Posted by laucodjen (laucodjen@…>)
I am the new owner of Nuage, ex Duet out of san diego. Love the boat
but question the autopilot. It looks like this boat would be ideal
for a trimtab type setup. Currently using autohelm 4000, what is
working. This is the deep keel tall rig version.
Posted by Michel Capel (mike_c_f35ck@…>)
Hi,
Welcome to the Freedom world. I looked into the trimtab option a few
years ago and - bases on advice of several windvane makers - decided
against it, although the rudder seems ideal for it. A long keel boat
like the 33 needs a lot of rudder force and a lot of rudder angle to
be persuaded to take another course. A trimtab cannot deliver the
power nor the angle to do that, the experts said.
I now have a pendulum operated Voyager windvane (see pictures in the
photo section) with a custom made casting mounted around the rudder
head. For light air and motoring the old Autohelm 4000 does fine for
now. As soon as the A4000 passes away, I will buy a small
rudderpilot and attach it to the windvane-head of the Voyager. The
Voyager’s pendulum provides the power, the rudderpilot provides the
heading. There are NO wheelpilots that can cope with the enormous
torque put back to the wheel when a wave hits the barndoor rudder in
quartering seas. This way I ruined several Simrad WP30 wheelpilots,
with 80 Nm torque the most powerful out-of-the-box wheelpilot on the
planet.
Good luck
Mike
— In freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com, “laucodjen”
<laucodjen@y…> wrote:
I am the new owner of Nuage, ex Duet out of san diego. Love the
boat
but question the autopilot. It looks like this boat would be ideal
for a trimtab type setup. Currently using autohelm 4000, what is
working. This is the deep keel tall rig version.