Storage of Hydrovane Parts - Only of interest to sailors!
Ile Jeudi
Bob and Lin Griffiths
Sat 9 Jun 2012 15:16
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Saturday 9 June 2012
37:00.0N 07:50.30W
We hope that the Hydrovane will prove to be as good
as people say as we learn how to adjust it properly. We won't use the vane
all the time though and normally people remove the vane sail and rudder when not
in use. This eliminates the rattling you get from the system at
anchor.
That's all very well, but where do you put the
removed items? They are both quite large and the rudder is also rather
heavy. We were keeping them in the forward cabin but they take up too much
space.
We saw a solution for the vane on the Hydrovane
website which was provided by an owner and we have adopted the same solution by
mounting it upside down on a bulkhead behind the door in the forward
heads. The mounting bracket is made of mahogony by James of Southwest
Shipwrights who did some repair work on our teak decks. The vane is held
in place by a thumb screw which replicates the mechanism which holds it in place
when in use on the Hydrovane:-
 For the rudder James designed a ledge which he
shaped to take the base of the rudder blade. The rudder has a hole in the
top into which the rudder shaft fits when in use. We used this to hold the
rudder in place at the top with a peg. This was all made beautifully
by James out of mahogany.
Showing the ledge to take the base:-
 and the top fitting with the peg:-
 A small cube of rubber foam is glued to the
bulkhead behind the rudder to stop it rattling in the rack.
Anyone reading this who is likely to visit either
Lagos Marina or Portimao Marina and wants some high quality
carpentry done should contact James Owens of Southwest
Shipwrights:-
Telephone: +351 968 444 361
We were so pleased with the workmanship that we
decided to ask James to make a new table for us in the saloon. We wanted a
table without fiddles (the raised edges which are supposed to stop things
falling off). The fiddles on our existing table were not high enough to
stop things sliding off but were high enough to get in the way whenever we used
the table! The new one is solid mahogany and again
beautiful. |