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Roniszoro · 02-03-2019, 09:36

There was a recent conversation at the sailing club's bar as to the performance difference, if any, between a Hydrovane vs. a servo-pendulum vane like a Monitor in steering the boat. The Hydorvane has a clear advantage of serving as an auxiliary rudder, but the conversation revolved around purely the ability to steer the boat, to be an auto-pilot.

Thoughts? Experiences?

dcstrng · 05-03-2019, 08:10

We sort of looked at that a bit ago -- see the tail-end of this thread;

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...-210419-5.html

Have zero experience with the Hydrovane myself, but after a bit of research and the above link, am leaning that way for its auxiliary rudder properties -- and I figure (perhaps erroneously) that for our smallish ODay it should do the trick (am not planning to round any southern capes...).

**roverhi** · 05-03-2019, 16:51

Have had both servo pendulum and auxiliary rudder vanes. Aries, Monitor, and WindPilot Pacific Light for Pendulum Servo and WindPilot Pacific Plus for an aux. rudder vane. All except the Monitor steered the boats well. The Monitors problems were the boat's issues not the vanes. Think a Pendulum Servo vane is more sensitive or at least faster to input course changes to control the boat. And also a lot more force applied to the steering as boat speed increases. The Aux. rudder vane steered the boat well but seemed a bit slower to correct heading when the stern got slapped around by a wave. Probably the difference in size of the boat's rudder and the vane's.

No direct experience with the HydroVane. The WindPilot Pacific Plus uses a pendulum servo vane to provide the muscle to turn the aux. rudder while the HydroVane relies strictly on wind force to steer.

GILow · 06-03-2019, 00:40

One of the subtle advantages of the servo pendulum system is that in the case of the boat slewing around suddenly due to a wind gust or wave, the sideways movement creates an automatic correction in the steering before the wind vane part itself can react. To this end, I’d say the servo pendulum is more responsive and likely to steer a slightly better course in some conditions.

Of course I’ve used neither though I have just built an auxiliary rudder system for my own boat which is close to being tested. Servo pendulum systems are not suited to my boat.

**Paul Elliott** · 06-03-2019, 09:20

My boat has a Monitor (servopendulum, I love it), and a friend has a smaller but similar boat with a Hydrovane (aux rudder). He doesn't use the Hydrovane enough for a good comparison, but in good conditions I think they both work well. But the Hydrovane seems to have less control range. When the boat gets pushed off course by a wave or gust, the Monitor can usually steer the boat back on course, while the Hydrovane tends to not develop enough steering force to compensate.

Of course, this all depends on how well the boat is trimmed, and how much the helm changes when heeling, but all things being equal the Monitor seems to be more bulletproof.

No doubt it also depends on your boat's rudder design -- our two boats have big skeg-hung unbalanced rudders. These boats are both heavy displacement hulls, and don't really get up and surf. Faster boats will have a different experience with windvane steering.

Suijin · 06-03-2019, 11:57

One of the strengths of the Monitor is it’s ability to reliably steer the boat in a sizeable following sea, as it has the power when surfing down a wave to keep the boat on course.

Scanmar also sells an emergency rudder paddle kit for the Monitor to use as an emergency rudder.

charliehows · 08-03-2019, 12:36

not going to get a definitive answer from anyone who knows enough to consider answering - there are too many variables in different boats and steering systems. I will offer this - in my limited experience, most of the work to get a windvane system operating effectively is in downwind sailing - seems a bit of a simple thing to say but i've noticed a lot of consideration gets wasted looking at how a system works on all points of sail.