The new Hydrovane! Self Steering BIG players raise the bar! 

This is so true! Although we did notice extra water noise as the cockpit was so close to the rudder. That became a very soothing sound after our first passage with it!

Yeah, those guys are legendary! Nice to hear you speaking highly of them 👍

So many great stories when a Hydrovane is involved! What’s the new boat?

Hey! Cheers for commenting! Your right, they are superb and the years of constant tinkering has kept them at the top! They are expensive though, although it is with noting that the brackets are very expensive, if you are handy you can save a lot by making your own brackets!

Sounds like your set up is bombproof!! 👍

Thanks. Stacks more to be seen from the boatshow so stay tuned. Nice boat! So much space down below and still shifts in light winds 🙌🏼 where do you cruise her?

Hey guys, good to hear from you! I rate them as the best that I have used but I think the main selling point for me is that they generally appear to be the most reliable of all self steering options! The off centre fitment is very handy however do know your boat before you fit one! In our last boat I used to sail in around 5kn of wind with the spinnaker up. When going downwind the apparent wind was so low we found that the offset vane would drag the boat off course, It was a real pain to get it set to minimise wandering.. Many a fail here! As soon as we got around 5kn apparent it all worked fine!

Cheers guys! Hope to see you again soon! Get well soon! 👍⛵️💨

Hi Graham, yeah.. they really have improved it over the years, mainly to become the most durable self steering option there is! The performance is slightly improved but like you say… it just worked anyway! The tiller pilot is a fab addition if you need a spare or to save on valuable amps! Let us know how you get on with your next crossing!!!👍⛵️💨

I think they have had to adapt them for the style of hulls newer boats have , as the hydrovane of old needed the boat trimmed and balanced nearly sailing themselves, not that easy on todays planing Hull shapes, so they are stronger to take the forces put on them for a less trimmed boat, ?

@@davidwarnes5158 hi David, that could well be be a possibility. The original rudder was very small, then there was a bigger one which was around for years. Basically bigger gives you more power and that is what they wanted as boats were getting bigger but materials could not cope. It took them a while to find the solution as they needed to perfect it before building the more recent one but I think it was to cope with the increased displacement of modern boats more than anything.

@@SailHub don't they have less displacement as they sit on and not down into the water ? And older boats tended to be heavy and push the water ? Most modern boats don't have a skeg .

@davidwarnes5158 if your looking at racer cruisers and Med boats etc that’s absolutely correct! However I believe the main issue for Hydrovane is that they need to be strong enough for blue water cruisers. Back in the day a big boat was 40’ and the average cruiser was around 35’. These days the Hydrovane has to cope with boats way above 50’ and even big catamarans! The largest I fitted one to was a 65’ steel boat, it’s these bigger boats that the vane needs to withstand. The lighter boats don’t really cause any issues as in comparison to a bluewater boat they have less displacement, and lesser rudder forces. Regarding the skeg, most modern boats don’t have them, they use a spade which provides greater lift and rudder response, more performance due to less drag etc but at the sacrifice of strength. As for use with the Hydrovane, it makes little to no difference as the ships rudder is fixed during use, it may end up trimmed 3° or so which has no effect on the Hydrovane unless the rudder is extremely close where an offset installation would probably be the best option regardless of rudder type. Hope this clears things up a bit. Cheers, Chris

Interesting stuff, I never had this issue with ours unless the sails were not set optimally. In general, falling off a wave is a big part of sailing and I have not heard of many people struggling with it to be honest. Anyhow, Im not here to sell Hydrovane's, just here to lett people know what's happening in the world and your comment is actually really important for these people! Thanks again for sharing your experiences and thoughts!

Depends on the size of the wave i guess : )

Dudes in the GGR are using them without complaints. Im pretty sure they are seeing seas bigger than you will in your life.

Yeah, they are wonderful. We put one in our last boat, not sure if we can afford it again but if we could we would! 👍

This is true, but it’s amazing how little rudder you need when it’s hanging off the back of the boat. The newer models have longer rudders to counteract offset mounting. It works really really well. I’m my testing I found it only to be a problem when almost drifting, this is due to the off centre drag, but to be fair… most people don’t bother trying to sail in 4kn true.

