huggy1
Active Member
hi. could someone please tell me why windvanes have a means of adjusting the vane part of the winvane. ie, moving it forward and back, putting it in an angled position instead of straight up. thanks. huggy.
vane positioning on an aries windvane.
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sailorman
Well-Known Member
reducing its power???
huggy1
Active Member
its hard to get my head around. i should have a play. i made the wooden vane myself with no template so im not sure if its the right size or weight. also how should it be set? if it is vertical, should it be straight up and be able to be pushed over with the very minimum amount of force?
sailorman
Well-Known Member
wot make is it.
if the vane is tilted it would reduce to lenght og its leverage thus damping it action
if the vane is tilted it would reduce to lenght og its leverage thus damping it action
VARNE
Well-Known Member
Horizontal windvane--------Straight up in light airs, then progressively tilted back as wind increases.
www.windpilot.com is an excellent source of info. Can even download a free book which explains all you might want to know.
www.windpilot.com is an excellent source of info. Can even download a free book which explains all you might want to know.
huggy1
Active Member
aries
sailorman
Well-Known Member
Scotty_Tradewind
Well-Known Member
Hi Huggy, I have a Monitor but the principal of tilting the vane back in stronger winds makes sense. The Monitor I have, has two vanes, large and small. The large very lightweight one, similar to a model aircraft wing in manufacture, I use for light airs and for running downwind, the smaller one made of a light wood for stronger winds which I tend to use when the wind is abeem or in front of the mast. Scotty.
Poignard
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
i made the wooden vane myself with no template so im not sure if its the right size or weight.
[/ QUOTE ]
I have a Monitor and one thing that the makers stress is that the vane must be very light. The ones they supply are made of some very lightweight double skinned plastic. The instruction book gives details of how to make an emergency replacement from thin plywood and most of the centre part of the ply has to be cut out and replaced by fabric to keep the weight down.
i made the wooden vane myself with no template so im not sure if its the right size or weight.
[/ QUOTE ]
I have a Monitor and one thing that the makers stress is that the vane must be very light. The ones they supply are made of some very lightweight double skinned plastic. The instruction book gives details of how to make an emergency replacement from thin plywood and most of the centre part of the ply has to be cut out and replaced by fabric to keep the weight down.
G
Guest
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Post deleted by danfoley
Conachair
Guest
Mine is 6mm marine ply. Almost rectangular, 920mm long, 175mm at the bottom and 205mm at the top with each corner cut off by about 50mm. Great bits of kit. I read that in strong winds you angle it back a bit but mine lives vertical. I use steel wire rope bulldog grips instead of knotting the control line and have a little turnbuckle each side of chain which attaches to the tiller. Easy to adjust. Little bit of slack in the control line seems to help in light airs.
huggy1
Active Member
cheers all. you have given me some really useful info and i think i will be able to make it perform much better now. thanks again. huggy.
Poignard
Well-Known Member
I don't know if this helps but it comes from the instruction manual for the Hydrovane:
[ QUOTE ]
Vane Angle Settings - If the Hydrovane is responding too slowly, under steering, then finally catching up by over steering, try raising the vane – make it more responsive/sensitive/powerful by putting it in the vertical position. Conversely, if the vessel is over steering with each correction being too dramatic, then de-sensitize/de-power the vane by further inclining it. The vane should have an easy waving motion - not stuck without moving nor banging from side to side - something in between.
[/ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Vane Angle Settings - If the Hydrovane is responding too slowly, under steering, then finally catching up by over steering, try raising the vane – make it more responsive/sensitive/powerful by putting it in the vertical position. Conversely, if the vessel is over steering with each correction being too dramatic, then de-sensitize/de-power the vane by further inclining it. The vane should have an easy waving motion - not stuck without moving nor banging from side to side - something in between.
[/ QUOTE ]
DownWest
Well-Known Member
Somewhere I have a book on the design of windvanes, IIRR the optimum angle is 10º back and it is a question of sensitivity. More sensitive the lower the angle.i.e. more vertical.
A
A
Gunfleet
Well-Known Member
I've got an Aries vane (the top bit) in a cupboard. I could run a pencil round it and send you the outline if you want. They're made of ply - 1/4 inch or so, but I can measure it.
BobE
Well-Known Member
Firstly mine's not an Aries but is a Hoizontal axis servo rig...
As I understand it one sets up the vane vertically,and then if the steering is over acting you reduce the vane area or angle the thing so that the moment of the vane is just under the righting moment of the counter balance arm...
I have actually sofar made a total of 3 extra vanes 2 with approx identical centres of gravity but vastly different in area ... The idea was to improve downwind vane performance ... and it seems to help...
However the first one I made had a much higher cg and was a complete failure but proved interesting ... It was simply an extended version of the standard (original) vane. It was much much more sensitive due to increased area and of course a higher CG... But once it moved significantly off vertical it didn't come back 'cause the counter balance moment was not powerful enough.....this meant that we proceeded in graceful curves and most of the time actually tried to do 360 degrees!!
I actually have a very large light vane made from a plastic loop which has a sailcloth sock stretched over it and is mounted on about 6 inches of ply similar to the bottom of the standard vane...
This works really well in light conditions ... Of course it's better to windward ...
If wind strength drops too low to operate theis one then it's fire up the trusty Bukh and set up the Autohelm ( provided its not raining...)
Changing vanes whilst under way is a doddle on my unit just loosen the wing nut which secures it, remove vane and slid in the replacement...
Oh BTW I'm messing about with a large medical/ surgical glove on the Autohelm cut off the tip of the index finger and fasten it to the shaft as near to the seal as poss at full retract...
Looks promising.... Every time I get an Autohelm failure the message comes back " Water ingress"
There you go just my 2 old penny worth
Happy New Year and hope for much much better weather this time pound...
Cheers Bob E..
As I understand it one sets up the vane vertically,and then if the steering is over acting you reduce the vane area or angle the thing so that the moment of the vane is just under the righting moment of the counter balance arm...
I have actually sofar made a total of 3 extra vanes 2 with approx identical centres of gravity but vastly different in area ... The idea was to improve downwind vane performance ... and it seems to help...
However the first one I made had a much higher cg and was a complete failure but proved interesting ... It was simply an extended version of the standard (original) vane. It was much much more sensitive due to increased area and of course a higher CG... But once it moved significantly off vertical it didn't come back 'cause the counter balance moment was not powerful enough.....this meant that we proceeded in graceful curves and most of the time actually tried to do 360 degrees!!
I actually have a very large light vane made from a plastic loop which has a sailcloth sock stretched over it and is mounted on about 6 inches of ply similar to the bottom of the standard vane...
This works really well in light conditions ... Of course it's better to windward ...
If wind strength drops too low to operate theis one then it's fire up the trusty Bukh and set up the Autohelm ( provided its not raining...)
Changing vanes whilst under way is a doddle on my unit just loosen the wing nut which secures it, remove vane and slid in the replacement...
Oh BTW I'm messing about with a large medical/ surgical glove on the Autohelm cut off the tip of the index finger and fasten it to the shaft as near to the seal as poss at full retract...
Looks promising.... Every time I get an Autohelm failure the message comes back " Water ingress"
There you go just my 2 old penny worth
Happy New Year and hope for much much better weather this time pound...
Cheers Bob E..
