PACIFIC SEACRAFT 40 – GREETINGS FROM FIJI
Peter, I hope this finds you well and enjoying late spring so far.
We’re in Fiji after spending six months in New Zealand. NZ was a great time with great diversity of terrain from maritime to fjords to mountains.
We have a Windpilot Pacific on our Pacific Seacraft 40. We continue struggling to effectively sail the boat while steered with the wind vane. Part is due to remaining weather helm (which we continue to sort out and minimize) and the other is an extremely stiff „heavy helm“. We have a huge, unbalanced rudder on the boat which makes steering very difficult for the wind vane.
We recently dropped the rudder and eliminated as much friction in the system as possible. No great improvement in heaviness of the rudder and overall steering stiffness. I’ve increased the mechanical advantage of the steering lines from 1:1 to 3:1 by adding tackle. The wheel adapter drum slides on the disc to absorb excess force (as it should to prevent damage to itself or other transmission components, per the manual) even if I tighten the levers more than recommended. It seems the steering is just too heavy for the Pacific model.
Given the stiffness of the steering system, I’d consider bypassing the ship’s steering system and going with an
auxiliary rudder system like the Pacific Plus. Do you have any thoughts on that option?
Freya is a Pacific Seacraft 40 (12.2M) and displaces 24,000 lbs per specs. I’d imagine it’s significantly more as it’s fully laden for live-aboard voyaging.
As I said we continue to tame the weather helm on this cutter rig, but are making improvement.
I value your thoughts.
Todd Vigland
SV Freya
Dear Todd, given that the power potential of the PACIFIC is sufficient to even perform vessels of doubble in weight of your PS40 I doubt that weatherhelm might be the cause.
Compare the number and size of many cruising vessels in this list:
May I suggest to send some picts of the todays line transfer / ratio? and the entire situation at your vessels backside.
The physical rules apply and I am confident that we will find solutions to ease your helming pain.
with kind regards
Peter
Peter, On a recent passage from New Zealand to Fiji, our Windpilot steered like a champ. Since our last passage we recut a genoa cut to a yankee. Together with the staysail, we have a much better balanced boat.
The wheel adapter rings and an extra turn of the control lines around the wheel adapter both made positive difference too. Thank you for the replacement rings.
This is the first passage on which the vane steering worked consistently. On top of steady steering, we had better rest and time to attend to other important passage-making tasks.
We appreciate your continued help.
Take care,
Todd Vigland
SV Freya.
Thousands of Miles and Counting: Local Couple On Adventure Of A Lifetime
