Is there a reasonably priced windvane?

[markloudin]

test post

[markloudin]

Purchased and mounted WindyVane (28' cutter) - 2021; the vane is excellent in design, fabrication, material engineering, and the shipping container is professional. the company owner designed, builds, and uses the vane. The company is always available for product support and advice

I have no affiliation with the company, and with this as a disclaimer:

The WindyVane was purchased after review of design, and price, and after correspondence with company. The relative size of the mounting bracket allow versatility in mounting configurations, with minimal changes to boat, e.g. 4 bolt bracket and addition of snatch blocks - up and running.

For most of us, purchasing and mounting/testing a self steering vane is a big! deal! This is a good vane without some absurd price, poor materials, over complicated design, and pissy company to deal with.

The vane performs well, having used it offshore and recently 4 day, solo, Gulf Stream passage from Fort Pierce to Charleston. It is so cool and relaxing to wake up to a boat on course. The vane does well downwind. There are mount pictures and vid clip URL below.



https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/f...fI9Pq550HD3i03

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHkXHnPaxbI

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Windpilot

The oar on the unit does flip up if struck, look closely, single bolt.
The mount is not under stress, most all modern windvanes use that small footprint except monitor/aries, which is most likely only due to its older design.

I'm not trying to pick on this device but my experience tell me that some of the engineering of this device is insufficient.

Flip up oar:
OK I see that a single bolt holds the oar to the leg and the oar could pivot up if it strikes something, such as a log. Assuming that thestril did not break the wooden oar, then the next problem is putting the oar back down. How does one do that?

Small Footprint mount:
Yes, some other vanes have a similar sized mounting bracket, however I have found that with a moderate sized vessel, say over 35 feet, if sailing downwind in heavy air, the tiller (or wheel), the steering loads can get quite high. When the oar is rotated to apply a correction to the steering the tension on the control lines is where the load winds up, and the force is transferred to the extended arms and the mounting. A wide base for mounting spreads the load.

In my opinion this windvane is only suiited to smaller boats not being pushed in heavy air, and high speeds, or big waves.

I don't say this lightly but a sailor at sea, sailing shorthanded, will suffer if his windvane cannot handle the conditions and breaks.

[Adelie]

MrVee Y&B

[Windpilot]

Flip up oar: the next problem is putting the oar back down. How does one do that?

Small Footprint mount:
[/QUOTE]

I would unclip my steering lines for slack and just flip the oar up 180 degrees to eye level. Worst case I need to slow the boat down if the oar (aluminum) is still in the water. When straight and tight again, I just drop it back in, clip lines to wheel drum. Can't do that on the big footprint models. I've never had mine hit & flip up, caught plenty of seaweed which could lead to the same drill as above.
A servo pendulum comes no where close to stressing the hull like an auxiliary rudder would which needs a substantial base.
Disclosure, I did work a bit for a Windpilot wind vane in Hamburg in the late 90's. I sail with a Pacific model but I am no way pushing a sale, my interest is in the different designs as a hobby. And with permission from the company I named my boat Windpilot.

I was hoping someone would comment on that sailing video above. Anyone notice the the wind vane pushed solidly to starboard. never moving while the tiller was stuck centerline ?

[etoimene]

If you really want cheaper - DIY maybe https://bandbyachtdesigns.com/windvane is worth investigating.
I have no affiliation to these guys. Ran across them when I was searching for nesting dinghy.

[SVTatia]

Originally Posted by Windpilot

...
I would unclip my steering lines for slack and just flip the oar up 180 degrees to eye level. Worst case I need to slow the boat down if the oar (aluminum) is still in the water. When straight and tight again, I just drop it back in, clip lines to wheel drum. Can't do that on the big footprint models. I've never had mine hit & flip up, caught plenty of seaweed which could lead to the same drill as above....

Well described, and this is what I would do to fix. To flip up the oar the boat has to be at 2 knots or less, and the Windy rotates 360 degrees, so it would come straight up to fix as you mentioned.
The ability of the oar to flip all the way up is one of the reasons that the Windpilot was the only windvane that survived without damage the knockdowns on boats abandoned during GGR 2018.

…A servo pendulum comes no where close to stressing the hull like an auxiliary rudder would which needs a substantial base.

100% correct. The Windpilot, Sailomat, Voyager, Windy and several others use a small footprint mount with thousands of miles behind them.

…I was hoping someone would comment on that sailing video above. Anyone notice the the wind vane pushed solidly to starboard. never moving while the tiller was stuck centerline ?

It seems to me that the vane is pointed incorrectly and the boat is sailing itself. Even after the arm moved slightly to the center, I saw no tiller movement.