks for taking the time to send this update.

It’s great to hear that your third crew member saved the day and performed their duties admirably.  Sometimes it takes an autopilot failure to get the vane in action.  I suspect you will use it most of the way across the pond now that you are comfortable with it.

Regarding the rudder you should be able to eliminate the ‘groan’ by creating a point on the trailing edge.  Can you send us a photo of what it looks like now?  Did you see the bit about this in the operation manual starting on page 14?  The drawing on pg.15 shows the various shapes – See https://hydrovane.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Operation-and-Troubleshooting-Guide-July-2021.pdf

Richard can advise further if you have questions.

Thanks again for the email.

Kind Regards,

Will Curry

 

Roberts 36

“From the 1st time we used her I said, ‘she sails like a dream'”

From: The Fotherbys
Sent: August 23, 2021
To: Will Curry
Subject: Hydrovane

Hello Will, I just wanted to tell you how thrilled we both are with “DreamGirl”. I put out “Moksha” which means liberation in Sanskrit, but Ken said he would throw her in the water with that name. From the 1st time we used her I said, “she sails like a dream”. 

We have only had lighter wind sailing since we launched the boat this summer but she has worked exceptionally well. Ken lost his job. I had to keep telling him to get away from the wheel.

Our steering is stiff as it runs through a lot of pulleys and is center cockpit, so we do not have to lash the wheel to center. Could change with heavier winds.

Also installed an autopilot and got to use it for the 1st time last Sunday.  Again,  “Otto” ( no surprise there) and Dream Girl performed perfectly. It is like we have a new boat. Waited over 40 years for this. Ken will send a video at some point to you. For now here are the 2 together.

Contact

Nautitech 47 Catamaran

“In 3 years and 20,000miles I never found a limit or condition where it didn’t work.”

From: Sarah Curry
Date: May 1, 2021
Subject: Re: Hydrovane feedback and photos
To: Patrick Whetter

Hi Patrick,

Ah – you’re down under! That’s great.

Port Stephens was our FAVORITE stop on our sail down to Sydney. What a fantastic place to be able to stop and work.

We now have two boys (twins, almost 2 years old) and are continually inspired by other cruising families. We have been sharing time between our boat (now in Mexico) and Vancouver. We can definitely see a catamaran in our future when we can be aboard more full time.

We so appreciate your Hydrovane feedback and experience. If you have the chance, we’d love to know more:

  • What conditions did you use the Hydrovane in?
  • What were the lowest apparent wind speeds you could use the vane in?
  • Did high boat speeds effect the vanes performance?
  • What sail plan worked best for downwind conditions?
  • Any other comments or photos

Thank you again!

Cheers,

Sarah


From: Patrick Whetter
Date: May 2, 2021
Subject: Re: Hydrovane feedback and photos
To: Sarah Curry

Hi Sarah,

We were very lucky to end up in Port Stephens, a great place and possibly one of the best and most varied waterways in NSW.

With regard to using our Hydrovane:

What conditions did you use the Hydrovane in?

  • Whilst cruising full time we would use it just about all the time, with the exception of short trips under engine.

What were the lowest apparent wind speeds you could use the vane in?

  • 8 knots was the minimum we would need for it to keep a reasonable course.

Did high boat speeds effect the vanes performance?

  • Not really. A cruising cat is generally fairly heavy and doesn’t shoot off at high speeds in the gusts like racing versions do. In 3 years and 20,000miles I never found a limit or condition where it didn’t work.

What sail plan worked best for downwind conditions?

  • Normal rig, main and jib or main and code 0. Our Cat has fixed stub keels that keep her tracking in a straight line in all conditions, I’m not sure what a boat with dagger boards would do?

Kind Regards

Patrick

Contact

Prout 50 Catamaran

“I rate Hydrovane as one of my most valuable piece of kit.”

From: Tim Kibodeaux
Date: May 16, 2021
Subject: Re: Hydrovane feedback for multihulls
To: Sarah Curry

In 2019, I ordered the Hydrovane for an upcoming circumnavigation on my 50 foot 1990 Prout catamaran.  After familiarizing myself with the installation instructions and watching the videos from Hydrovane’s official website, my father and I dove right in.  We opted for the backing plates and wooden pads sold optionally from Hydrovane.  The installation went as easy as could be expected for such a beefy piece of equipment.  I chose to follow Will Curry’s advice to mount it as far aft and to one side as possible, in order to get the best performance out of the vane.

