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Old 24-05-2018, 01:53   #1
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Wind vane steering on catamaran?

Hi everyone, I've never seen wind vane steering used on a cat and am wondering why? I have double ended hulls with stern hung rudder and would think a Tristan arrangement might work.... even thinking have one on each side and use port rudder when we're on port tack, stbd on stbd tack to minimise any interference from the cabin top...
Having done around 5000nm on a monohull with a wind vane powering a trim tab on the transom hung rudder I'm comfortable with the set up. Less issues than autopilot...
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Old 24-05-2018, 04:09   #2
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Re: Wind vane steering on catamaran?

Lots of examples. So long as your cat isn’t particularly prone to accelerating through puffs or readily surfs the vane should be fine. The abrupt changes in speed make a vane less desirable on faster boats where the apparent wind will shift a lot.


https://www.google.com/search?q=wind...iw=320&bih=454
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Old 24-05-2018, 14:34   #3
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Re: Wind vane steering on catamaran?

Hey thanks for that ~ will check it out when I have better internet access ⛵
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Old 24-05-2018, 14:44   #4
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Re: Wind vane steering on catamaran?

Are Prouts on your list? I bet they would be a good option for a vane steered cat, centrally strapped to the stern deck cross beam. Older, affordable, usually well built (many were owner kitted so some say they did a worse, or at times better, job than the yard). They may even still hold the title for most circumnavigated cat?

Here's a quick blurb on one.
https://hydrovane.com/stories/prout-...-37-catamaran/
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Old 24-05-2018, 15:39   #5
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Re: Wind vane steering on catamaran?

Wharram designs on their website https://www.wharram.com/site/shop/bu...ering/windvane

I did this search here on cruisers forum via google windvane on a catamaran site:cruisersforum.com
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Old 24-05-2018, 17:53   #6
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Re: Wind vane steering on catamaran?

I have a Hitchiker ~ slowed down by all my gear (and a bosun's locker full of useful materials) so surfing seldom happens! Quite a few have circumnavigated...
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Old 25-05-2018, 00:21   #7
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Re: Wind vane steering on catamaran?

rtw-ed a 34' Wharram with Aries (Atlantic with selfbuilt trimtab/vertical axis vane)
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Old 25-05-2018, 10:04   #8
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Re: Wind vane steering on catamaran?

What's the name of the wharram cat with an Aussie husband and Mongolian wife? They have a blog. He set up a nice windvane on both hulls. Yes it can work. Check out his videos.
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Old 25-05-2018, 10:55   #9
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Re: Wind vane steering on catamaran?

The LuckyFish Gets Away Here is the opening that has the comment "we are hardly ever steering"

this is the guy that you speak of
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Old 25-05-2018, 13:50   #10
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Re: Wind vane steering on catamaran?

Wharram has the plan for a DIY wind vane as used on their catamarans. If James designed it, or one of his experienced cruising friends, it will be tested at sea and work.
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Old 30-05-2018, 22:58   #11
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Re: Wind vane steering on catamaran?

Hi there, Can't tell you how they would work on any cat, but I can tell you about mine. I owned and lived on a 27' HT for over two years in the Gulf Of Mexico the 1980's. I bought the boat from a sailor who bought it in the UK and sailed it back to the Gulf. He told me at the time the Aries worked great on all points of sail. Of course the HT could only point about 40 to 45 degrees to the wind so there was never anything on the boat blocking wind from the vane.



In my case I used the Aries often when I was single handing in the Gulf. The boat is not fast so did not have to worry about it accelerating into a wave downwind as some have suggested. It worked well on all points that I could sail. I know they make lighter versions now which might be better as the Aries was a big, heavy well built unit. The only problem I ever had was breaking vanes which were made out of wood.



When sailing by my self I would tow a 100' line with knots tied in it and was tied onto the gear release on the Aires. If I did fall over, I would/I think I would have time to swim to the line, pull on it and disengage the wind vane bringing the boat around into the wind. Thankfully, I never had to do that. I remember sailing downwind in some 20-30 kts wind with the Aries steering.



If I was to get another boat I would definitely have a some sort of hydrovane steering system backup for when the modern auto helm

decides to stop working and they all do eventually.
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Old 03-06-2018, 04:00   #12
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Re: Wind vane steering on catamaran?

Hello,


Bobby Schenk is a well known German world cruiser. On his Privilege 465 he uses a Windpilot Plus. For close hauled / close reaching he uses the Windpilot in combination with a small simrad tp20 autopilot. This auto pilot only draws 0.25 amps instead of the 10 amps the big auto pilot uses. The article ( in German ) can be found here : https://www.bobbyschenk.de/automat.html


Greetz,


Koen
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Old 26-08-2022, 05:24   #13
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Re: Wind vane steering on catamaran?

Zombie thread but here is an example of wind vane on catamarans:
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