We spent the week cruising around the calm waters of Mallorca or the equally picturesque streets of the capital, Palma.
There is a family on board, and our son is now Coxswain of the Tender. Jumping off the flybridge into the sea was fun for a 15-year-old. We used our time to continue stress-testing our systems and commission some of those still orphaned.
Our first and foremost concern was the steering system. Reliability is key, and our steering was not up to par. Three specific issues required our immediate attention.
The first was the jog levers, or None Follow Up (NFU) steering option, which turned to Port on both Helms but not Starboard. It was great for a circular course but little else. We are not the Bismark. Our suspicion was wiring, confirmed in a conversation with Wills Ridley once we'd eliminated the other potential causes. True enough, two hidden connectors had gone rogue, and the problem was eliminated. We also locally checked and labeled all the different connections for future reference.
The second was a continuous hunting +/- about 3 degrees. Wasteful of energy and will, at some point, wear out the whole system. Having exhausted the possibilities of it being a software issue, we eventually noticed that the Autopilot rudder angle indicator had been secured to the starboard rudder. This is a slave unit; the port rudder is controlled, with the Starboard following being hydraulically locked in most situations. So we had "Port rudder/Stbd rudder/Furuno RAI/Stbd rudder/Port rudder" as the feedback loop. It looked like an opportunity for lag and hysteresis errors. Moving the RAI to the Port rudder shortened the feedback to a direct Port/RAI/Port loop. And yes, our hunting disappeared as if by magic!
The third action item was to confirm that the rudders had been set up correctly, and now we'd cured that hunting. Two tests were planned, the first to see if Vanguard could keep a straight course (without Autopilot) and if the Toe in/Toe out or relative angle between the rudders had been set up correctly. We used the Praxis steering control system to adjust each rudder dynamically. Firstly, our course was a slow turn to Starboard. So one rudder was inched to Port until she ran true. Then, we electronically set the zero-degree point. We then locked the engine throttles and adjusted the relative angle between the rudders while monitoring the speed over the ground. At first, the speed was reduced by about 0.1KN, which we surmised made the setting worse—moving the setting the other way increased speed from 7.7/7.8KN to a steady 8.0KN. The rudders were now pointed inwards at their leading edge by an additional 3 degrees, and the wake was noticeably less turbulent. No improvement was seen beyond this, so we also locked that setting electronically.
It was a good day. My wife Sebrina got to see the coast and relax on the flybridge, our son went "Zulu" on the Tender for a few hours, the NFU jog lever now functions on both helms, the steering hunting has been eradicated. We've even gained an additional 0.25kN of speed at 8.0KN without any extra cost! We can now also commission our Dynamic Positioning system, but that's for another blog.
Next on the list is our Delfin watermaker. It's unreliable, leaks salt and fresh water, rust internally and has a lousy backup. I've personified our relationship, and it's at the level of hate.
This week's highlight was a visit from my friend John Johnson, aka "Yacht Buoy". His video and YouTube channel can be found at this link. More in this next week.: