These two videos are a lot easier to understand than the manual, thanks for posting them. If a picture is worth a thousand words then a video is surely worth 10,000!
After procrastinating for several months I have just installed my Hydrovane on my Westerly Oceanranger 38 foot, all on my own. It took five days with quite a bit of fiddling around at each stage; very fun though. Now that I fully understand it I would do it in one day another time, especially if I had a mate. It is important to a. Have awareness at the beginning of the distances of tubing and angles in the A bracket that are available to you; and then to methodically take it one small step at a time, without jumping ahead (I jumped ahead and drilled holes only to find the tube didn’t reach them- no problem just a waste of time). I used three teach pads bought from Will, and I also made a 3cm shim for the outboard A pad; I put the inboard pad on top of the deck as it is rock solid and I have port lights in the transom where it would otherwise go. One detail that tripped me up is that with all the fiddling around to find the right position for the outboard pad and arm (singlehanded issue) the semi-circle piece with a round base slipped out of its hole and went at the wrong angle, I only noticed it on my ‘final’ checks, and I feel it would have created a stress point if not corrected. This is extremely well made gear, and well designed. I used it on a friend’s boat last year on a 6 day passage with three people on board. I think the owner had not used it before. We had a complete electrical failure so autopilot was not working and we spent 24 hours hand steering, staring at the compass (which drives you mad when it goes on for more than thirty minutes); eventually the penny dropped and we set up the hydrovane and were instantly freed to enjoy ourselves!
Well done on the solo installation Andrew! It's no easy task without the extra set of hands and eyes. After your experience using a Hydrovane on your friend's boat, you know all the reasons why it's so important!
In 1983 we purchased a Hydrovane from Derrick in the UK for our Dufour 35, sailed it around the world, survived a grounding in North Sumatra, having the Hydrovane allowed us to sail 700 NM to Singapore, using the Hydrovane's rudder. We returned, worked and retired, going sailing again. Of course our next boat will have a Hydrovane. Be in touch soon.
It your installation brings you to the outer extremes of 40 or 80 degrees beware of the stress on the system issue. I didn’t force anything. At the end I noticed a one millimetre wedge-shaped gap at the bottom on a semicircle hinge piece at the shaft A bracket. I thought I was 1mm out with my transom drill holes. When I released the transom hinge bolt (black circular gasket) SURPRISE!! The leg sprang 4” to the left to find its natural place (1mm at the shaft = 4” at the transom and a lot of stress). So I advise owners near the angle limits to firstly have shaft pieces snug then drill into transom, not the other way round; if already installed look for that 1mm or so gap, do the test and redrill and reposition a foot to fix it. I now understand what they mean. Have fun
Hi Alberto - the price depends on the boat (which brackets and shaft length are required to fit it). Please email me: sarah@hydrovane.com with your boat type and a photo of the boat's transom, and I can provide a quote. Thanks for your interest!
doing steel construction I've had to level and plumb structures many times.Using a level to establish true vertical and horizontal to the boat, would only be accurate if the boat was level port and starboard. and fore and aft.Any list either way and the shaft would not be level or plumb, or does a deviation matter?
These two videos are a lot easier to understand than the manual, thanks for posting them. If a picture is worth a thousand words then a video is surely worth 10,000!
Thank you! :)
After procrastinating for several months I have just installed my Hydrovane on my Westerly Oceanranger 38 foot, all on my own. It took five days with quite a bit of fiddling around at each stage; very fun though. Now that I fully understand it I would do it in one day another time, especially if I had a mate. It is important to a. Have awareness at the beginning of the distances of tubing and angles in the A bracket that are available to you; and then to methodically take it one small step at a time, without jumping ahead (I jumped ahead and drilled holes only to find the tube didn’t reach them- no problem just a waste of time). I used three teach pads bought from Will, and I also made a 3cm shim for the outboard A pad; I put the inboard pad on top of the deck as it is rock solid and I have port lights in the transom where it would otherwise go.
One detail that tripped me up is that with all the fiddling around to find the right position for the outboard pad and arm (singlehanded issue) the semi-circle piece with a round base slipped out of its hole and went at the wrong angle, I only noticed it on my ‘final’ checks, and I feel it would have created a stress point if not corrected.
This is extremely well made gear, and well designed.
I used it on a friend’s boat last year on a 6 day passage with three people on board. I think the owner had not used it before. We had a complete electrical failure so autopilot was not working and we spent 24 hours hand steering, staring at the compass (which drives you mad when it goes on for more than thirty minutes); eventually the penny dropped and we set up the hydrovane and were instantly freed to enjoy ourselves!
Well done on the solo installation Andrew! It's no easy task without the extra set of hands and eyes. After your experience using a Hydrovane on your friend's boat, you know all the reasons why it's so important!
In 1983 we purchased a Hydrovane from Derrick in the UK for our Dufour 35, sailed it around the world, survived a grounding in North Sumatra, having the Hydrovane allowed us to sail 700 NM to Singapore, using the Hydrovane's rudder. We returned, worked and retired, going sailing again. Of course our next boat will have a Hydrovane. Be in touch soon.
It your installation brings you to the outer extremes of 40 or 80 degrees beware of the stress on the system issue. I didn’t force anything. At the end I noticed a one millimetre wedge-shaped gap at the bottom on a semicircle hinge piece at the shaft A bracket. I thought I was 1mm out with my transom drill holes. When I released the transom hinge bolt (black circular gasket) SURPRISE!! The leg sprang 4” to the left to find its natural place (1mm at the shaft = 4” at the transom and a lot of stress). So I advise owners near the angle limits to firstly have shaft pieces snug then drill into transom, not the other way round; if already installed look for that 1mm or so gap, do the test and redrill and reposition a foot to fix it. I now understand what they mean. Have fun
Any video on canoe stern with hung transom rudder?
cant help but notice the upper brakets if you look at them , they are not spaced evenly comparing them to the upper brown layer.
Good explanation
How much it cost you ? The unit and the installation
And whom or where you buy it??
Please help
Hi Alberto - the price depends on the boat (which brackets and shaft length are required to fit it). Please email me: sarah@hydrovane.com with your boat type and a photo of the boat's transom, and I can provide a quote. Thanks for your interest!
I've never been able to use a spirit level on a boat on the water!!!!!!!
doing steel construction I've had to level and plumb structures many times.Using a level to establish true vertical and horizontal to the boat, would only be accurate if the boat was level port and starboard. and fore and aft.Any list either way and the shaft would not be level or plumb, or does a deviation matter?