Wind Vanes - Do they work as well as we would like?

michael_w said:
IMHO Harken blocks with ball bearings are required for pendulum servo tiller/wheel lines. They also come with a lifetime guarantee. If it breaks, they replace.
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We dont use ball bearing blocks for our wheel lines. Never had a problem or felt the need. It may be that the Windpilot is so powerful its not necessary. We do use dyneema line and keep the lines quite tight
 
Ohlin Karcher said:
Very interesting, why Harken in particular?
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I was a Harken OEM and used Harken 3" hi-loads on my Monitor, but they weren't ideal. Like a lot of hi load and limited movement situations, the balls were not that long lived.

Plain bearing blocks are actually more durable in the longer term (10,000 miles) but with all blocks, a large diameter is an advantage, especially for any that turn the steering lines through the greatest angle.

Line tension is also an advantage (but not bar tight). Any movement that the steering oar makes that isn't immediately transferred to the boats helm, is simply a waste.

I've seen some installations where a 15° movement in the self steering gear hardly altered the boat's helm. I've also seen set ups where the initial movement of the steering lines simply raised the tiller up a bit. At least give the poor old self steering system a fighting chance of working!
 
Ohlin Karcher said:
Very interesting, why Harken in particular? Is it because they are ball or roller bearing instead of plain bushes, to reduce friction?
It's a point I was intending to optimise on my Aries tiller installation (with 4 turning blocks...)
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That's annoying, I know there is a thread in here somewhere with details and web address to get bearings to replace the bushes which fit the tubes in an Aries, remember fitting them in Burnham - from a chandlers up there i think but istr they originated from a supplier up that neck of the woods.
Anyway, I used dyneema as well but the non stretch made setup a bit tricky, really needs a bit of stretch in there. Higher wind I tighten up the control line, seems to work better in light air with a little more slack.
 
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Kelpie said:
I only have experience of the Navik, which worked superbly with my Vega. I shall fit it to the new boat (10m, 6t) and report back...
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I used a Navik for years on my Invicta 26, brilliant device, I wish I had not let it go with the Invicta when I sold her.
It really is a shame that Plastimo discontinued the Navik it was a great option for the smaller boat.
 
Praxinoscope said:
It really is a shame that Plastimo discontinued the Navik it was a great option for the smaller boat.
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Yes, the Navik was the most sophisticated and sensitive windvane ever made. It took our S&S30 tens of thousands of miles and the first US yacht (Contessa 32) to go upwind around Cape Horn was steered by a Navik with no issues at all.
 
Isn't the Mr Vee based on it?

I loved my Navik, never got round to trying it out on the Deb 33, time to sell it on I think.

We've bought a Hydrovane for the Moody so it will be interesting to compare it to the Navik.
 
'Isn't the Mr Vee based on it?'

No, The Mister Vee systems were designed from scratch.

The Navik design is very expensive to make in relatively small numbers. It requires small holes in stainless steel and small spots of welding. That might work in the original quantities (thousands) it does not anymore.
 
I acquired a Haslar SP2 windvane when I purchased My Twister 28 Helix 3 years ago. It was in a sorry state. This year I put it all back together and Hay Presto, It works perfectly well with very little tweaking. It stays on the boat all the time and is invaluable. I believe they were extremely expensive in the late 60s/70s and made to a very good standard.


Steveeasy
 
Our (12T, 12m) ketch came with a Hydrovane and a Raymarine autopilot. I've always wanted to get to grips with the Hydrovane, having used an Aires a little on a Pacific crossing a decade ago. The 540Ah, ample solar panels and 2 small children have always meant it's easier to use the Raymarine than learn to use the Hdrovane. Shortly after departing the Scilly isles a few weeks ago, I discovered that our 540Ah had a usable capacity of about 50Ah, so we had to do some economising on power. The biggest drainers are the fridge, the watermaker and the autopilot. Thankfully we were full of water (700L) before we departed, so we didn't need the watermaker. By learning to use the Hydrovane, we did away with the Raymarine. After an hour or so of acquanting ourselves with it, the Hydrovane coped admirably with some fairly wobbly seas on the starboard quarter and up to 25kts of true wind at about 160 degrees off the bow. It ran with a few small adjustments for 3 days. It's annoying that our batteries need replacing (£££), but I'm delighted I've made friends with the Hydrovane. I suppose it might be a bit easier for us as the ketch rig gives us more options for balancing the sailplan. I don't intend to go back to using the Raymarine autopilot - the saving on power by using the Hydrovane is huge and it does the job just fine!
 
