The top of the servo rudder should be above the resting
water line by 6" or more. Boats squat at the stern when underway so the
self steering rudder blade spends its life under
water even mounted properly. If yours is set up with the servo rudder
head out of the water at rest, then all should be fine. From the video, it seems to be working without any issues. Didn't notice excessive shaking or vibration.
Assume the video was taken under sail with the
engine not running. Depending on the
boat, servo pendulum
self steering may not
work well because of turbulence from the prop when under
power. Our old
Aries with a non kick up servo rudder would shake like crazy if centered with the
engine on. Would swing the rudder all the way to one side to stop the vibration when powering. The prop on that
boat was only a few feet from the rudder.
I have a WindPilot Pacific Plus that I bought second hand off a much larger boat. Mounted it as high as I could but the
steering rudder
head was just below the water and the
aluminum rudder coupling was constantly getting dunked with even little wave action. It worked fine including a sail to
Hawaii but the coupling being constantly wet caused
corrosion problems with the cinch bolts. Took the vane to a machinist and had the support casting and rudder axle machined about 8" shorter so it now lives higher and drier. Still works fine. If it's possible to cut a few inches off the shaft to get the at rest height better, probably wouldn't be a problem. Might check with Peter before you do it though.