Steersman
New member
Just curious to know, what type of self steering do catamaran and trimaran owners use, and how effective are they for cruising?
On Snow Leopard I have a hydraulic Autohelm 5000. It does a reasonable job and I rarely steer on passage. Despite many frustrating hours trying to tune it, it still wanders 5-10 degrees either side of the course so not very good to windward.
Phil Weld lost a tri in mid atlantic due to acceleration - the boat started to surf down a big sea and the acceleration brought the apparent wind forward rapidly. The wind vane put the helm hard over to bring the wind aft and the boat capsized over what had been the windward outrigger. A combination of centrifugal force and a sudden gybe were enough to flip it. Moral - pure wind vane gears are dangerous on light fast multis.
It is a well known fact that servo windvanes don't work in fast multihulls but slow and heavy cruising ones should be fine.Hi Snowleopard
While agree with you in a way. The experience you describe is extreme, and I should think most yachties would be in harbour under those conditions. I don't think you can completely rule out windvane systems on the basis of that one experience. Like electric systems, they have their limitations.
Just curious to know, what type of self steering do catamaran and trimaran owners use, and how effective are they for cruising?
Hi Snowleopard
While agree with you in a way. The experience you describe is extreme, and I should think most yachties would be in harbour under those conditions. I don't think you can completely rule out windvane systems on the basis of that one experience. Like electric systems, they have their limitations.
Just curious to know, what type of self steering do catamaran and trimaran owners use, and how effective are they for cruising?
Auto helm driving the wheel. Like another person on board at times.
I guess a small lightweight trimaran would be tossed around like a cork, but a larger one would have a degree of stability because of the greater weight, and hence momentum which would tend to keep it on a straighter course.