On Jun 15, 11:07 am, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote:

"cruisin" wrote in message

What a complicated mess this boat really is. The wonderful Hydrovane
self-steering rig I spent too many boat units getting and installing
never really worked yet.

It's one of the worst self-steering systems around. Next time get a
Monitor. Try to remember what the good Captain taught. Simple is better.

The "bulletproof" Robertson autopilot uses
too many amps when sailing (it's either that or the fridge, and I like
cold beer) plus broke during the crossing, so we've been steering this
tub by hand for 3000+ miles.

Too many amps is a function of an unbalanced boat or some serious
friction or drag in your wheel steering system. That's why a balanced
spade ruddes is superior when used in conjunction with a tiller and a
tiller pilot that draws maybe 1/10 of an amp when compensating. Next
time how about some due diligence in regards to sail balance. You were
mostly off the wind, or so I hear, so with the proper spinnaker and
sheeted in mainsail you should have needed almost no power to steer your
ship. Downwind, any kind of a well-designed sailboat barely needs
self-steering systems. The sails themselves should be responsible for
90% of the self steering. The autopilot, if properly set up should only
be called on to compensate for that odd-ball wave that tends to slew you
off course.

Try hooking a tiller pilot up to your hydrovane. This will allow
small
steering inputs, with low current draw to steer the boat really well,
and you can keep the fridge running.

I agree on the advice about getting a Monitor--Monty is always a
welcome crew, never lets you down, and steers better in heavier
winds.

Send pictures of some Tahitian wahine!

Bart

"cruisin" wrote in message
oups.com...

snipped
. The docks here, as everywhere but
the US, I guess, are wired with 220 volts, so we had to track down the
appropriate transformer...then it blew the dock circuit breaker every
time we turned on our "AC in" breaker.

How big was that transformer? I am about to fit one to my boat for the same
reason and was wondering about the initial peak load while it builds up its
flux. Mine is 2kw capacity but it was supplied with a condenser which the
makers say should be put across the input terminls to reduce the load on
startup..

On Jun 15, 11:14 pm, "Edgar" wrote:
"cruisin" wrote in message

oups.com...

snipped
. The docks here, as everywhere but

the US, I guess, are wired with 220 volts, so we had to track down the
appropriate transformer...then it blew the dock circuit breaker every
time we turned on our "AC in" breaker.

How big was that transformer? I am about to fit one to my boat for the same
reason and was wondering about the initial peak load while it builds up its
flux. Mine is 2kw capacity but it was supplied with a condenser which the
makers say should be put across the input terminls to reduce the load on
startup..

Hi Edgar,
Mine is 3000 watts, works great but gets a bit warm. The 2kw should
work fine, however, unless you have the washing machine, jacuzzi pump,
hair dryer and iron all plugged in and on... :0)

Mike

On Jun 15, 11:14 pm, "Edgar" wrote:
"cruisin" wrote in message

oups.com...

snipped
. The docks here, as everywhere but

the US, I guess, are wired with 220 volts, so we had to track down the
appropriate transformer...then it blew the dock circuit breaker every
time we turned on our "AC in" breaker.

How big was that transformer? I am about to fit one to my boat for the same
reason and was wondering about the initial peak load while it builds up its
flux. Mine is 2kw capacity but it was supplied with a condenser which the
makers say should be put across the input terminls to reduce the load on
startup..

Oh, I forgot to mention the tripping of the dock breaker wasn't
because the transformer was overloaded. It powered the charger/
inverter just fine. Turns out the AC plugs on the boat have the
neutral and ground connected somehow, and that was short-circuiting
the dock power. A helpful man suggested we disconnect the ground on
our ac system temporarily, a dangerous, but effective, solution.

M

cruisin wrote:
Well, ya know, the Admiral says hi back, and wants me to tell you
she's not leaving here until we have an autopilot!
Not to mention an engine that works, but you can see her priorities.

An engine would be nice. Do you have a genset? A good autopilot makes
a lot of difference, sounds like your Admiral has her priorities
pretty straight.


What a complicated mess this boat really is. The wonderful Hydrovane
self-steering rig I spent too many boat units getting and installing
never really worked yet.

How much wind & what points of sail have you tried it in? Wind vane
self-steerers can be tough to get dialed in and some will simply not
generate enough force on the helm to hold on some points of sail.



The "bulletproof" Robertson autopilot uses
too many amps when sailing (it's either that or the fridge, and I like
cold beer) plus broke during the crossing, so we've been steering this
tub by hand for 3000+ miles. The company is out of business, so
getting it fixed is problematical, plus it's kind of intermittant-
breaks during a passage, then days after you've arrived in port it
decides it wasn't really broken.

Both fridge & autpilot technology have made big improvements in the
last 10 years. Also you might consider just adding more insulation to
your fridge box. An easy and cheap upgrade that all fridges could
benefit from.