Yeah, funny that!

H Ian, You would have to give Will a shout about that. Although for reference, the largest boat that I had fitted personal too was a 65 steel monohull with an extended transom. It was massive and the vane self was a custom length that flew above the solar arch! They loved the vane and had no issues with it at all! The biggest cat I have seen one was a 46'er. I imagine the larger rudder introduction probably helped with sizing up a lot although the boats mentioned above are probably near the limit. Cheer, Chris

@@SailHub bigger than I thought but then generally boats are way bigger on average these days.

@ianfirth-clark5975 boats are getting massive! We’re looking at building a new boat. Is and it’s crazy that the average boat is 40’ now, yet everyone we meet wants a minimum of 45’! However, I do think when it comes to putting your money on the table, 40’ appears to be a round number that people appear comfortable handling sensibly.

@@SailHub as a child I grew up squashed in the forepeak with my sister in a 17’ silloehette 🤣

@@ianfirth-clark5975 fantastic! That sounds epic! And a bit tough too… We shared our 33’ with a full boat builders set up, including tig welding gear, gas bottles, power tools camera gear, 2 mountain bikes and bike packing gear. The boat…. Was low and slow! 😂

Believe it or not! The Hydrovane works really well on a cat! They are usually fitted on the inner side of the hull and the cane is extended upwards above any coach roof and solar! The units are remarkably adaptable!

@@SailHubYeah yeah, how about a proa version then!?

@MrJhchrist your nut’s! I love it. You could probably use an offset stubby vane on the transom, the drive unit should be mounted just above the transom (or coach roof on cars etc) for optimum performance, so the whole system is around 1.1m above the transom. Don’t take my word for it though, give Will a shout - He’s the man! It would make for an interesting boat for sure!

@@SailHub A proa doesn't really have a transom though because they "shunt" instead of tack or gybe. The shunt swaps what was the transom for what was the bow. It'd be like on a normal boat if every time you tacked the windvane teleported to the bow, mounted backwards too so the rudder is plowing backwards through the water. It is an admittedly niche problem though, and anyone who has already figured out normal rudders on a proa can probably figure out self steering too even if it's not off the shelf :)

@@MrJhchrist wow! I didn’t know that! Thanks for that. That’s crazy talk…. Like you say. It sounds like a real run project. I would live to be involved with something like that. It’s bonkers, although I’m not really sure why you would choose to design a boat like that? What are the advantages?

Yup, your right there! I guess the plot thickens. I think the servo excelled in heavy air but the Hydrovane still works well. What are your thoughts on a servo system in light airs?

@SailHub The Hydrovane can only get it's power from the air ,which is why the air vane is massive , having said that , in light winds with the big vane it ought to be fairly similar , as the opposing hydrodynamic forces on the steering rudder are not very great ..The servo systems can generate massive forces through the tiller , or wheel ..in excess of 100 kilos at 7 knots on ones that I have built , and the air vane only has to move a 25 gram load to the servo !!! One of the biggest advantages on a servo system , however , is the automatic yaw control that a servo system gives . In other words . in a following sea when the back of the yacht is getting side swiped by big waves , a servo oar will get ''left behind'' and therefore try to correct the yaw , without any input whatsoever being required from the vane ..( this is something that a Hydrovane simply cannot do) but is a big part of keeping a yacht on track

@NigelLoller hey Nigel, your entirely right with how both systems work. My prepping of a good amount of boats for the ARC have resulted in these findings; -The Hydrovane appears to work best in light airs, mainly due to the fact boat speed is so slow. -The servo systems excel in heavy weather and with heavier boats. - Hydrovane’s generally seem more reliable over time. It’s maybe horses for courses, depending on your boat or where you are going? What are your thoughts?

I think that the sales and marketing team at Hydrovane do a good job !!! @@SailHub

My argument is the servo system provides no redundancy. Isnt that half the reason to have a vane? Neither are perfect though. You just have to pick what you're comfortable with. Id pick Hydrovane for the redundancy and it does not take up room in the cockpit.