Wind Vane suggestions for IOR's

[delmarrey]

As you can see from my profile I have a 40' Choate (IOR). I'm looking for a wind vane that works best with IOR's. Because of it's aft positive buoyancy I need to know which wind vane brand would work best.

The sites for Aries, Cadre Anglais, Hydrovane & Monitor show pictures of mountings of their product but do not say much about which hull design works best, or not. Older Choate's like mine have a long sloping transom without a sugar scoop. So, its a long reach from the cockpit to the end of the transom, around 4'.

Sooo, I'm looking for someone who may have extensive experience with wind vanes (probably a delivery Captain) that may have sailed a unit on an IOR with good experiences.

I'm leaning towards Monitor mostly because they have a picture of one mounted on a "long sloping transom". But how do they reach it? Or, do they need too?

All replies welcome! Thanks!

Del............................................... _/)

[Charlie]

A Capehorn windvane would work as well. the are nice b/c they don't have as much metal on the back of the boat.

[Rhumline]

I put a Cape Horn on the back of a Jeanneau 39 I sailed from the Caribbean to Tonga (and subsequently back to NZ) in 96/7. Lovely and never missed a beat over 5,000 miles. I used the external system as the boat spent a year in charter in Tonga and needed to be clean when taken off.

My last boat (Ohlson 35) had an Airies MkIV. Again, simple attachment to the tiller. Easy to service though the cast parts can suffer damage and you need to keep tightening lines. Easy to maintain though and still the benchmark/

Current boat (Peterson 44) has a US Autohelm auxiliary rudder - It needs some work (replacement cables) to be operative, but the boat is in Fiji and not leaving for another year so - no hurry eh?

A friend had a Sailomat on her J40 and loved it, as did another couple I met with a Wuquiez Hood 38.

For a clean look and benefit of an extra rudder, I think it would be hard to look past a UK-built Hydrovane for your size of boat. The spade has plenty of surface area and they are very well sorted after so many years - and no lines thru the cockpit. If you have a wheel, you can also bias your main rudder to suit the point of sail.

This is a sensitive topic, as we all love the one we've got.

Cheers

[cburger]

Have a look at Fleming's vanes: Fleming Marine: Why Fleming

[Paul L]

Take a look at the Sailomat 601 or the newer 700. These mount with a small bracket that is through bolted with 4 bolts. The bracket itself is something like 4 by 6 in. The paddle is angled back, so it would fit your stern well. These are known for good performance. They also are not too heavy - something you want to keep off the stern.

Paul L

[Jim Cate]

G'day, Del,

FWIW, Insatiable I is an IOR Mk2 designed by Franz Maas and built by Palmer Johnson. Typical old IOR shape -- big max beam, pinched ends and tumblehome galore. We did a bit of racing in her before going cruising and she was a handful downwind with a kite up.

So, when cruise time came around, I built her a windvane loosely based on the Autohelm (vane, not pilot) principal.This is a nearly balanced auxillary rudder with a trim tab. The tab is driven by a sloped axis air blade which runs push-pull cables. After some teething problems, it worked a treat! The big thing was that the additional rudder area way aft seemed to make her way less squirrely downwind, even when hand steering with the vane locked off. It drove the boat all the time we were at sea for the 17 years we cruised in her -- approximately 75K miles all told.

As to the mounting problem -- the sloped transom will be an issue no matter what vane you select. The one disadvantage of the aux rudder vane for you is that the mounting must be stronger than that for a servo pendulum vane, since its rudder is actually steering the boat.

Scanmar marine in Sausalito still manufactures the Autohelm vane, and by now has very likely already designed a suitable mounting for your boat. They are pretty friendly chaps, and would be worth contacting. Incidentally, this type of vane is easily adapted to remote adjustment (as are many others for that matter).

One other option is a German outfit called WindPilot. They make both aux rudder and servo type vanes, and their mounting is ideally suited to sloped bums. You might have a look at their website (don't have a specific link handy).

Hope that this helps, mate, and if there are other questions, fire away!

Cheers,