Understanding Windvane Capabilities and Limitations

[Andrew Troup]

Originally Posted by Terra Nova

To be able to adjust steering from the foredeck would be wonderful. I'm afraid the hysteresis in the system might be too great, because of the line.

The more I think about it the more I'm sure you're right. It's helpful and broadminded of you to engage with such abstractions, and I thank you for it; it's sometimes hard to evaluate and critique when working alone on ideas.

A way of preserving the ability would be to reserve the 'hood' for sailing or motoring under remote manual control (allowing the tiller line to adjust the rudder angle at will, from the sidedeck or foredeck)

But here's a new tweak stemming from your input: should there be an occasion where it might be beneficial to be able to "help" the vane gear from one of those locations, it would be a matter of leaving the hood off the whipstaff, but (say the hood was hanging aft of the tiller) hitch a length of cord to the tiller line one quarter of the way across, and (pulling it straight) hitch the other end to the line three quarters of the way across the cockpit, passing forrard of the whipstaff.

Effectively the whipstaff would then be operating within an elongated loop, and that loop could be remotely repositioned to bias the helm temporarily in the desired direction.

This would allow the whipstaff to steer the boat with a normal range of helm movement, without incurring the drag of the tiller lines, but (subject to hauling a couple of feet of tiller line before it took effect) still permit giving it the occasional 'steer' if the vane gear was foxed by a velocity header, a lull, or some such challenge while a solo sailor was occupied somewhere other than the cockpit.

[Terra Nova]

If a boat's layout would allow, the central shaft could run forward, providing access to steering. The mass of the shaft would hardly be felt at the helm. But electric steering would be simpler to install.

[Andrew Troup]

Originally Posted by Terra Nova

If a boat's layout would allow, the central shaft could run forward, providing access to steering. The mass of the shaft would hardly be felt at the helm. But electric steering would be simpler to install.

Presuming you're talking about remote steering from anywhere on the boat - I agree electric would be easier to install than running the shaft through the guts of the boat and providing access to the shaft from on deck...

But tiller lines around the coaming would be much simpler than either of those.

[Papakina]

My 39 foot fin keel boat came with a dead autopilot. Next summer we are heading off into the Pacific. I am thinking of installing a windvane (Cape Horn) and then using a tiller pilot hooked up to that for light air and motoring. I have seen mention of this as an option. I like the idea because of the low power draw and the simplicity. I could also carry a few spare tiller pilots. Has anyone had direct experience with this type of setup?

[robert sailor]

Papakina,
Your idea has been used for many years and by hundreds of sailors with excellent results

[cwyckham]

Originally Posted by Papakina

My 39 foot fin keel boat came with a dead autopilot. Next summer we are heading off into the Pacific. I am thinking of installing a windvane (Cape Horn) and then using a tiller pilot hooked up to that for light air and motoring. I have seen mention of this as an option. I like the idea because of the low power draw and the simplicity. I could also carry a few spare tiller pilots. Has anyone had direct experience with this type of setup?

I believe you'll find pictures of this set-up on the Cape Horn website.