Hi All,

Michael from H49, Hull #58, 2007 "Hylite" here. We installed a Hydrovane in San Francisco, California in July 2017. We left San Francisco in early November 2017 and have just arrived in Noumea, New Caledonia (via Mexico, French Polynesia, Tonga, Fiji). I chose the HV after a lot of research and can now comment on performance after using it for about 75% of our roughly 9,000nm of passages.

It is mounted off-center to the port side of the transom to just clear the stern ladder. Opposite to starboard of the stern ladder is a Watt & Sea 300 water generator. We have an overhead stern arch with solar panels and dinghy davits, so we have the short shaft HV with the stubby wind vane. It just fits with around 2 inches (50mm) of clearance for the stubby vane at the worst positions under the arch.

How does it perform? We use it most of the time of longer passages (passages more than 24 hours or so). It works very well from close-hauled through to about 120 degrees apparent wind. From 120 through about 135 apparent, the true wind needs to be reasonable (20 knots true or more) and sail trim need to be reasonably good. We usually reef the main above 20 knots true for less weather helm downwind but maintain the full 130% genoa). We hold full genoa until nearly 30 knots true when deep downwind. We often have the helm locked off to one side to handle the weather helm.

From about 135 apparent to 150 apparent it is not great and needs to be watched. We use an asymmetrical kite up to 150 apparent and up to 20 knots apparent (high 20's true). It can round up if trim is not good or wind is gusty, and/or sea state is rough. Waves over 2 meters can swing the stern and the HV cannot correct if it's a big swing.

Overall it is a great asset and I still think it's the best wind pilot option for our boat. I could say a lot more so please feel free to ask questions and I will try to answer.

Regards

Michael (SV Hylite)

Hi
The relay was just a standard automove type with 12vdc coil with a single pole normally open contact. It is the same as the one which operates the stop lever on your engine. Most chandlers sell them as does ebay. I installed the relay behind the switches under the navigators seat where all the relevant wiring connections can be found.

I haven't traced the wiring completely but I believe it goes from the "engine control switch" under the navigators seat out to the "Engine Control switch" in the cockpit travelling above the locker in the aft head and then back to the alternator. A long way round.

I am also  in the process of redrawing the original wiring diagrams to correct many an error and incorporate many changes I have made.

Andy
H46#32 True Brew

Hello

This is Dan & Karen - Dakare’s original owners —-H54-19. 

Our hull #19 was designed and built with serious attention to fail-safe systems.  The list to port that you have identified is a major warning sign that you have a serious problem.  The problem is remedial.
 To solve the problem, you must put more wine and beer in the starboard saloon settee locker.  Listing to port is a sure sign that the acholcol capacity is below accepatable standards -  it is time to re-fill your locker.  We used that as a metric to identify when it was time to restock. BTW, Champagne or cava can be substituted for wine or beer.  We recommend a good mix of all four.  Upon proper provisioning, the list will disappear.  Too many nights at anchor having sundowners is a major cause of the symptom.

Hey!  Great to here from you.  You are a genius sir!  You have put your finger on the problem exactly!  We hosted a rather sizable cocktail party awhile back, and our stores have not been replenished.  In fact, it was that night that I first noticed the list, but at the time I thought it was me listing.

Thank you both for commissioning such a great boat and keeping her ship-shape.  We will do our very best to maintain Dakare/Caris/Renegade in the manner that she deserves. 

Jeff + Julie Taylor
H54 #19  Renegade

D & K, I actually compensate quite a bit by storing spares under the aft cabin starboard seat (I can fit 2 cases in there with room for several bottles of premium grade list protection).  Also on long hauls I store additional protection under the floor of the forward starboard wet locker, it’s shape is a natural cradle safeguarding from seastate attempts to dislodge and break said list protection. This combined with the topped off wine stocked in their standard location does considerably compensate and as you noted is an excellent indicator that is is time to haul anchor and move to a port with a good liquor store! 

As for the batteries, we just put 4 new 8D AGM’s in adding even more than the wet-cells that were there contributed. i’m much of a mind to move house batt. 2 to reside under the settee where we have installed a partition and the 12v refer compressor (leaving the Grunert in-place but servicing the freezer only.).  Cabling shouldn’t be an issue, it’s actually a shorter run and plenty of space for routing.

{I have ‘special plans’ for the space that battery currently occupies....  Bwaw haw haw haw haw...  !}

As Jeff & Julie of L'ame Libre suggested we’ve implemented active balancing via tank usage which is helping considerably (thanks Jeff).

Hello

This is Dan & Karen - Dakare’s original owners —-H54-19. 

Our hull #19 was designed and built with serious attention to fail-safe systems.  The list to port that you have identified is a major warning sign that you have a serious problem.  The problem is remedial.
 To solve the problem, you must put more wine and beer in the starboard saloon settee locker.  Listing to port is a sure sign that the acholcol capacity is below accepatable standards -  it is time to re-fill your locker.  We used that as a metric to identify when it was time to restock. BTW, Champagne or cava can be substituted for wine or beer.  We recommend a good mix of all four.  Upon proper provisioning, the list will disappear.  Too many nights at anchor having sundowners is a major cause of the symptom.

In all seriousness, the list to port is due to the large shipboard house battery bank   capacity. We deliberately designed the boat to have over 1,000 hours of battery capacity, larger than most Hylas boats. In fact, hull #19 was the first to have this much capacity. Queen Long wanted to distribute the weight evenly which would have necessitated losing easily accessible locker space on the starboard side to seldom touched batteries. We opted to keep the starboard locker free for storage. if you don’t like our solution, then we suggest moving one of the 4D batteries from the port to the starboard locker.

Hope this helps...
Dan and Karen Sehnal