We crossed from Panama to Galapagos and onto Hawaii using the Hydrovane for many miles.  We found it performed best with the heaviest of winds ; 20kts+, requiring very little adjustment.  The vane works fine at lower windspeeds but requires you to start with a well balanced sail plan.  We should always strive for a balanced sail configuration so this should be considered a good tool to teach you how to balance your individual boat.  Overall, we found the higher the wind speed and speed the boat moved through the water the better the Hydrovane performed.  It even performed perfectly downwind which, I read was a challenging point of sail for all vanes, especially on catamarans.  Our experience was, on downwind sails the Hydrovane would not require any adjustments for up to 8 hours at a time.  We found we required at least 12 kts of relative wind for the Hydrovane to be reliable in steering our boat which (in any point of sail), weights 24,000 tons.  Due to our boat’s size and weight, it takes 8 kts minimum wind speed for even the sails to be effective on our boat.

We have found even in confused seas close to land, the Hydrovane combined with our autopilot on a “vane setting” worked well together and reduced our power consumption over time significantly.

Shortly after departing Panama for Galapagos, our hydraulic steering began to leak and the autopilot motor eventually failed.  The Hydrovane was fully put to the test and performed well.  In this case it was a blessing that the Hydrovane works as an independent rudder which, is not integrated into the boat’s organic steering system.

I rate Hydrovane as one of my most valuable piece of kit.

I found getting in touch with Will Curry to be very easy when I had questions.  I personally prefer to work with smaller companies such as Hydrovane because they tend to focus on the product quality and satisfaction of their customers before closing shop each day.  I highly recommend working with Hydrovane and am pleased with its performance and the customer service experience I had with this company.

Contact

Hunter 410

“My dog also seemed to appreciate [the vane steering to the boat trim], and he demonstrated his enthusiasm for this effect by napping without waking up at all.”

From: John Crews
Sent: August 09, 2021
To: Richard Minielly
Subject: Re: John D Crews – Hunter 410 – Hydrovane model VXA2D L(shaft length)/A/H

I still haven’t taken any great photos of the kit yet.  I promise that I’ll get some for you.

Meanwhile, I wanted to let you know that my 70 NM test went very well.  We had all of the wind conditions:  winds at 4 knots, winds at 10 knots, winds at 20 knots, winds at 25 knots, gusts at 30 knots.  It was perfect, as it gave me the opportunity to figure out how to adjust the settings along the way.  In all cases, the Hydrovane steered us beautifully and I rarely touched the helm (only when a power boater decided to cut across our bow to impress his friends).  I also learned in that case that the installed rudder will easily overpower the Hydrovane and allow me to steer the boat manually without the vane fighting much at all.

One interesting detail that I noticed in high winds:  when a gust adds heel to the Stargazer, it further de-powers the wind vane and she naturally turned us into the wind until the heel released.  Every time.  I like this side effect very much.  My dog also seemed to appreciate it, and he demonstrated his enthusiasm for this effect by napping without waking up at all.

John

Contact

Catalina 400

“We have a Garmin autopilot but always prefer our Hydrovane”

From: Sarah Curry

Sent: 04 Aug 2021

Subject: RE: fix?

Hi Fran,

Oh dear! Sorry to hear this!!

If the plywood you have onboard is thick, then yes, it’s probably too heavy.

Could you make a frame with the plywood or something lighter (pvc tubes, a batten, mop handles)? A frame could then be wrapped with saran wrap or a lightweight fabric.

Shape doesn’t matter too much so long as it has a straight leading edge. It could be more triangular with the widest part in the air.

If you can produce something, but it feels heavy, you can compensate by adding weight to the counterweight…. tape on some zincs or ?. Another idea is to use bungee cords on the counter weight down to a bracket to stiffen the flopping movement.

What about plastic container lids off storage boxes? Do you have any of those?

The Vane Knob Bolt is metric. You could bolt the custom Vane right onto the casting.

We will message if we come up with any more ideas. Please let us know how you make out.

Cheers,

Sarah

 


From: Fran Sharp

Sent: August 4, 2021

To: Sarah Curry

Subject: Re: RE: fix?

Hi Sarah and all

We were lucky that we had a second Hydrovane cover aboard. So we cut up some boat hooks, used one of our plywood emergency port light covers and made a new vane. Not quite as pretty but we are sailing in 20 kts apparent at 050 apparent and big ocean waves and it’s doing well. Pic attached.

We have a Garmin autopilot but always prefer our Hydrovane .

Thanks for the help and we will be in touch soon about our new boat.

Fran and Jeff Sharp

Maxi 120

“We had good winds pending 20-30 knots, we sailed on a broad to beam reach and activated the rudder and after some adjustments it kept Ayla on course, consuming zero electricity.”

From Hydrovane installed – Sailing Ayla (syayla.se):

“Our Hydrovane had been at home in our living room all spring. So now it was time to install it. We did have good contact with Hydrovane in Canada who quickly answered our questions prior to installation. There is also a very detailed installation guide and many good videos that shows and explain the installation.

We put many hours in preparation for the installation. Lots of reading and measuring on the boat. A lot of new terms to translate to Swedish to get the whole picture.