This is the real stuff you deal with while cruising, along with the
pink sunsets and drinks by the pool at some luxury hotel.

Yeah, I can see you got it rough! Well we are in a pretty nice place
right now, not a luxury resort though. And it will never get as
overdeveloped as Tahiti


Shoulda bought the Coronado with the purple upolstery and the cedar
bucket.


Nah, you had it good with your Ranger 23. Now if you'd sailed *that*
to Tahiti you'd be a legend!

Glad to hear that you all completed a safe passage and are having a
good time.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

On Jun 17, 4:23 pm, wrote:
cruisin wrote:
Well, ya know, the Admiral says hi back, and wants me to tell you
she's not leaving here until we have an autopilot!
Not to mention an engine that works, but you can see her priorities.

An engine would be nice. Do you have a genset? A good autopilot makes
a lot of difference, sounds like your Admiral has her priorities
pretty straight.

What a complicated mess this boat really is. The wonderful Hydrovane
self-steering rig I spent too many boat units getting and installing
never really worked yet.

How much wind & what points of sail have you tried it in? Wind vane
self-steerers can be tough to get dialed in and some will simply not
generate enough force on the helm to hold on some points of sail.

The "bulletproof" Robertson autopilot uses
too many amps when sailing (it's either that or the fridge, and I like
cold beer) plus broke during the crossing, so we've been steering this
tub by hand for 3000+ miles. The company is out of business, so
getting it fixed is problematical, plus it's kind of intermittant-
breaks during a passage, then days after you've arrived in port it
decides it wasn't really broken.

Both fridge & autpilot technology have made big improvements in the
last 10 years. Also you might consider just adding more insulation to
your fridge box. An easy and cheap upgrade that all fridges could
benefit from.

This is the real stuff you deal with while cruising, along with the
pink sunsets and drinks by the pool at some luxury hotel.

Yeah, I can see you got it rough! Well we are in a pretty nice place
right now, not a luxury resort though. And it will never get as
overdeveloped as Tahiti

Shoulda bought the Coronado with the purple upolstery and the cedar
bucket.

Nah, you had it good with your Ranger 23. Now if you'd sailed *that*
to Tahiti you'd be a legend!

Glad to hear that you all completed a safe passage and are having a
good time.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

Hi Doug,
No built-in genset, just a Honda eu2000i that works pretty well for
us. The self-steering gizmo (Hydrovane) got de-vaned about three
nights out of PV when the mizzen preventor broke and the jybing mizz
boom knocked it into the drink. My "spare" vane was smaller, and
didn't have enough sail area to make it work. Apparently under
reaching conditions like we had, they are at their worst anyway.
Especially with big quartering seas. I think that's what killed the
autopilot as well. You can get the boat as balanced as can be, and
those seas just knock you right off course.
Almost sailed the Ranger 23 to Hawaii once- that would have been an
adventure, but Strider would have made it fine.
We're at the Yacht Club Tahiti dock right now, awaiting the new
exhaust riser and mixing elbow to appear so we can head over to
Moorea, then Bora Bora.
Yeah, life is pretty tough for us right now, but we're struggling
along. Someone has to do this stuff, right?

Mike

In article
.comcruisin
wrote:

Not really. It's actually pretty beautiful and the people
areactually pretty cool. I love it when I can bash another myth.
Anyway, we're stuck here for a bit looking for pipefittings for a new
exhaust riser, and a couple bazillion other projects, mostly small
butrequiring city-type resources. Papeete is a city, all right.
Got new logs and pics up on the site, for those interested.


Fumbling along living the dream,

Sounds terrible, my heart bleeds for you :-)

How much water does your boat draw, enquiring minds want to know. I'm
back on the boat looking trail, happens every year when the frosts
start and I think of warmer parts. Next year is looking good to be
somewhere else...
When you get to Oz, drop me a line.

PDW

--
I'm trying a new usenet client for Mac, Nemo OS X.
You can download it at http://www.malcom-mac.com/nemo

On Jun 17, 10:07 pm, Peter Wiley wrote:
In article
.comcruisin

wrote:
Not really. It's actually pretty beautiful and the people
areactually pretty cool. I love it when I can bash another myth.
Anyway, we're stuck here for a bit looking for pipefittings for a new
exhaust riser, and a couple bazillion other projects, mostly small
butrequiring city-type resources. Papeete is a city, all right.
Got new logs and pics up on the site, for those interested.

Fumbling along living the dream,

Sounds terrible, my heart bleeds for you :-)

How much water does your boat draw, enquiring minds want to know. I'm
back on the boat looking trail, happens every year when the frosts
start and I think of warmer parts. Next year is looking good to be
somewhere else...
When you get to Oz, drop me a line.

