Aries Mk 5 lift up problem

[steve1963]

I’m not sure if I am in the correct forum here, but here goes:

I recently bought a second hand Aries Mk5 Lift-Up vane. All seems to be in very good condition, and I have recently mounted it on the stern of my SHE33. But there seems to be a problem: When the servo-rudder is hinged over from the upright (stored) position over to the ‘in-action’ position in the water, the servo paddle floats up to one side or the other, it then often rotates and this disengages the two meshed beveled gears. I realise that it is designed to rotate a certain amount as this is how the whole thing works. The root of the problem seems to be this; The vane and the servo are connected by two cogged, beveled gears, at 90 degrees to each other. The horizontal gear (attached to the vane) is a sector of 180 degrees, and the vertical gear (attached to the servo rudder) only covers a sector of about 90 degrees (about 45 degrees either side of the fore and aft line). Thus, a fairly small amount of rotation of the vertical gear, attached to the servo rudder disengages the two gears. This then means that I have to climb over onto the transom to carefully re-engage them; Not easy, even in port. It seems that there is something missing, something analogous to a rudder-stop to prevent this happening. Anyone got any ideas?

 

[djs]

I have this vane gear. I can’t imagine how the gears would disengage. On mine the gear attached to the paddle has a sector of approx 120 degrees, the gear attached to the horizontal axle and moved by the deflection of the vane has a sector of 90 degrees which is at odds with your description, unless I’ve misunderstood. Do you have any photos?

The paddle will float up to one side if the boat isn’t moving forward but this movement is limited by the two downward angled spars - the spars that hold at their lower end the sheaves that accept the lines from the rudder.

Dave

 

[mattonthesea]

I think we need photos. It sounds like the servo paddle is twisting too far but...

There used to be a very good website from when the company was owned by a Danish guy. He had videos (maybe on you tube) of assembly/disassembly but since ownership changed I'm not sure. The distributors in Weston-Super Mere may be able to help

 

[steve1963]

Thanks Dave and Matt,

I think the gear attached to the vane is called the pinion and that attached to the servo is called the crown gear. It seems from all the photos and drawings that I can find, that these look OK and in good condition. The problem occurs only when the wind vane is not attached. A better way to visualise the problem is thus; If the servo paddle is in the water and the wind vane (and it's actuating arm) are not attached and you were on a pontoon with a current from coming from directly aft, the servo rudder would rotate 180 degrees. This would then rotate the crown gear enough to disengage from the pinion. Would this happen with your gear, or should there be something to prevent excessive rotation of the servo paddle?

I will take photos at the weekend

Thanks again for your help

Steve

 

[mattonthesea]

that sounds too far for the servo paddle to rotate. Mine will not rotate even to 45 degrees. When storm hector has passed (holed up in Islay at mo) I will try and ascertain what stops the rotation. But I may be out of wifi for a few days!

 

[steve1963]

You mean that the rotation is limited even if the ind-vane and the actuating arm are not attached? If this is the case, sounds like there is a problem with mine. I found something on a forum somewhere talking about a possible grub screw somewhere.

many thanks again for your help.

Steve

 

[mattonthesea]

I would have posted pictures today but this morning a charter boat took most of it off with their anchor! It is now lying somewhere beneath the pontoon. Complete snap!

Tante Pis :ambivalence:

 

[steve1963]

Bloody hell! Sorry to hear that. That sounds like a nightmare. Can it be salvaged?

 

[djs]

I would have posted pictures today but this morning a charter boat took most of it off with their anchor! It is now lying somewhere beneath the pontoon. Complete snap!

Tante Pis :ambivalence:

That’s terrible Matt. Hope it gets resolved with minimal hassle.
Dave

 

[oldmansailingdotcom]

While on the subject of Aries, I had a new lift-up gear back in the 1980's. I have now bought a boat which has the same gear (a little more modern, I think but still very well used). This one clonks as the gear moves a millimetre or two on its mountings. Obviously it's going to move a bit but I don't remember the first one making a noise. Mind you, the old boat had a sealed lazarette whereas the new one has an open space all the way up to the cabin/cockpit bulkhead. It may be that this is acting like a sound-box. Anyone else been troubled by a clonking Aries?