 With the help by Thomas (Roberth’s father), we mounted the rudder in a few hours.

 The most difficult thing was the lower `E` bracket that had fixed angels, so we had to work with the timber pad for along time to get it right. It’s important that the pads follow both the contour of the hull and that all angels is 100% correct. The mounting must be totally rigid.

 Now we were excited to see what our new crew member could do for us, so after midsummer we had perfect conditions to try it out. There was an offshore wind and we left Fjällbacka, Sweden, and went out a bit and set course down towards Smögen, we had good winds pending 20-30 knots, we sailed on a broad to beam reach and activated the rudder and after some adjustments it kept Ayla on course, consuming zero electricity.

 We have previously written about why we have chosen to have this solution and we look forward to many nautical miles and crossings that our windvane will steer us across  oceans towards new continents and countries. According to tradition, you usually have a name on the rudder as it is an extra crew member who do the hard work and steers the boat.

 The question is just what should we name ours?”

Hinckley 42 - VIDEO

“I have to say the ride under Hydrovane was much more comfortable because there was erupted jerky movement comparing to the Raymarine autopilot. And there was never an accidental gybe under Hydrovane comparing to about 5 times of accidental gybe under Raymarine autopilot (set to heading).”

“For the 2019 LongPac race, I attribute leading the race because of the Hydrovane’s continuous closehauling at the precise wind angle at the Gale Alley. I didn’t win because of losing the upper bearing of the main rudder at the last few miles.”

From: William Lee
Sent: July 20, 2021
To: Will Curry
Subject: Re: Hydrovane on Hinckley 42

Hi Will,

I had to lock the main rudder to centerline position to reduce any stress because it was dropped a couple of inches due to loose set screws on the upper bearing. The Hydrovane was jury rigged because of a missing bolt at the beginning of the race. I replaced the missing bolt with a Dyneema soft shackle and with the support of two lines port and starboard winched from the lower bearing of the Hydrovane. The two winched lines were essential to holding the Hydrovane in place. They were as tight as a steel cables and there were still sub millimeter movements which contributed to chafing of the two lines. I think that’s why adding this “A bracket” would properly hold it in place without any sort of movement.

I have to say the ride under Hydrovane was much more comfortable because there was erupted jerky movement comparing to the Raymarine autopilot. And there was never an accidental gybe under Hydrovane comparing to about 5 times of accidental gybe under Raymarine autopilot (set to heading). The only downside during the TransPac is that the Hydrovane steered the course with more distance traveled than the Rarmaine autopilot which steered very straight.

For the 2019 LongPac race, I attribute leading the race because of the Hydrovane’s continuous closehauling at the precise wind angle at the Gale Alley. I didn’t win because of losing the upper bearing of the main rudder at the last few miles.

Happy to provide more background on my use case of the Hydrovane.

-Will

C&C 35-MK3

“Your device is a God send for the single and or short handed sailor(s).”

From: Robert Cass
Sent: June 25, 2021
To: John Curry
Subject: Re: Joint Mechanism to Lift HV Rudder Up When Not in Use

Hello John,

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. Actually I have a Hydrovane on my C&C and love it. I bought the boat in May 2020 in Honolulu and it had the Hydrovane already installed. In fact, it was a big reason I bought it. I single handed the boat home to San Diego in late May and early June of 2020 and I was infinitely grateful to have the Hydrovane as the Raymarine Wheel Pilot broke on the first day. I used the Hydrovane in all conditions except motoring which was minimal. I recently returned from Las Islas Marias in Mexico and again the Hydrovane was key. Before the trip I installed a large solar panel on Bimini and that interfered with the device’s downwind capabilities. I will be ordering a Stubby soon and I also need a new vane knob.

Your device is a God send for the single and or short handed sailor(s).

The only reason I would like to have a way to stow the rudder without removing it is that I like to sail offshore often, either to northern Baja or the Channel Island here in SoCal so removing it is a bit of an effort for this 62yo but it is not that big of a deal.

Again, thanks for writing back and your rational for not wanting to introduce any potential weakness into the system makes sense.

Best,

Robert


From: John Curry
Date: Jun 27, 2021
Subject: RE: Joint Mechanism to Lift HV Rudder Up When Not in Use
To: Robert Cass

Hi Robert

Thanks for that glowing report. We never tire of such.

If you do leave the rudder on  be sure to paint it with anti-fouling or at least go swimming to clean off any growth.

Cheers

John

Contact

Bavaria 30 CC

“Thanks for keeping the course around the globe.”

From: Niklas Krantz
Date: May 17, 2021
Subject: Just another circumnavigator.
To: Sarah Curry

Thanks for keeping the course around the globe. Hafsorkestern, a Bavaria 30 C homeward bound.
Niklas Krantz

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