Budget wind instruments

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catalac08

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Hi
thinking of getting a cheap wind system and options at the moment seem to be a new (old stock) raymarine st 40 or perhaps a NASA clipper. I have followed different posts over a period of time that leads me to think that all wind instrument transducers are short lived. The Raymarine seems to have better features such as a max wind speed warning (you set the level you want to be warned about) and a locked apparent wind angle but I am not sure that replacement parts are available.
Any views on the two contenders I have listed or other ideas about wind instruments, makes, problems etc would be appreciated.
 
Normally I'm an advocate for NASA.

We opted for a NASA - to match the rest of the instruments, especially the METEOMAN barometer.
Two seasons later we were faced with replacing the anemometer cups. The material does not seem to be up to the UV and weather that they are exposed to.
Not a cheap or easy job - took two lifts with the crane at £75 a go! And NASA want £14 for the bit plus postage. This makes the cost of ownership at least £45 a year.
Also a very fiddly little nut to try and remove when up the mast.

That could justify buying a very expensive unit.

My suggestion is to buy on the basis of the quality of the masthead unit - really disappointed with NASA product and their response to my complaint.
 
The transducers are not all short lived, but are vulnerable.
If I was choosing a wind direction instrument, I would be asking what its resolution was. I don't think the Nasa one is very good, compared to the 1 degree of many others?
Worth checking out IMHO.
I've had othe NASA bits and found them OK and good value for money.
 
I've had a variety of makes and models of wind instruments in various boats over the years, and my experience is that the sooner or later the masthead units give trouble one way or another. This is trouble just where you don't want it, sometimes accompanied by unsoporific nightly noises coming down the mast. After the last failure I resolved to be satisfied with a simple Windex in future, and so I have been.
 
I'm undecided whether to fit a wind instrument on KS, but if I did it would be one of the solid-state ultrasound ones. I initially looked into them because it will look unobtrusive on my old-fashioned wooden mast, but I also like the idea of having no moving parts up the mast.

Possibly not appropriate in a thread labelled "budget" - they needn't be extortionate, but they're not the cheapest either.

Pete
 
the raymarine rotovecta is pretty much bullet proof and I have found the system to be excellent with good response to change and accurate direction. I use it for cruising so the accruacy of direction is not mega paramount. I had one period of concern when it stopped during a light wind sail but I put it down to an eagle eyed seagul who managed to s**t right on it! a good blow and it cleared itself! They seem quite robust and when measured against other systems seem to be quite accurate.
 
prv said:
I'm undecided whether to fit a wind instrument on KS, but if I did it would be one of the solid-state ultrasound ones. I initially looked into them because it will look unobtrusive on my old-fashioned wooden mast, but I also like the idea of having no moving parts up the mast.

Possibly not appropriate in a thread labelled "budget" - they needn't be extortionate, but they're not the cheapest either.

Pete
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prv, please can you name one, or some of this type of unit. I have not heard of them before.

Thanks, Mike
 
smeaks said:
the raymarine rotovecta is pretty much bullet proof and I have found the system to be excellent with good response to change and accurate direction. I use it for cruising so the accruacy of direction is not mega paramount. I had one period of concern when it stopped during a light wind sail but I put it down to an eagle eyed seagul who managed to s**t right on it! a good blow and it cleared itself! They seem quite robust and when measured against other systems seem to be quite accurate.
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Had a rotovecta on the last boat- wouldnt have one again - V unstable output, always needed recalibrating etc.
Got an ST50 on this boat so quite old and still going strong.

Not sure you need 1 degree accuracy - no one can steer to that and does it matter if the wind is from 270 or 271'??
 
dmmbruce said:
prv, please can you name one, or some of this type of unit. I have not heard of them before.
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The specific one I have in mind is the LCJ Capteurs CV3F: www.lcjcapteurs.com/fichierpdf_lcj/Brochure_CV3F_GB_110706.pdf . Seems to be about the £400 mark. EchoPilot sell it as a system with an LCD display, although I'd really rather have a moving needle one (can't seem to find a moving-needle that takes NMEA input).

As I said, not really "budget", but better than the £1000+ that I have seen for other makes.

Pete
 
Raymarine vs NASA

I've repaired both Raymarine and NASA masthead units and without doubt the Raymarine is streets ahead in mechanical construction and robustness (... is that a word???). The NASA cups spin on a shaft of steel and, in my experience, have a habit of blowing away whereas the Raymarine head has a nice set of ballbearings and a much more solid construction. The NASA cups are rigid and flimsy, the Raymarine ones have some flexibility and can take the odd knock. Unfortunately, you then look at the price and discover why one is more rugged...
 
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BAtoo said:
Had a rotovecta on the last boat- wouldnt have one again - V unstable output, always needed recalibrating etc.
Got an ST50 on this boat so quite old and still going strong.

Not sure you need 1 degree accuracy - no one can steer to that and does it matter if the wind is from 270 or 271'??
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If you are going to use it for closehauled indication, I think it needs to register a difference between 18deg apparent and 20deg apparent, so anything much coarser is too vague. It depends what you want to use it for. I find it nice when racing to be able to hand over the helm and say ' try to keep it around 20 degrees apparent' for instance, it can help the new helm get up to speed quicker. You can also make more sensible notes around performance, and discuss it more exactly. If you want to calculate true wind vectors, you need good data going in.
Even cruising it is useful to be able to give a novice helm a point of reference.

If you only want a rough idea of direction from the electronics because you go sailing to get away from doing things by numbers, I can understand that too!

A navlight that lights up a wind hawk and a pencil beam torch that will illuminate tell tales on the jib are more important than the numbers.
 
lw395 said:
If you only want a rough idea of direction from the electronics because you go sailing to get away from doing things by numbers, I can understand that too!
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In my case it's strength I'm after more than direction, as I'm rubbish at estimating windspeed even at Beaufort resolution :). I have no difficulty deciding when to reef, the behaviour of the boat tells me that, but everything else is basically guesswork :) Always been a bit of a gap.

Direction I tell by the burgee, and will continue to do so even if I get a machine.

Pete
 
Wind instruments

I inherited a Raymarine st40 wind system with my boat bought this year. It was fitted 2 years ago. About a month ago the direction function stopped working although the speed still seems accurate. I've tried recalibrating it several times which all seems OK except that it doesn't retain the calibration. I don't really use the direction function but it will be on my list to talk to Raymarine about at the show next week
 
catalac08 said:
Hi
Any views on the two contenders I have listed or other ideas about wind instruments, makes, problems etc would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Fitted a NASA unit three years ago and still working fine, one of the best bits of kit I have bought,however before I bought it I also checked with Nasa,Tick Tack,Raymarine etc before fitting it on a mast ontop of the pullpit rail, they ALL said I would get at worst a wind deviation of about 1mph, so what I am not in a race its a motorsailer, and I can replace the cups in 10 minutes!

Mike

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So how long have you had your Nasa kit for? 4 years, wow! The Raymarine St 50 I have on our boat was fitted in 1993, its had 3 sets of cups! Buy cheap, buy twice.
 
I agree, my ST50 wind is apparently on the way out, no speed reading, and I have been lookin at the cheaper Tactic because of the mast wiring problems, and at the prices quoted at the moment may well work out less costly in the long term than NASA which in my experience needs more spent to keep it working.
 
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