Mister Vane Experiences?

[KenMcCulloch]

Hi, not planning on joining the next JC voyage but thought there may be people on here who can advise. I am thinking about windvane steering for my Folkboat and wondered if anyone had experience of using a MisterVane system they would care to share?

 

[Gargleblaster]

I notice no-one has replied to you Ken. In my view it may be that no-one has anything positive to say.

For instance CPD or Centaur Pipedream as he used to be has replied to another thread with:

[ QUOTE ]
I got to the Azores and back with pretty much tiller pilots all the way and running the engine perhaps every other day to top up the battery. Perfectly feasible.

[/ QUOTE ]

Pipedream had a Mr Vane steering system I believe. Mr Vane seems to be a work in development great concept but doesn't seem to perform as well as some of the established brands. For instance I love my Windpilot Pacific Light [German] as she never lets me down and has proved herself in all situations except no wind at all. But they are probably getting a bit expensive now with the Euro rising against the pound but then so is Mr Vane coming out of the Netherlands.

 

[CPD]

I found, during prep trips and JAC08 that I spent too much time with my head over the stern fiddling and worrying that I moved to the fall-back plan of tiller pilots. Mr.Vane is a great idea but I couldn't apply the same comments that John and others made of their systems to mine. Certainly my system would need fairly substantial "beefing up" before I would consider another similar trip using it as the only means of self steering.

To be fair however I do know that Mr.Vane has produced an updated model (mine was a development model) and I can't comment on the update.

 

[BlackPig]

What have you done with your Mr Vane system?

 

[CPD]

My Mr.Vane sits on the back of Pipedream and will be removed prior to her (Pipedream's) impending sale. If there is an offer in the air then feel free to pm.

 

[Noddy]

You can call it vane if you want, but I think that some pale lipstick and some light eye make up can look good on a guy!

......that was too weird wasn't it?