Hydrovane and/Auto Pilot

Most windvane systems have brackets that accomodate sloping transoms.
As for removal, I believe that if you can obtain a lift up Aeries ( no longer made) they are the best for removal. They can be removed in about 3 minutes & the whole unit can be hinged clear of the water in about 30 seconds. Putting them back on if not under way would take less than 10 minutes. Hinging down a fitted one about 2-3 minutes.
They are heavier than a standard one though.
The only bit left on the boat is the mounting carriage which is minimal
What I have seen of them, is that they are built very strongly
I believe Daydream Believer of this parish has one & may comment
 
I'm surprised at the constant reference to Hydrovane as thought there are no alternatives (and probably far better ones) available.

The Hydrovane is imo a clumsy and rather limited piece of kit, the rudder cannot be retrieved or fitted at sea and the fundamental operating principle (wind force on the vane alone) is precious little for reliable steering.

You will almost always do much better with a servo-pendulum system as the steering forces it generates are vastly higher than an aux. rudder and thus it steers better in less wind and with far more authority. They also tend to be lighter and they are often demountable.

A servo pendulum system should certainly be given serious consideration before going out and buying a Hydrovane just because it is the name everyone knows.
 
I'm surprised at the constant reference to Hydrovane as thought there are no alternatives (and probably far better ones) available.

The Hydrovane is imo a clumsy and rather limited piece of kit, the rudder cannot be retrieved or fitted at sea and the fundamental operating principle (wind force on the vane alone) is precious little for reliable steering.

You will almost always do much better with a servo-pendulum system as the steering forces it generates are vastly higher than an aux. rudder and thus it steers better in less wind and with far more authority. They also tend to be lighter and they are often demountable.

A servo pendulum system should certainly be given serious consideration before going out and buying a Hydrovane just because it is the name everyone knows.

Yes the Hydrovane is not perfect, and I wouldn't want to try and fit it underway. I also agree that the Hydrovane rudder is smaller than the main rudder on our boat (which is also undersized!); this is why balancing the sails is essential before the Hydrovane will work properly. However, the servo pendulum solutions attached to tiller/wheel don't provide the spare rudder that the Hydrovane does. I choose the limitations of the Hydrovane, over not having a spare rudder.
 
Does the monitor have a system for installing an emergency rudder?
Surely many are working on the assumption that the main rudder will just feather, as in steering linkage failure. However, on a reasonably well found yacht that should be fixable. What happens with collisions with a whale, log or other obstruction causing a jammed rudder? A big wave from aft could damage a blade rudder in a storm, or the yacht could be forced backwards when on a sea anchor causing the rudder to turn & be bent to a point that cannot be overcome by a small rudder. How can any emergency system such as hydrovane cope then.
 
I installed a Raymarine Autohelm 5000+ when I bought my boat in 2000. I has been trouble free for 17 years when it started playing up on the way down the Portuguese coast. The error pointed to the linear drive, I checked the connections on route but it was still playing up, so that evening I pulled it out to stripped it down. In doing so I realised that I had forgotten the 2nd connector to the clutch, that connection was causing the problem, but as the unit was half out anyway I thought I would check it over anyhow.
When it was all apart I found a huge amount of carbon dust around the motor so cleaned that out and checked the brushes which were down to about half length. Reassembled and checked - all ok.
When I got home I ordered up replacement brushes from Carbon Brushes Retail Trade Industrial Instock and Made To Order for not too many pence.
The moral of the story - hoover out the carbon from the motor occasionally and check brushes and connections.
 
Does the monitor have a system for installing an emergency rudder?
Surely many are working on the assumption that the main rudder will just feather, as in steering linkage failure. However, on a reasonably well found yacht that should be fixable. What happens with collisions with a whale, log or other obstruction causing a jammed rudder? A big wave from aft could damage a blade rudder in a storm, or the yacht could be forced backwards when on a sea anchor causing the rudder to turn & be bent to a point that cannot be overcome by a small rudder. How can any emergency system such as hydrovane cope then.


