Aries Lift Up Vane Gear Installation.

Lift Up Installation

Installation

The first thing to decide on the installation is the height of the two horizontal mounting tubes above the water. The maximum is 1050mm and the minimum is 700mm above the water line. Most yachts above 11m will have the gear at the maximum height with the two steering lines leading up to deck level. Going above the maximum height will give less immersion on the servo rudder and less power on the steering lines. Under the minimum height does not affect the performance of the gear, but you may experience a splashing noise at speed.

As supplied, the two horizontal tubes and the strut tubes are 640mm long. This is long enough for the most extreme installation and most owners will use half this length. To make life simple we pack the horizontal and strut tubes assembled in the crosstube casting complete with the four transom castings pinned to the ball joints. As you lift the mounting tubes out of the box the ball joints and brackets are in the correct orientation for the transom , except that the tubes will probably be twice as long as you need them.

1. Bolt the two top ball joint castings to the transom. When drilling the four holes you must have the ball joints, horizontal tubes and crosstube all assembled and held in situ on the transom skin so that the four holes will be accurate. The two tubes must be on the centre line of the hull but the two castings and four holes will be to one side. It is best to bolt one of the transom castings on first and offer the entire assembly up in place again to mark and drill the holes on the second transom casting. The correct spacing between the transom castings will enable the two 9mm retaining pins to pass cleanly through the ball cups when the mounting tube assembly is fitted. If the transom castings are out you can always file the holes in the transom oval to make a correction.

2. With the two top transom castings bolted on you can mount the cross tube casting with its two horizontal tubes in place. Run a lashing for pulpit or mizzen boom so that the two tubes are horizontal. Mount the main frame part of the gear on the cross tube in its working position and also fit the vane assembly and plywood wind vane. You can then measure between the vane gear and the stern for the first point of interference. This can either be between the plywood vane with it rotated and deflected to its worst position or between the servo rudder shafting and the transom tip. Measure off this interference gap on the two horizontal tubes and then saw off the tubes somewhere between 75 - 150mm aft of this mark. A 60mm gap is needed - so saw off too little to start with rather than too much!

3. With the horizontal tubes cut to the correct length the next step is to install the two lower struts. There needs to be a reasonable vertical spacing between the upper and lower transom castings to spread the load. I suggest that you cut the strut to length first and then drill the holes for the lower casting with he strut fully assembled and in place. Place the lower castings so that the horizontal tubes are fully level. This procedure saves the difficult task of drilling 8mm holes through the strut tubes. Drill and bolt on strut in place before marking and drilling the holes for the second.

Transom Hung Rudders. The servo rudder can work in close proximity to the main rudder with no ill effect. The clear space inside the inside of the tubes is 220mm. Check this will clear the rudder stock on full helm. Note dimension 'Y' Minimum vertical spacing between clamps 280mm. Optimum between 320 and 400mm, but use common sense so that it looks right.