Hydrovane on a Westerly Corsair

[Pagetslady]

Has anybody fitted a Westerly Corsair with an Hydrovane steering gear if so please could you let me have a picture of it fitted and if anybody has one they no longer need will you consider selling it to me.
Mike

 

[KellysEye]

Hydrovanes are made to order, custom designed for any boat. Just send them a picture of the stern and the weight of the boat and they should be able to quote. The heavier the boat the bigger the sail and rudder.

 

[wklein]

Pedulum servo

Just to complicate this a bit i have used hydrovanes and not been very impressed with them, why not look at a pendulum servo unit?

I make a point of asking every yacht i meet how they rate their self steering gear and 3/4 of hydrovane users (out of about 20) say they never use them or they were dissapointed.

Aries are still made and have a huge following. Also monitors and similar very well regarded.

 

[uxb]

Just to complicate this a bit i have used hydrovanes and not been very impressed with them, why not look at a pendulum servo unit?

I make a point of asking every yacht i meet how they rate their self steering gear and 3/4 of hydrovane users (out of about 20) say they never use them or they were dissapointed.

Aries are still made and have a huge following. Also monitors and similar very well regarded.

Just to complicate this a bit more, I have used Hydrovanes and have been very impressed with them, why bother with a complicated pendulum servo unit?

The only time I didn't use it was in gusty beam reaching conditions unless well reefed down.

Aries are still made and have a huge following. Also monitors and similar very well regarded.

But a bit of a pain what with all the bits of rope, pulleys and bits clamped onto your wheel ( or tiller)

The Hydrovane is simple, easy to set up, reliable and well made - with a remote adjuster if you're all centre cockpitted..

 

[dansar]

Just to complicate this a bit more, I have used Hydrovanes and have been very impressed with them, why bother with a complicated pendulum servo unit?

The only time I didn't use it was in gusty beam reaching conditions unless well reefed down.

Aries are still made and have a huge following. Also monitors and similar very well regarded.

But a bit of a pain what with all the bits of rope, pulleys and bits clamped onto your wheel ( or tiller)

The Hydrovane is simple, easy to set up, reliable and well made - with a remote adjuster if you're all centre cockpitted..

+1

Hydrovanes are very reliable, very easy to fit and use. It's very rare to see an Hydrovane on the second hand market which basically says it all.

dansar

 

[Baggy]

I,ve fitted a Hydro to my Conway... It was quite easy

I had the added complication of a stern arch/gantry, so had to fit the long shaft for the vane to clear

PM If you want some pics

Ps.... great bit of kit indeed

 

[sailorman]

Has anybody fitted a Westerly Corsair with an Hydrovane steering gear if so please could you let me have a picture of it fitted and if anybody has one they no longer need will you consider selling it to me.
Mike

if you double post ( frowned upon ) you will loose track of the answers

 

[Boo2]

Has anybody fitted a Westerly Corsair with an Hydrovane steering gear if so please could you let me have a picture of it fitted and if anybody has one they no longer need will you consider selling it to me.
Mike

There's a picture of one fitted to a Westerly Corsair on the hydrovane site in their brackets gallery pic number 22.

Boo2

 

[Boo2]

Just to complicate this a bit i have used hydrovanes and not been very impressed with them

Can you tell me what you didn't like about it ? For me it has the advantage of providing an emergency rudder which the pendulum servo types cannot provide, was there something about it you did not like which overrides that ?

Boo2

 

[rib]

hydro gets my vote too,good bit if kit

 

[temptress]

Simple to fit

Has anybody fitted a Westerly Corsair with an Hydrovane steering gear if so please could you let me have a picture of it fitted and if anybody has one they no longer need will you consider selling it to me.
Mike

Not fitted to a conway. I fitted one in the 90s to my SIGMA 362 heading off for the ARC. The fitting was easy and on long passages the Hydrovane fantastic.

Just considered what to fit for our next adventure and after looking at alternatives (including spare electronic autopilot) we will be fitting one to Temptress this spring.

 

[temptress]

Simple to fit

Has anybody fitted a Westerly Corsair with an Hydrovane steering gear if so please could you let me have a picture of it fitted and if anybody has one they no longer need will you consider selling it to me.
Mike

Not fitted to a conway. I fitted one in the 90s to my SIGMA 362 heading off for the ARC. The fitting was easy and on long passages the Hydrovane fantastic.