Of course there are scenarios where a spare rudder won't save you. Having a spare rudder means there are fewer situations where you are helpless.

The weld between the plate inside the rudder and the rudder post failed between Tonga and Fiji. The rudder was left flapping uselessly underneath the boat. The skipper was able to swim under and tie lines around it to stop it flopping about. We brought those lines up to the cockpit in an attempt to use them to steer. This did not work because the (fin and spade) boat had very little directional stability and needed very frequent, large steering inputs to stay on a straight course. If we had had a Hydrovane, we would have been able to secure the rudder and carry on sailing.
 
Last edited:
If on a long trip your auto helm played up then I guess that time spent investigating those simple sail to rudder methods shown on this thread would be worthwhile. fair enough they still need attention but less than hand steering. We are wheel steered but do have an emergency tiller. Certainly worth understanding how to set it up and working on the sail balance a bit?
 
I have a Hydrovane and an autopilot. It’s mostly a power consumption thing As I don’t want to have to run the genset and I don’t want a big noise wind generator.

I often wonder how the hydrovane could possibly steer as strongly as an auto pilot but amazingly it just seems to do just that even when flying down a following wave.

Jean Luc VDH had one for the golden globe and must have seen some enormous following waves in the southern ocean. I don’t doubt that WindPilot and others are equally as good or better But I went for hydrovane as I wanted it mounted off center.
 
I have a Hydrovane and an autopilot. It’s mostly a power consumption thing As I don’t want to have to run the genset and I don’t want a big noise wind generator.

I often wonder how the hydrovane could possibly steer as strongly as an auto pilot but amazingly it just seems to do just that even when flying down a following wave.

Jean Luc VDH had one for the golden globe and must have seen some enormous following waves in the southern ocean. I don’t doubt that WindPilot and others are equally as good or better But I went for hydrovane as I wanted it mounted off center.
Solar will do fine for an electric autopilot. But they aren’t endlessly reliable - so far we have replaced flux gate compass, course computer, bolt for quadrant attachment and linear drive (they wear at particular positions and freeze with MOT ERROR) and need manual adjustment to start working again.

But even with an Atlantic crossing in mind there is too little use for a wind powered version for me. We will have a couple of extra mates to crew for the ocean crossing.
 
Solar will do fine for an electric autopilot. But they aren’t endlessly reliable - so far we have replaced flux gate compass, course computer, bolt for quadrant attachment and linear drive (they wear at particular positions and freeze with MOT ERROR) and need manual adjustment to start working again.

But even with an Atlantic crossing in mind there is too little use for a wind powered version for me. We will have a couple of extra mates to crew for the ocean crossing.
Really? We have 350W of solar and it can't quite keep up with chart plotter, fridge, vhf, lights, watermaker and autopilot over 24 hrs.
 
We have a Windpilot Pacific (servo-pendulum type) and an EV-100 tiller pilot and a spare autohelm (a Raymarine 2000st). For light wind conditions (downwind) the Raymarine will replace the vane and use very little power to engage the powerful Windpilot to steer. But I'm someone who thinks that a belt-and-braces approach shows a scandalous lack of preparation. (We also carry an emergency rudder.)
 
Last edited:
Really? We have 350W of solar and it can't quite keep up with chart plotter, fridge, vhf, lights, watermaker and autopilot over 24 hrs.
We only have fractionally more (400w) but we don’t have a water maker or chartplotter so maybe that’s the difference. We could easily add another 200w and maybe 200 more if we tried but we get to float in early afternoon so no need yet.
 
We only have fractionally more (400w) but we don’t have a water maker or chartplotter so maybe that’s the difference. We could easily add another 200w and maybe 200 more if we tried but we get to float in early afternoon so no need yet.
I think we could move things about to get another 250w panel on, but it would put more load on the mount, and I'd need a bigger charge controller and bigger wiring to the batteries. I thought about it but decided that I'd rather use the (already there) hydrovane, which means we have more power than we can use.
 
Top