The helm has always been a problem on my 1996 H376. Racing crew seem to always complain about weather-helm. The auto-pilot (Raymarine type 1 rotary drive Smart Pilot - same as ST 6000) would get overpowered on strong gusts when having the sails set for the normal winds, causing me to have to make a decision: take the helm and get the boat downwind and make an adjustment to the sails or let the autopilot struggle while I reduce sail.
Several years ago I realized that my rake was way too much at 20 inches. Hunter recommended 11-14 but I reduced it to 10 and liked that. It helped a lot, but I still would have issues once in a while. I would try to keep the speed down to 6.5 knots so the autopilot wouldn't struggle.
Well, I found myself waiting on a part while on the hard and my rudder on the ground and decided to do something about it. The rudder that came with my boat was very poorly made. It only had about 15% at max in front of the post center so only slightly simi-balanced. I added 2 inches to the leading edge of the rudder. I just completed a two day sail from Apataki atoll to Tahiti on that modified rudder and man was I ever surprised at the effect of my modification.
The rudder is now perfectly balanced. Even at 8 knots with 20 degree heal I have no pressure on the steering gear. I can move it to 8 degrees rudder and let the wheel go and it stays there (yeah, I know some say it should go back to neutral but I really like this balanced rudder). In same conditions before I had to stand and use both hands to steer, but now I can lay down with two fingers on the wheel and steer. Auto-pilot barely works now, just drawing 1 amp or less compared to jumping to 4 amps on heavy steering like this before.
Now I'm not saying anybody else with an H376 should do this: so many things can go wrong and cause all kinds of problems, but I have to tell you I love the results of my change. Makes the boat much more manageable in windy conditions. The change wasn't hard to do, just takes patience to get it molded right.
Also, it seems it may have also moved the center of lateral effort back a little so the boat is much more balanced too. Weather-helm is less for the same conditions before and after like the 8 knots, I would normally have about 13 degrees of rudder, now I have 8, so my power reaching doesn't require all that much power. Yes, I know what some are thinking - you need to reef the main. This boat's optimal heal angle is 23 degrees. After that point, yes, reducing sail will speed up the boat, before that, reducing sail will slow the boat.
So you ask, where did all that pressure go? Instead of the steering gear handling a lot of pressure, all that pressure is applied to the rudder post and bearings. I assume this will cause my bearings to wear quicker but I'm cool with that. The rudder post (6 inches in diameter - it's huge) is supposed to be able to handle 10,000 lbs of pressure and I think my rudder can only generate 2,000 lbs of pressure, so I'm pretty sure she can handle it.
I will post more information later if anything comes up but I think my last sail was a very good test of my modification and I am very happy with the results. Sorry this was so long.
Several years ago I realized that my rake was way too much at 20 inches. Hunter recommended 11-14 but I reduced it to 10 and liked that. It helped a lot, but I still would have issues once in a while. I would try to keep the speed down to 6.5 knots so the autopilot wouldn't struggle.
Well, I found myself waiting on a part while on the hard and my rudder on the ground and decided to do something about it. The rudder that came with my boat was very poorly made. It only had about 15% at max in front of the post center so only slightly simi-balanced. I added 2 inches to the leading edge of the rudder. I just completed a two day sail from Apataki atoll to Tahiti on that modified rudder and man was I ever surprised at the effect of my modification.
The rudder is now perfectly balanced. Even at 8 knots with 20 degree heal I have no pressure on the steering gear. I can move it to 8 degrees rudder and let the wheel go and it stays there (yeah, I know some say it should go back to neutral but I really like this balanced rudder). In same conditions before I had to stand and use both hands to steer, but now I can lay down with two fingers on the wheel and steer. Auto-pilot barely works now, just drawing 1 amp or less compared to jumping to 4 amps on heavy steering like this before.
Now I'm not saying anybody else with an H376 should do this: so many things can go wrong and cause all kinds of problems, but I have to tell you I love the results of my change. Makes the boat much more manageable in windy conditions. The change wasn't hard to do, just takes patience to get it molded right.
Also, it seems it may have also moved the center of lateral effort back a little so the boat is much more balanced too. Weather-helm is less for the same conditions before and after like the 8 knots, I would normally have about 13 degrees of rudder, now I have 8, so my power reaching doesn't require all that much power. Yes, I know what some are thinking - you need to reef the main. This boat's optimal heal angle is 23 degrees. After that point, yes, reducing sail will speed up the boat, before that, reducing sail will slow the boat.
So you ask, where did all that pressure go? Instead of the steering gear handling a lot of pressure, all that pressure is applied to the rudder post and bearings. I assume this will cause my bearings to wear quicker but I'm cool with that. The rudder post (6 inches in diameter - it's huge) is supposed to be able to handle 10,000 lbs of pressure and I think my rudder can only generate 2,000 lbs of pressure, so I'm pretty sure she can handle it.
I will post more information later if anything comes up but I think my last sail was a very good test of my modification and I am very happy with the results. Sorry this was so long.
