By request - The Thoughts of Old Varnish

[Salty John]

Excellent. Really enjoyed the blog, too.

 

[oldvarnish]

Yes this was a slight surprise to me.

Although I havn't done thousands of miles with my Monitor being used the majority of the time, I have no visible chafe on the original lines after 8 years without shortening them at the servo end, using the Monitor on both my Twister and now on the Tradewind.


OV,.....Did you manage to balance your boat o.k. with the Monitor when downwind? Were there any tricks to doing so?

Did you use any other auto steering systems, and what were your power sources, windmill? Solar?

thanks
S.

It's possible I changed the lines more often that necessary on the basis that if they're going to fail it will be at the worst possible moment. i used dyneema lines and it was the outer braid that chafed through - the inner core looked intact. The chafe was where the lines emerge over the blocks at the top of the arms.

No problems with downwind but if using the parasail or a poled out genoa I wouldn 't have had the main up.

Had an Autohelm 6000 (?) but only used for entering and leaving harbour so no power issues. My solar was v effective, but if it's not going to work in the tropics, where will it work?.

 

[oldvarnish]

Well his Lopolight nav lights did fail and AFAIK Lopolight aren't exactly cheap.

I have now recovered the Lopolight and will return it and see what happens. I'll report back.

 

[Little Five]

Had a similar problem which we solved by sewing on leather sleeves to the affected areas. These lasted well and also helped to pass time

 

[EwanClark]

Excellent blog. And I'm pleased to hear that the Coppercoat worked well. Maybe not perfect - but what else could have coped with this 18,000 mile epic and faired better!? And, after just a lift and clean, be ready to go again without needing to be replaced?