Would you get rid of a self steering wind vane if you had one?

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Sharing helm duties between two is a lot better than solo, but it is still arduous for long periods IMO and IME. Longest we've had to do it was three days, when both our home design and built vane broke a pintle AND the Autohelm a/p died in the Tuomotos. Seemed a bloody long way to Papeete!



So,, my point was in reference to the comments about most of the vanes being on single hander's boats. May be true in internet land, but not so true in the real cruising world... once offshore.



I like having both, and sorely miss our old vane.



Jim

Ah, I get it now.

I just felt that maybe the few solo sailors on YouTube had been influenced more by the need for redundancy and/or reliability than the multi crew boats.

Interesting that you still ended up losing BOTH self steering options. There’s another message in that somewhere.

If my auxiliary rudder windvane works well, AND if I can afford it, I will buy a Tillerpilot to connect to it in light winds. TRIPLE redundancy. I really like the combination of a Tillerpilot and windvane to get the best of low power consumption and more accurate course control.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Pizzazz

Get rid of it, no question about it. A food autopilot will run circles around a wind vane any time. The current consumption is minimal compared to other loads on a modern boat, new autopilots (last 10 years) have many advanced features to deal with waves, etc. ....

Not sure how you can say the current consumption is
not significant. Even in relatively easy conditions an AP will burn 50 to 100ah in a 24hr day. If you use one, you have to plan on how you will feed it. On passage you typically get much less out of your solar than yku get at anchor. They good devices, but you need a backup for passage making and have worked out feeding it. That backup is not cheap on a cruising boat.

[elandra65]

Ask yourself if you are willing to hand Steer for days on end. With a large crew not such a problem but for a couple it is very onerous and potentially dangerous. If you only day sail remove it but otherwise keep. It is not about being a dinosaur. Electronics fail and often at the worst times. Power consumption can be an issue too as well as noise in an aft cabin from the drive unit.

I was hit by lightning in Papua New Guinea years ago and it fried everything with a chip. I didn't have a wind vane and we had to hand Steer all the way back to Aus. I had a crew of 6 so not a disaster. My latest boat has a wind vane and an autopilot and I use both. The vane for passages and the autopilot for short coastal and when flying a kite where the vane suffers from apparent wind issues etc. The vane is also much better hard on the wind as it follows shifts perfectly.

Do your research and you will found many many examples of autopilot failures.

Andrew

[LoudMusic]

I think they're most useful on very long passages. They are cumbersome to have on the boat if you are not making significant use of it.

[Basil]

Keep it an use it, windvanes are great an if set up well will sail your vessel far better than you will. They are an excellent backup an can be fitted with a tillerpilot unit which uses far less power than a lot of auto pilots but will handle far heavier seas.
Yes they may be a product of the 1970/1980 but are still used to day, ps I don’t have my head in the sand nor the 1000s of other users of these systems as some writers suggest.

[Pegu Club]

It seems that some feel that it is difficult to set a vane to steer, I have experience only with our monitor wind vane, and frankly it was very easy to learn to use it. The added benefit is you learn to set/ balance your sails correctly. Another benefit is that it is a simple system that needs very little maintenance, and has great longevity. And frankly they are way way cooler than an electronic auto pilot by a long shot, 😎 just sayin, 😁

Fair winds,

[Sailon1]

I have an older CYS self-steering wind vane and also had doubts about its
usefulness. The vane/wing part needs replacement, and I have decided to replace
it and keep the system:
1. it works, good backup to autopilot
2. emergency back up steering
3. emergency boarding on stern
4. its a slice of maritime life/history:

https://books.google.com/books?id=YN...%20CYS&f=false

[kmcshane]

[ATTACH][/ATTACH] One solution to the swim ladder question, and hearty endorsement for Monitor vanes: easy, heaps of spares available, little tarnishing that is easily handled. Use mine all the time, just in the Bay for day sails too. Not sure what the fuss is regarding keeping parts down below: what parts? Swing the paddle up out of the water, and the vanes are lightweight and take up no room. I like the advice: have some fun with it before you decide.

[peter57]

It is great to a single handed with main up sailing off the pick in a crowded anchorage then raising the headsail at the mast with wind vane helming through the anchorage.

These days you less and less of good seamanship.

I would dice the AP before my Aires.

[masonc]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

And on passage, cruising couples are really two single handers sharing the same boat, so many of the same caveats apply.

Jim

Or one single hander and a passenger who cooks

[Shoalcove]

I am just putting my Monitor windvane back on our boat. We mostly have been sailing locally lately so the AP is more than adequate. I’m hoping to get a little farther afield this summer so will put it on and see if I use it.
One issue with our boat is that it has more turns on the wheel hard over than is usual so the windvane isn’t able to turn the wheel enough to deflect the rudder adequately in some conditions. One project this summer is to experiment with alternative setups to improve that.
If my steering was more typical or I had a tiller, I’d use it far more.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by masonc

Or one single hander and a passenger who cooks

Possibly true for some vessels, but fortunately not for ours: Ann is a fully qualified and very experienced sailor and watchkeeper, and I'm sure glad of that!

The situation you describe is far worse than real singlehanding, for the skipper must shoulder both the normal ships chores AND caretaking of a passenger. Yikes!

We did meet one German couple where the wife did exactly what you describe: she cooked and cleaned and did nothing else... and they seemed content with the situation and it had sufficed from Germany to French Polynesia where we met.

Not for me!

Jim

[Emouchet]

What is your sailing program ?

Long overnight passage ? Keep it.
Short day cruising ? Get rid of it.

[sailingunity]

Originally Posted by kmcshane

[ATTACH][/ATTACH] One solution to the swim ladder question, and hearty endorsement for Monitor vanes: easy, heaps of spares available, little tarnishing that is easily handled. Use mine all the time, just in the Bay for day sails too. Not sure what the fuss is regarding keeping parts down below: what parts? Swing the paddle up out of the water, and the vanes are lightweight and take up no room. I like the advice: have some fun with it before you decide.

Ours is a much older design, it was installed in the 1970's. The rudder stores in the lazarette and has to be lifted out and lowered into the water, you attach it to the bracket on the boat with 4 bolts.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by sailingunity

Ours is a much older design, it was installed in the 1970's. The rudder stores in the lazarette and has to be lifted out and lowered into the water, you attach it to the bracket on the boat with 4 bolts.

Is this a Voyager windvane? Any more photos of it? Have you tried it since the arch and panels were installed? Just wondering now looking at it again.