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Anyone who has
made any kind of an ocean crossing knows that a wind vane is the most valuable crew member,
who works 24/7 without pay and benefits. While autopilots are now common
equipment on almost all sailboats, not that many also have a wind vane because
it is an expensive piece of kit and not really required, unless, you feel like me after you
have had the misfortune of having had to hand steer the remaining 700 miles because
of a broken autopilot.
There are only a couple of wind vanes for hydraulically steered vessels such as
my
Nauticat. Almost all of the better known vanes employ mechanical steering linked
to the wheel or tiller. Hydraulically steered vessels require an auxiliary
rudder type vane. I selected the "Hydrovane" which is being manufactured in
England. Hydrovane has been around for almost 30 years. I have been looking at
the Hydrovane as long as 5-6 years ago but never quite had enough arguments to
justify this purchase. Until now...
I placed the order in late April of 2005
and was given an approximate shipping date of 20 May. The actual ship date
was about 8 days later. The factory used UPS to ship the vane. Delivery from
Nottingham, England to Boston took 3 days. UPS delivers to your door. UPS charged me $175.00 for customs clearance.
From the time we opened
the 5 boxes containing the Hydrovane parts, to the time we opened the first
bottle of beer to cheer a successful installation, was about 10 hours. The
installation was interrupted by night time (see photos). The actual installation
took place over 2 days. The
Hydrovane ships complete, except for the 4 bolts and backing plates required to
mount the vane. All
installations are different, so you have to provide these parts yourself. Another part you will need (this is dependent on the shape of your transom) is a shim that goes behind the bottom bracket.
Depending on the tools you own, or the kind of friends you have who own tools,
you can use hard wood, plastic or metal to fashion the shim. Another method
would be to install the bottom bracket, then put duct tape around the bottom and
the sides and fill the cavity behind the plate with epoxy and filler.
The photos show the major events of this installation. You will
notice that it was necessary to cut access holes into the nicely finished teak at the
head of the bed in the aft cabin to get at the bolts and attach the backing
plates.
There is between 2 and 4 inches of space behind the teak trim and the transom. It is unfortunate that the builder does not
provide access panels as a standard as this area is also used to run wires and
it would be nice to have a means of easy access into this area.
I have had the
vane for about 4 months now and am very happy with my purchase. I have used it
extensively during the 2005 Marion Bermuda race as well as the return trip for
an overall distance of about 1400 nautical miles. I should have bought it
sooner.
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By the way, Hydrovane has announced that they will have a smaller "stubby" vane
available by November of 2005. It is 10 inches shorter than the original vane
shown in the photos. This is great news because it should simplify the use of the
Hydrovane when mounted on a ketch. There are 3 photos above, comparing sizes and a view when
dealing with a mizzen mast. Raising the boom when tacking is not eliminated but
made a lot easier to deal with.
Another very important fact is that the auxiliary rudder on the Hydrovane
qualifies as a means for emergency steering.
Also check out
www.hydrovane.com for more information.
By the way,
the dinghy you see in a couple of the photos is a Portland Pudgy, but that is another story.
Cheers,
Ronald Hiemann
"Bremer Speck"
1989 Nauticat 40
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