Just considered what to fit for our next adventure and after looking at alternatives (including spare electronic autopilot) we will be fitting one to Temptress this spring.

 

[wazza]

I've been on their website and of course they wouldn't day it was ****, but all the info on it sounds as though its perfect...
We have a Najad 343, center cockpit with a bathing platform. So offsetting it AND no lines to the cockpit make this choice perfect for us, and as someone else wrote, "you don't see them on the 2nd hand market" . Having said that are the Aires & Monitors so readerly available on the 2nd hand market too, maybe not..

 

[SimonJ]

Its Hydrovane for me!

Just to complicate this a bit i have used hydrovanes and not been very impressed with them, why not look at a pendulum servo unit?

I make a point of asking every yacht i meet how they rate their self steering gear and 3/4 of hydrovane users (out of about 20) say they never use them or they were dissapointed.

Aries are still made and have a huge following. Also monitors and similar very well regarded.

Can I add my vote for Hydrovane, brilliant on a Sadler 34 during 4 Transats & more. Fantastic bit of kit. Totally dependable & well engineered. I have heard countless moans about the wear, tear and chafe with the other pendulum type options - and have even supplied replacement ropes mid ocean to others! It is kept of the out of the way and provides a vital back up independent rudder if the ships rudder fails. (And works neatly when motoring, using an autohelm!) I hope you will modify your statistics/views! I assume you have no connection with Aries ....!!

 

[wklein]

hydrovanes

Can I add my vote for Hydrovane, brilliant on a Sadler 34 during 4 Transats & more. Fantastic bit of kit. Totally dependable & well engineered. I have heard countless moans about the wear, tear and chafe with the other pendulum type options - and have even supplied replacement ropes mid ocean to others! It is kept of the out of the way and provides a vital back up independent rudder if the ships rudder fails. (And works neatly when motoring, using an autohelm!) I hope you will modify your statistics/views! I assume you have no connection with Aries ....!!

Quite the reverse in fact i have fitted two of these units of behalf of hydrovane!
Have only properly used one offshore in a 45' steel cutter which was hugely overbuilt and was hard work no matter what was at the helm (people / autopilot / self steering gear) and it was utterly useless. Day sailing on other boats i found it underpowered downwind. However it looks like it is just my incompetence as you guys have a lot more miles with it than I.

 

[KellysEye]

>I make a point of asking every yacht i meet how they rate their self steering gear and 3/4 of hydrovane users (out of about 20) say they never use them or they were dissapointed.

That's not my experience at all. I've only met one boat who criticised their Hydrovane so I went sailing with them. The problem was they didn't understand that the boat must be balanced by the sail settings. They were always sailing with weather helm. Once they learnt to balance the boat they were very happy with it. I suspect most of 3/4 of the owners you met were inept at balancing their boats, which wouldn't surprise me because of the number I've sailed with who sail with weather helm and think it's normal.

The other screw up is having the wrong power setting for the wind/sea conditions, less power is needed in strong winds and vice versa.

 

[rickym]

I have a hydrovane on a Westerly Corsair, slightly offset. PM me for photo if you want. Easy to fit, needed to shape one of the teak pads and make up a couple of s/s backing plates, took 2 of us 1 & 1/2 hours to fit. The mut's nuts!

 

[rib]

+1

 

[Pagetslady]

I have a hydrovane on a Westerly Corsair, slightly offset. PM me for photo if you want. Easy to fit, needed to shape one of the teak pads and make up a couple of s/s backing plates, took 2 of us 1 & 1/2 hours to fit. The mut's nuts!

Thanks for pictures etc have now purchased Hydrovane not seen it yet but after all the great reports I have had just couldnt resist.
Regards Mike

 

[Billjratt]

I think you've done the right thing.
+2!
I got a second hand one and fitted it to an Ericson 39 just by fiddling the teak pads and reinforcing with pads inside the transom.
Once you've got the boat sailing and locked the wheel, it's magic.
Only prob is vulnerability in some tight marinas (abroad!) and other peoples carelessness.(and that stands for any type of self-steering)
Get a couple of spare plastic control knobs, or be prepared to re-build the originals with P70 or similar, and spare 'socks' for the windvane if going to a sunny place.