Windvane and Swim Platform

[Paul L]

Here's an install with a swim step and stern ladder. It is a Sailomat.


Paul L

[witzgall]

I have an old Sailomat 3040 that we are fixing up in anticipation to mounting on our transom. Since this has an auxiliary rudder, it has to be centered, just where our swim ladder is. THe mount has to be custom made of the transom, so my current thought is to create a mini platform/stems/mount combo. Enough of a platform to get at least one cheek on, and have steps for getting on/off the boat, from both a dingy and the water.

Chris

[wingontherock]

Many thanks one and all for the input and advice... I can see I made my query in the right place... Thanks to all for taking time out to help a fellow
shipmate...

Regards to all,
Steve (aka "wingontherock")

[Sven]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Chris,

Are you sure you need a wind vane? Some would say they are pretty old technology, don't work in all conditions and screw up the swim platform.

A new auto pilot will give years of long cruising without the need for a backup.

(touch wood, and all that!)

Mark

Mmmm, that seems a strange comparison to me. If it is about being modern, why still use a SAILboat? Sail has been replaced with engine power over 100 years ago?

When you now say "Sailing is so very enjoyable", that is also one of the reasons why choosing windvane self steering over an auto pilot is a good idea.

But I guess it is mostly about how you want to sail. If you sail long distance all the time your needs are totally different from an ocasional 3 day trip.

Autopilots are power hungry indeed. On the occasional 3 day trip, running the main engine to top up that battery is fine. But running the engine daily on long trips, just to top up the battery reduces engine life significantly so having a generator is cheaper. Alternatively, have big solar panels.

By now, your boat has become huge just to carry all the stuff you need to power that autopilot.

Or keep things simple and buy just one bit of proven technology.

Some people prefer simple on the side of operation, others prefer simple on the gear-side. It's just about the kind of sailing you enjoy.

[Hampus]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Chris,

Are you sure you need a wind vane? Some would say they are pretty old technology, don't work in all conditions and screw up the swim platform.

A new auto pilot will give years of long cruising without the need for a backup.

(touch wood, and all that!)

Mark

We had a Monitor windvane on the old boat, no autopilot, just tied down the tiller when motoring. IMHO (and experience) a windvane beats an autopilot in any condition except motoring. That's why we just spent $5000 on buying a new one for this boat (single most expensive piece of equipment on board), but spen $0 on installing a 15 year old autopilot that I had laying in a cabinet. We plan on never using the autopilot except when powering or in worst case scenario, for steering while resting if the vane breaks down.

We did more than 1000 nautical miles this summer, without autopilot or windvane, the boat is well balanced and sails herself under most conditions. In the next 2 years we'll do 15000+ miles and going without the windvane is not something we'd like.

Being successful with windvne steering takes a bit of work and knowledge of sail trimming and balancing the boat. With a new boat and a new type of windvane we'll have to learn it all over again, but during our 1000 mile shakedown this summer we found that with the ketch rig, she's a lot easier to balance than the old cutter so it looks promising

/Hampus

[idpnd]

It's not just the autopilot electrical motor, it's also general failure of the electrical system some are concerned about. Same goes for the compass, where I come from that's required equipment, for steel boats they have to be balanced.

[Euro Cruiser]

Mark's general impression of wind vanes - that they are fussy, old fashioned and perhaps past their prime as serious cruising gear - is pretty common. Yet I'll bet he has seen many a boat with them when out in Big Blue. When we crossed to the Azores - a typical multi-national cruising watering hole, like St. George's harbor in Bermuda or Chag Bay, Trinidad - I did a month-long survey on the prevalence of vanes on arriving boats just for the heck of it. Each day I walked the Horta, Faial waterfront (annual international arrivals: 800) and counted a) the number of boats with transoms in view, and b) the number of wind vanes present on those transoms. The percentage of boats with vanes never dropped less than 75% and sometimes exceeded 90%. This was in 2003...but when calling into the Canaries in 2008, where another gaggle of ocean crossing boats gather in the late Fall, I found the same percentages among boats in Graciosa and then Lanzarote.

I mention this because sometimes a few data points helps offer a perspective, no matter what each of us individually chooses to do (or not do) when outfitting our boats, or what we think about gear we are (or are not) using.

RE: spares, in WHOOSH's case, we do carry them for our self-steering: extra 8mm steering control lines and 2 control line blocks. <g>

"I have an old Sailomat 3040 that we are fixing up in anticipation to mounting on our transom." You are very, very fortunate. Best vane I've ever seen/sailed with. Sailed our H-R Rasmus 35 ketch dead downwind in 3 knots of air like it was an autopilot. Really good kit that's w-a-y too expensive to manufacture these days, said the inventor and Sailomat owner Stellan Knoos.

Jack

[Sven]

And from what I hear, a similar percentage that arrives there with an autopilot gets windvane self steering there and then...

[troymclure]

The previous owners of this boat installed a swim platform and a windvane. Swim platform is in two pieces (either side of boat) and windvane is down the middle. Included a few pics so you can see how it works.

ps:- also currently using the solar panel mount at the back as makeshift davits which works fine for going short distances or when i want to drain the dinghy.

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