PDW

--
I'm trying a new usenet client for Mac, Nemo OS X.
You can download it athttp://www.malcom-mac.com/nemo

Arabella draws just 5.5 feet, or roughly 1.676 meters. Skeg hung
rudder, a good Aussie Autostream 3 blade adjustable-pitch self
feathering prop,,,uh yeah, about 5.5 feet.
Was heading for New Zealand but If I get too far west I just may come
to Oz this year, Otherwise next for sure.
The boat just might be for sale ;0)

Mike

In article
.comcruisin
wrote:

On Jun 17, 10:07 pm, Peter Wiley wrote:
In article
.comcruisin

wrote:
Not really. It's actually pretty beautiful and the people
areactually pretty cool. I love it when I can bash another
myth. Anyway, we're stuck here for a bit looking for pipefittings
for a new exhaust riser, and a couple bazillion other projects,
mostly small butrequiring city-type resources. Papeete is a city,
all right. Got new logs and pics up on the site, for those
interested.
Fumbling along living the dream,

Sounds terrible, my heart bleeds for you :-)

How much water does your boat draw, enquiring minds want to know.
I'm back on the boat looking trail, happens every year when the
frosts start and I think of warmer parts. Next year is looking good
to be somewhere else...
When you get to Oz, drop me a line.

PDW

--
I'm trying a new usenet client for Mac, Nemo OS X.
You can download it athttp://www.malcom-mac.com/nemo

Arabella draws just 5.5 feet, or roughly 1.676 meters. Skeg hung
rudder, a good Aussie Autostream 3 blade adjustable-pitch
selffeathering prop,,,uh yeah, about 5.5 feet.
Was heading for New Zealand but If I get too far west I just may
cometo Oz this year, Otherwise next for sure.
The boat just might be for sale ;0)

FWIW, with the Aus-USA Free Trade Agreement, boats made in the USA and
sold in Aus don't attract import duty any more. GST of 10% still
appliestho.

I've been looking at a local boat that draws a bit over 6', decided
it's too much for my planned requirement. Plenty boats around tho.

Tasmania is a nice place but well off the usual cruising boat run.
Lots of good places to see on the east coast & where I live south of
Hobart. Cool in winter, tho.

PDW

--
I'm trying a new usenet client for Mac, Nemo OS X.
You can download it at http://www.malcom-mac.com/nemo

On Jun 18, 9:55 pm, Peter Wiley wrote:
In article
.comcruisin





wrote:
On Jun 17, 10:07 pm, Peter Wiley wrote:
In article
.comcruisin

wrote:
Not really. It's actually pretty beautiful and the people
areactually pretty cool. I love it when I can bash another
myth. Anyway, we're stuck here for a bit looking for pipefittings
for a new exhaust riser, and a couple bazillion other projects,
mostly small butrequiring city-type resources. Papeete is a city,
all right. Got new logs and pics up on the site, for those
interested.
Fumbling along living the dream,

Sounds terrible, my heart bleeds for you :-)

How much water does your boat draw, enquiring minds want to know.
I'm back on the boat looking trail, happens every year when the
frosts start and I think of warmer parts. Next year is looking good
to be somewhere else...
When you get to Oz, drop me a line.

PDW

--
I'm trying a new usenet client for Mac, Nemo OS X.
You can download it athttp://www.malcom-mac.com/nemo
Arabella draws just 5.5 feet, or roughly 1.676 meters. Skeg hung
rudder, a good Aussie Autostream 3 blade adjustable-pitch
selffeathering prop,,,uh yeah, about 5.5 feet.
Was heading for New Zealand but If I get too far west I just may
cometo Oz this year, Otherwise next for sure.
The boat just might be for sale ;0)

FWIW, with the Aus-USA Free Trade Agreement, boats made in the USA and
sold in Aus don't attract import duty any more. GST of 10% still
appliestho.

I've been looking at a local boat that draws a bit over 6', decided
it's too much for my planned requirement. Plenty boats around tho.

Tasmania is a nice place but well off the usual cruising boat run.
Lots of good places to see on the east coast & where I live south of
Hobart. Cool in winter, tho.

PDW

--
I'm trying a new usenet client for Mac, Nemo OS X.
You can download it athttp://www.malcom-mac.com/nemo- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

We'll see what happens when we get to Oz, Peter, but it might be fun
to sail south and visit you, then see if we can find Murry Lakes and
search for the famous Tadpole they have there. I imagine the weather
down that way is a bit dicey even in your summer, though?
Don't know if we'll really want to part with our beloved boat, but if
the price were right anything could be possible. I think that is Plan
C about now, after continuing "around" or shipping the boat back.
Don't really fancy sailing uphill across the Pacific that much, and
going up to Japan and heading west doesn't sound that fun either.

Mike