Wind vane/autopilot combination

[davec]

In Peter Forthmann's book on self-steering, he suggests using a small tiller-pilot attached to the wind vane. Has anyone tried this? Does it work satisfactorily?

Is a tiller-pilot as durable as it's much more expensive built in cousin?

 

[Goldie]

I seem to recall that the late and much missed Geoff Pack described it as his ideal set-up for long distance cruising. I think that this was after an Atlantic crossing in his 41ft Cat. As to reliability, with tiller pilots available from under £200, take a couple of spares and still save thousands compared with a permanently plumbed in, high spec system! On a servo-pendulum system, the power is generated by the servo blade so your tiller pilot activating the vane would consume very little electricity compared with a pure electric autopilot system. a major bonus. I commend it to the house....

 

[Stingo]

Was told by the manufacturer of a well known windvane that using a tiller pilot is particularly useful in very light winds because no windvane will work well if wind driven in light airs - tends to flop about much like your sails do.

He was specifically talking about using a tiller pilot to drive the windvane and not the tiller.

 

[charles_reed]

Put it into context.

Peter's suggestion is eminently practicable, using the servo-paddle to boost the thrust of the autopilot.
It is really only of practical value when you're looking at really large boats >40' where the autopilots on offer are getting close to the limit of their thrust.
Autopilots cost <£1000, decent servopaddle wind-vanes start >£3000. In terms of cost-effectiveness it's not really viable.
I have both on my boat - the vane is great away from coastal waters and in windspeeds >8 knots, the rest of the time I use the 4000ST direct-acting on the tiller.

 

[Opinionated]

Me ditto: Autohelm 4000+, low wind conditions, Monitor for anything else.

BUT!! a/p operating direct on tiller takes juice from batteries in proportion to load. In the case of tiller as load, this will be far higher than a/p acting as if windvane as the servopaddle is balanced and very light load. So, if you are doing the ARC, say, use the a/p instead of windvane. This will keep the drain down, and the boat more stable if the wind is aft and light.

This comment applies only if you have both. If you are considering which to buy, buy and a/p first.

(I don't have to agree with YOUR opinions, but I'll defend your right to express them).

 

[cp99]

Hydrovane

Buy a Hydrovane windvane and the tiller pilot arm is built-in. It´s designed in from the start. It works a dream on centre cockpit boats that don´t have a tiller. This set-up uses far less power than attaching the tillerpilot to the boat´s main tiller/rudder. An Autohelm etc will use 5 amps or so on full load, but only 1 amp or so using this system, as there is very little load on the Hydrovane rudder since: 1. it is fully-balanced, and 2. weather helm is 'dialled-out' by setting the ship´s rudder first, and locking it to reduce initial steering loads at the windvane rudder to zero. Always protect your tillerpilot with a plastic or other type of cover - they are in no sense of the word waterproof.