Selfsteering gear ..

[dcstrng]

Thanks for all the pointers on the Hydrovane v. others. I admit cost was an initial factor in my thinking, but I also saw on Vemeo or Youtube where someone had rigged a tiller-AP to a HV for powering and that seemed suggest that type could be quite versatile with a bit of ingenuity. I had previously thought that they had to be on centerline, but I see both Hydrovane and Pacific Plus indicate off-center is okay too – don’t want to lose my swim-ladder (grandkids would rebel).

[hpeer]

FWIW if you are interested in self steering, my aux rudder design came out of this book.

https://www.amazon.com/Wind-Vane-Sel.../dp/1877197009

[dcstrng]

Had to chuckle -- I have his 1982 book, but had forgotten... now to just find time to get back in the shop...

[newhaul]

These articles may be relevant for some
https://www.bwsailing.com/cc/a-guide...th-a-windvane/

https://www.riggingdoctor.com/life-a...-self-steering

[Hesti]

Ok, some feedback on what happened.

All this is more than a year ago now - we found an elderly Windpilot Pacific and it has worked fine for us cruising approx. 2.000 Nm last summer on a 29 ft Hanse.

As some of the linkages of the pacific were not very tight any more, I had a few doubts if it would perform well. I ran out of time to refurbish it, so I put it on the boat as it was and (more or less) jury rigged the steering lines - and it worked well. It is a great relief when standing watch single handed as you can concentrate on looking and do not need to concentrate all the time on keeping course. You have two hands free, can push buttons on the plotter or look at the chart. It was even possible to go below for a short moment when needed once I had a good look around and found everything clear.

When motoring, we used a tiller pilot, but when sailing, it was the wind steering.

Our battery would not have supported a tiller pilot through a night sailing, with the wind steering no problem.

[Seymore]

Originally Posted by gjordan

Hesti, what type of boat do you have? I am a big believer in windvanes and have about 15K miles of use. I have had 2 Aries previously and have my third waiting to go on my boat when it goes in the water. There are many brands that will work OK. I bought another Aries because I have liked the way they worked for me before, but Monitor, Cape Horn, Fleming and several others will all do the job. If you have an electrical failure on a boat with a windvane, you are inconvenienced but if you have an electrical failure on a boat with only an autopilot, you will probably learn what exhaustion at sea means. I have nothing against autopilots but knowing how dodgy electricity can be, I prefer the mechanical device. Just my opinion. _____Grant.

+1. The only windvanes that work are the servopendulums, as listed above.

My boat came with a Sayes Rig. It would not steer the boat and, after the first (1200 mile) voyage, the second thing I did was to throw the thing in the garbage and get a Cape Horn servopendulum. It has worked well.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Seymore

+1. The only windvanes that work are the servopendulums, as listed above.

My boat came with a Sayes Rig. It would not steer the boat and, after the first (1200 mile) voyage, the second thing I did was to throw the thing in the garbage and get a Cape Horn servopendulum. It has worked well.

...and the first thing??

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Seymore

+1. The only windvanes that work are the servopendulums, as listed above.

My boat came with a Sayes Rig. It would not steer the boat and, after the first (1200 mile) voyage, the second thing I did was to throw the thing in the garbage and get a Cape Horn servopendulum. It has worked well.

Odd... we had a pal with a W-32 back in SF and his Sayes rig steered her to Mexico and back. He was quite enthusiastic about its performance.

And no, servo pendula are not the only windvanes that will steer your boat. My home designed and built aux rudder w/trim tab steered our previous boat somewhere around 60,000 plus miles of the 86,000 that we logged in her. Most of the rest were at the command of a simple Autohelm 3000 wheel pilot, and that steered her as well And one must not forget the well known and popular Hydrovane aux rudder system, as used by several boats in the GGR (where several servo pendulum vanes failed).

And finally, when you think about it, the Sayes rig IS a servo pendulum device. It just uses a different linkage between servo and ship's rudder.

Jim

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Seymore

+1. The only windvanes that work are the servopendulums, as listed above.

Ah... and there was me thinking there were other sorts of windvanes that work.

Someone had better let Hydrovane know they are out of business.

Really, what a profoundly silly statement

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Seymore

+1. The only windvanes that work are the servopendulums, as listed above.
.....

Really?

I didn't know that..............................

[Michael Cobbe]

The only windvanes that work are the servopendulums, as listed above.

I am not sure about that when long distance sailing, 10,000nms, the vane I saw most was the Hydrovane, which we had. I have seen an Aries that has been locked solid by dissimalar metals.

[Don C L]

And what about the trusty QME windvane??:

[newhaul]

Then there is mine sheet to tiller using an old jib off a snipe . And no holes to drill in the transom .

[barnakiel]

We have one that is not a servo pendulum. And yet ... it works just as well.


It is also a Windpilot btw.


b.

[roverhi]

Originally Posted by Michael Cobbe

The only windvanes that work are the servopendulums, as listed above.

I am not sure about that when long distance sailing, 10,000nms, the vane I saw most was the Hydrovane, which we had. I have seen an Aries that has been locked solid by dissimalar metals.

In my experience Aries don't get locked solid by dissimilar metal corrosion. The fasteners and SS axles may get frozen in place but the vane will still steer fine just don't try and take it apart without a press.

The nylon bearings are what locked up our Aries. For some reason they expanded and bound the pendulum servo rudder so it wouldn't turn under the direction of the Wind vane. Took the thing apart in the Marquesas, carved our the nylon bearings with a pocket knife so they were no longer binding and we were back in business. Later borrowed a hand reamer and cleaned up the down and dirty carving I'd done with knife. The vane went to SoPac twice more with the couple we sold the boat to.

Really like the course change mechanism of the Aries. Each click of mechanism changed the course by about 6 degrees which was fine for a sailboat. Ran lines for the course change up both sides of the deck so I could steer the vane's course anywhere from stem to stern. The course change mechanisms on other vanes that run over sheaves haven't worked for beans because the lines keep falling off the sheaves unless kept perfectly tensioned.