GHA said:
That's annoying, I know there is a thread in here somewhere with details and web address to get bearings to replace the bushes which fit the tubes in an Aries, remember fitting them in Burnham - from a chandlers up there i think but istr they originated from a supplier up that neck of the woods.
Anyway, I used dyneema as well but the non stretch made setup a bit tricky, really needs a bit of stretch in there. Higher wind I tighten up the control line, seems to work better in light air with a little more slack.
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Thanks, yes I have some dyneema to use as well, might as well try it. And ball bearing turning blocks if I find some
 
pyrojames said:
I had a monitor on the previous boat, but sold it with the boat and went to electro-hydraulic autopilot. Coupled with a towed water generator, it worked in all conditions. I won’t be going back.
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What do you do when the autopilot breaks or the towed generator?
We have a Duogen, diesel gen set, a powerful below decks autopilot and a complete spare. We also use the Windpilot on long passages. Even when you have all the toys there is still a place for a wind self steering system in my opinion
 
First Rival 32 had a standard old Aries. Worked perfectly in all winds and points from goose-winged in F9 to close-hauled in F3. It sort of worked in F2 but my sails didn't! It took me 10 000 miles round the Atlantic with 3 000 down wind from Las Palmas to Grenada with me only touching the tiller to gybe.

Second Rival 32 I bought the old. lift-up version. The vane would not stop flipping over onto the side despite wind from opposite direction. One search confirmed this was a common problem - it appears that the counter weight is too light. I replaced vane with very large corex and it worked. Somehow, though, the design just seemed wrong.

Last year, after a charter boat took this one off the back of the boat, we got a new Aries. Lovely - once we re-positioned it; the company had located it far too low with the servo pendulum arm pivot in the water. The lift up makes it much easier (comparatively for a long fin and skeg) to manoeuvre.

I tried an Hydrovane on a Warrior 35 during a delivery trip. To be fair it was not ideal conditions but we could not get it to do anything. It doesn't seem to be as intuitive as the Aries but maybe that's just because I came to it from the Aries mindset.

What I have found is that almost every long distance cruiser seems to praise the version/type they have
 
geem said:
What do you do when the autopilot breaks or the towed generator?
We have a Duogen, diesel gen set, a powerful below decks autopilot and a complete spare. We also use the Windpilot on long passages. Even when you have all the toys there is still a place for a wind self steering system in my opinion
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I carried spare brushes for the hydraulic motor, spare hoses and fittings. I now carry a spare control head, but still rely on the main computer, rudder angle sensor and rate compass. I’d have to go back to trad methods, or hand steering if the computer failed.

The towed gen isn’t essential but while working we only have to run the engine for water.
 
mattonthesea said:
Second Rival 32 I bought the old. lift-up version. The vane would not stop flipping over onto the side despite wind from opposite direction. One search confirmed this was a common problem - it appears that the counter weight is too light. I replaced vane with very large corex and it worked. Somehow, though, the design just seemed wrong.
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I found the same so solved that by adding weight on adjustable pieces of studding so it could be balanced carefully, plus a larger ply vane, grp reinforced to add stiffness
 
pyrojames said:
I carried spare brushes for the hydraulic motor, spare hoses and fittings. I now carry a spare control head, but still rely on the main computer, rudder angle sensor and rate compass. I’d have to go back to trad methods, or hand steering if the computer failed.

The towed gen isn’t essential but while working we only have to run the engine for water.
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Friends were sailing recently from Panama to the Marquesas with just an autopilot. The rudder sensor backed in so they had to hand steer for two weeks with just two onboard. A pretty miserable experience. Not suggesting its an issue for you unless you are going long distance but the bits that tend to the break are the bits you dont have. Nothing beats a complete set of spares or a standby system
 
Hello All, long time between posts here......

I've just had a long season.... Not covering tens of thousands of miles but just short of three thousand.

During that time I had to cope , on one trip, with seriously rough conditions and very confused seas for several days.

The Monitor (tiller operated) seemed to cope well most of the time but I did find the lines from the Monitor to tiller, tended to slacken and needed re-tensioning more often than usual in these conditions.
(I did catch one member of my crew slamming the tiller down at one time to tighten the lines which didn't cheer me up !!)

I checked the alignment of the pulley wheels and tightened the Allen screws holding the pulleys and checked the general set up, but still had issues.

Any others experienced this?

Cheers
S.
 
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