Aries Windvane and Hydraulic steering wont work

[JulianGullsway]

Hi, I need to know why my Aries will not work with our existing hydraulic steering gear, I have tried it but just cant get it to work, I have been told that because the mid ships is not always in the same place the windvane will not set properly, is this true?????

if not I will have a perfectly good Aries Windvane for sale with the wheel clutch etc We are planning to instal a Simrad AP24 in replacement, any help or advice would be very much appreciated....

[robert sailor]

You are right, vanes do not work with hydraulic wheel steering, well the Hydrovane is an exception. You might look at the possibility of installing a short tiller where your emergency steering is and hooking the vane to that. You would need to install a simple bypass on the hydraulics, its been done very successfully by others.

[roverhi]

As Robert says you need to hook the vane to a stub tiller and install a pressure relief valve to bypass the hydraulic sytstem. It's actually the best of all possible worlds for a Pendulum Servo self steering system with wheel steering. You don't have the drag and inertia of having to work through a steering system that can/does make the self steering sluggish to failing at steering in low wind situations. You also get much faster and larger range of rudder deflection than you can with a wheel adapter. That makes the vane much more responsive to rapidly varying wind/wave conditions.

The other choice is an auxillary rudder system like the WindPilot Pacific Plus or the Hydrovane but those vanes don't come cheap.

[Draikhyan]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

You are right, vanes do not work with hydraulic wheel steering, well the Hydrovane is an exception. You might look at the possibility of installing a short tiller where your emergency steering is and hooking the vane to that. You would need to install a simple bypass on the hydraulics, its been done very successfully by others.

This.

[ALAIN97133]

Originally Posted by JulianGullsway

Hi, I need to know why my Aries will not work with our existing hydraulic steering gear, I have tried it but just cant get it to work, I have been told that because the mid ships is not always in the same place the windvane will not set properly, is this true?????
If not I will have a perfectly good Aries Windvane for sale with the wheel clutch etc We are planning to instal a Simrad AP24 in replacement, any help or advice would be very much appreciated....

Hi everybody ! I'm looking for a used SELF STEERING such as WINDPILOT PACIFIC or ANY OTHER that has a wheel steering adaptor for my Ericson 34 that is at Oak Harbor Marina, north of Annapolis. If you hear about any model that can steer a 6 tons sailboat please let me know Thanks !

[JulianGullsway]

Ours is available, not sure on the shipping costs would be, it has the clutch for wheel and is fully serviced, and has been refurbished. let me know your thoughts

Julian

[JulianGullsway]

Cheers guys, we have an Endurance 35, she has no emergency tiller but cheers for the input, I will be looking at installing a Simrad AP24 in its place, our budget wont go to the 5k its going to cost sadly for a hydro vane..

[charliehows]

roverhi
Senior Cruiser As Robert says you need to hook the vane to a stub tiller and install a pressure relief valve to bypass the hydraulic sytstem. It's actually the best of all possible worlds for a Pendulum Servo self steering system with wheel steering. You don't have the drag and inertia of having to work through a steering system that can/does make the self steering sluggish to failing at steering in low wind situations. You also get much faster and larger range of rudder deflection than you can with a wheel adapter. That makes the vane much more responsive to rapidly varying wind/wave conditions.

The other choice is an auxillary rudder system like the WindPilot Pacific Plus or the Hydrovane but those vanes don't come cheap.
__________________
Peter O.
'Ae'a Pearson 35


As above - it will cost a lot less to rig up a hydraulic bypass and stub tiller than buying an autopilot - if the Aries is already mounted all it needs is a re-route to the tiller. Wish I'd thought of this before i built an aux rudder/servo pendulum unit.

[barnaclejim]

Hi, We have hydraulic steering and a cap horn wind vane and it works wonderfully but we also have a bypass valve to diconnect the hydraulic pump from the rudder and you have to bypass or there is too much resistance.We have a high transom and the cap horn was the only one that would fit but I think the principals are the same.

[gjordan]

Julian, you really should have an emergency tiller, whether or not you have a wind vane or an auto pilot. The plans are still available for the Endurance, and they probably show an emergency tiller setup. Installing an emergency tiller, and a bypass valve would be much less expensive than an auto pilot, and for long ocean passages, nothing beats the reliability of a windvane. If you plan to be a coastal cruiser, then go electric. Just my 2 cents worth. ______Grant.

[ALAIN97133]

Originally Posted by JulianGullsway

Ours is available, not sure on the shipping costs would be, it has the clutch for wheel and is fully serviced, and has been refurbished. let me know your thoughts

Julian

Please send info remimarmol-at-yahoo dot com

What's your transom angle ? (What's your sailboat model & year ?)

How much $$$, pictures etc... Aries is NOT my first choice, even though I sailed from England to Vancouver with one, but I had then a 31' full keel sailboat. My first choice for fin keel sailboats is Hydrovane but at $6,400 they can "stuff it up their jumpers" as Elisabeth II says 'till I win the NY lottery (Probability less than being struck by an asteroid) ! Thanks

PS: Shipping would be to "SUNDANCE" Oak Harbor Marina (Pasadena, 21122 Maryland... just north of Annapolis)