Windex Woes

[Jetexas]

One thing I noticed when we bought our boat was that although it had an antenna on top of the mast, there was no windex spinning in the wind up there. After digging through out dock box and sorting out all the various unknown parts and goodies we had, we found the windex, broken in half.

As we're (fingers crossed) putting the engine back together this weekend and heading out for our first sail, we were up the mast working on the lights and whatnot, so we went to West Marine and spent about $40 to buy a replacement windex to stick up there.

Well, when my brother opened the box, he found the tail fin rather warped, and of course he tried to straighten it. This resulted in it breaking off.

So now we have one windex that is broken in half and one that has no rear fin.

Are these things really THAT precisely weighted that it would mess up their directional accuracy if I used a little fiberglass to repair them?

Are there any other options that are a better quality material?

[Prerequisite]

Obviously balanced is better, but as long as there is a vertical fin it should work. If there isn't enough wind to push the tail of an unbalanced needle, you'll probably be using your engine anyway.

I hate that I plan to replace my windex every year, but with a trailerable race boat the darn thing always seems to find creative new ways to break when the mast is down for transport.

[Adelie]

Balancing does 2 things, it makes the windex remain responsive even in very light air and prevents inaccurate reading when the boat is heeled significantly, but both can be lived with. I would epoxy/glass/glue/whatever the fin back on. If you want to try to rebalance it, after the whatever has gone off, set the windex across a round pen right under the pivot point and dab a nice thick and sticky glue (Shoe Goo comes to mind) on the front tip until it is almost in balance.
Luck

[Ex-Calif]

I'd be right back to WestMarine for a new one. Whether it was bent and became broken, either way it was not serviceable when you bought it out of the box.

I'd bet WestMarine doesn't blink when you ask them to replace it.

[Tellie]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

I'd be right back to WestMarine for a new one. Whether it was bent and became broken, either way it was not serviceable when you bought it out of the box.

I'd bet WestMarine doesn't blink when you ask them to replace it.

But then we don't complain about their high prices do we?