Anyone mount a self steering vane on a cat?

[aliddell]

I am previously a monohull sailor and am considering a cat. I have two reservations: one is I am a big fan of self steering vanes ( I had an Aries on my last boat and don't know what I would have done without it). Second is the bridle for anchoring. I chartered a cat in Belize and the bridle thing was a pain...when I had to let out scope in the middle of the night in a blow. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Factor]

Re vanes, not usually on multis, two reasons, firstly on a reasonable performing boat, the apparent wind angles move too quickly and it becomes a self defeating system and secondly, mounting position usually uses up one of the transoms and is in a shadowed location, havent seen one work on a boat that sails well.

Bridles are simple and easy if set up correctly and if the anchor system is sensible.

[DotDun]

On the bridle issue....use all chain, put out a 5:1 scope, and sleep all night!

[muskoka]

On anchoring: We normally let out the maximum, bridle it, then drop about 3-4 meters of chain to act as a 'chum'. That greatly reduces the angle of the chain to the seabed and acts as a damper.

And why not let out all the scope in the first place? It's not doing you any good in the anchor locker.

[baggingrays]

i saw a catamaran with a wind vane mounted on it in the caribbean. it was a european boat with a european manufactured windvane. i had never heard of the vane before. the owner of the cat liked the vane and said it worked well on his boat and would recommend it, but unfortunately i dont have the product name. he did use it on his atlantic crossing