self steering without a wind vane

[deep denial]

I am interested in rigging this sort of thing up, as my boat has a canoe stern and low mizzen boom, so a wind vane is probably out. I have looked at several sites, including this one

and this one

and a couple of things puzzle me: Firstly they both say that with sails set, sailing upwind, if the boat comes further into the wind then the pressure on the boom increases - surely if you start to luff then the pressure on the boom should decrease, and converesely increase if you bear away? And secondly, what happens if there are gusts? Surely the system would interpret this as a change in direction - how can this possibly work, although it seems to on the video!

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

I have used this system for years for fun, on and off, sailing in the Solent. It works very well but you need to get familiar with the system and of course, all boats behave differently. Once you become familiar, then it works very well and adjustments are as shown in the videos. The boat I was using it on was a heavy 31ft and I used primarily the genoa for sheet to tiller. It work in all points of sailing, however, the problem is when the wind is gusting; the boat will correct immediately but it will snake through the water a bit. I could steer hands free for hours.

Why people don't use this method is because they give up within the first hour, however, once you have prepared the elastics (I used surgical elastic bungee; cheap from ebay) and attachments to a couple of blocks then it can be fun and virtually free. My current boat has wheel steering which is more difficult to apply; but I intend to have a go for fun and give a bit of a break to the raymarine autopilot. Good luck.

 

[steve350]

they say that with sails set, sailing upwind, if the boat comes further into the wind then the pressure on the boom increases - surely if you start to luff then the pressure on the boom should decrease, and converesely increase if you bear away?
[/QU

I think you refer to the John Letcher method of steering with the boom providing feedback to the tiller, ie pulling the tiller to windward thus causing the boat to bear away. My take on this method is that with the boat balanced it maintains it course. In a gust the boats tendency to round up due to weather helm is cancelled out by pressure on the main (boom) exerting an increased pull on the tiller. It does seem counter intuitive though doesn't it. Check out this guy in the link, he demonstates and describes the method.

 

[jwilson]

On several boats without autopilots I found it easy to self-steer to windward with either tiller completely lashed or a piece of elastic pullng it steadily to weather. Sheet genoa very slightly tighter than ideal and ease mainsheet slightly. Not quite as fast as hand steering but works for hours of making food, navigating etc.

Off wind on a reach leading genoa sheet through blocks to windward side of tiller, pulling against elastic to leeward works though inevitably a fairly S-shaped course. As boat luffs increased apparent wind increases sheet tension, forcing a bear away. If too far offwind genoa get blanketed, apparent wind force drops and the elastic causes a luff. up. Not much use for hour after hour on end, but better to keep a boat going vaguely in the right offwind direction whilst you do something else rather than heaving to.

Shock cord bad as elastic, physio/gym rubber strips much better.

I never found a reliable dead downwind solution for an ordinary main and headsail rig without an autopilot or a proper vane gear. If I'd had two full genoas or matched jibs and two poles I'm sure a variant of sheet to tiller could work well.

 

[V1701]

What boat do you have if you don't mind me asking. If it's long keel & tiller steered even playing around with a couple of jamming cleats on the tiller & some elastic will buy you time to go below to cook dinner...