[SOLD] Mad Max self steering - Monitor wind vane - $2000

[CSailor]

Embarrassingly ugly (unless you're into that steam-punk, dystopian, post apocalyptic, accessorization look), but it actually works. I ended up with one, and it steered across several oceans and seas when we needed the electricity for more important things -- like the fridge and the stereo.

Don't need it now. Nor the snickering and snide comments around the marina (or around the buoys) about modern sculpture gone terribly wrong -- although it is a conversation starter. I thought I was going to have to hacksaw the thing off the swim platform, until I looked them up and, low and behold, the dang things are in demand - at least according to the manufacturer, which claims they go for 60% of their original value in the first day ... right. So I found out someone paid $2500 for it in 2006, then another 2100 Euros to have a mount built and figured I'd try that 60% thing, because, hey, you just never know.

Well, I don't know - and it didn't go in the first day - ha! So I want to troll it out there (offer it) for a cool 2 grand ($2000 USD) for the whole shebang - and that includes the highly sought after wheel thingy ($550 or something, all on it's own - can you believe that!?) and wind rudders and baggies of little parts and bearings and nuts and bolts and the 2100 euro mount, and the hose clamps, and zip ties, and chunks of fiberglass this thing will probably take with it when we pry it off the rear end of the boat.

I wanted to edit the original ad I put in the classifieds of this forum, but couldn't figure it out, so here's the reference to it.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...go-151142.html

If you're going way way way offshore (where nobody will point derisively and sneer) and want something to do the steering, this might be just the thing. Drop me a line.

[CSailor]

I'd like a little help here. I honestly have no idea what to do with this thing. I have cruisers telling me a Monitor Wind Vane is worth it's weight in gold and having one on your boat is like a gift from the heavens above. And I have others scratching their heads and asking why, when a fine autopilot and computer nav system is actually cheaper (and a hell of a lot easier to use).

I have a fine autopilot/nav system and it does everything (and a lot more) the wind vane does, for less money. Only advantage I see the wind vane having is, it doesn't consume electricity.

So I'm in the head scratching camp, and looking to rid myself of my Monitor. A few answers and opinions would be appreciated.

Q: Is it really worth having one of these things cluttering up the rear end of one's boat? Is it just for the power savings?

Q: What's the most someone would pay for a used Monitor Wind Vane and mount and all the fussy goodies needed to make the thing functional? What's the least these things get sold for? In other words, what's this thing worth at the bottom end.

Thanks, I really appreciate the advice. I feel like I'm shooting blanks in the dark on this one.

[sanibel sailor]

I think the vane is great, too many failure modes for autopilots, and when things get nasty, the vane performs at its best and the AP worst. I am at the other end of the spectrum with tech stuff than most. Not everyone sees it my way, but the Monitors seem to hold their value pretty well. Mine is ancient, I paid $800 for it and it needed a few hundred bucks work done to it. I am surprised you cannot get $2k for it.

Don't recall seeing hardly any for less than $1500.

Craigslist gets you a local market pretty well and is readily searchable.
Shipping is a nuisance, but I would also put it on eBay, bigger audience.

[Mike OReilly]

Morgan, I own an Aries vane, which is similar to your monitor. I'm sure you can find the market value of them by doing a search here, or elsewhere. I would think $1k to $2k is about right, assuming it's in good shape.

Personally I'd hang on to your modern art piece, and use it. It seems to be a common myth that vanes are only useful for long ocean passages. I use our Aries for coastal cruising, engaging it anytime we're more than a few hours out. Yes, it's about power savings, but it's also about efficiency and aesthetics. A vane works better the harder the wind blows, whereas the opposite is true with an electric. Beside that, it just feels right for a sailboat. Our vane is like an extension of our boat. It's a joy to see in operation.

Keep the stern ornament, and laugh at how foolish many of your fellow sailors appear to be.


Why go fast, when you can go slow

[Orion Jim]

You probably scared legitimate potential buyers away initially by asking top dollar for what is obviously an old unit (missing the bottom brace) which by virtue of its age is inclined to have stress cracking (work hardening) and will need to be completely rebuilt before it's reliable offshore. The serial number provides traceability and it should have been in your initial advertisement also.

[CSailor]

Thanks for the advice, Jim. Wouldn't know where the serial number was or that it mattered - or it even had one?! If I'm down at the boat I'll look for it and post it. Otherwise I would assume it's old and crappy - it sure is ugly. As for rebuilding it, I'm guessing that would be like rebuilding a bicycle. Replacing the tires, chain, sprockets, bearings - and there's bags of those type of components that came with it - other than that, it's pretty much about the same thing as a discount clothing rack. As for brackets, the thing worked over a couple of ocean crossings. As for price, I looked at the vaunted Scamnar website, what was originally paid for it and the mount, and what others ask for them, and priced according to that.

I won't argue with price - it's buyer beware, and I bought the thing, and left it on the boat, in the first place on the advice of a crooked surveyor (shows you how beware I was as a buyer - thought it might be for towing water skiers) but it saved electric power for more important things like the fridge and entertainment system (when I finally tinkered with it out of excruciating boredom on a crossing), so what the heck. And if the metal has gone past it's best before date, wouldn't it be cheaper just to weld one together yourself and just say it's a Monitor - kind of like fake Prada sunglasses? Does the name really matter?

Regardless, this is the real McCoy, not some cheap Chinese knock-off (like my sunglasses).

Originally Posted by Jim Walsh

You probably scared legitimate potential buyers away initially by asking top dollar for what is obviously an old unit (missing the bottom brace) which by virtue of its age is inclined to have stress cracking (work hardening) and will need to be completely rebuilt before it's reliable offshore. The serial number provides traceability and it should have been in your initial advertisement also.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by Jim Walsh

You probably scared legitimate potential buyers away initially by asking top dollar for what is obviously an old unit (missing the bottom brace) which by virtue of its age is inclined to have stress cracking (work hardening) and will need to be completely rebuilt before it's reliable offshore. The serial number provides traceability and it should have been in your initial advertisement also.

$2000 for an older Monitor is top dollar? These are over $5k, new
" which by virtue of its age is inclined to have stress cracking (work hardening) and will need to be completely rebuilt before it's reliable offshore".
you're really making a bunch of assumptions based on zero knowledge of someone else's unit. For all you know, it just sat on the back of the boat rarely used.

[CSailor]

Thanks Celestial, and others in this forum - and now, for your viewing pleasure, I present the serial number - which almost looks like someone scrawled onto the big tube in the foreground, with an electric pencil (could I have a hot wind vane?). It is 294 - yup, that's it. It says, "SERIAL 294"

And just for fun, I snapped a 3d stereograph shot while I was down at the boat. It should be viewable on everything from a big laptop and smaller. Use the parallel viewing technique. No glasses needed. Get close to the screen, let your eyes uncross, until you see a third wind vane between the two sides of the stereograph then slowly move away from the screen while concentrating on the "phantom" third wind vane in the middle. When it comes into focus, you'll be amazed and entertained.

[alctel]

I may be interested, but I have to do some research on how easy I can adapt it to my boat. I have a shallow reverse transom.

[CSailor]

Morgan with the Mad Max Monitor, again... wish I could change the heading of my original post(s).

I wrote to the scanmar company with my weird serial number, and wouldn't you just know it, the thing is a classic, an antique, probably 40 years old and then some! They offered me $1000 bucks, and the cost of shipping toward a brand new one... yay! Right... nooooo. I really don't want one of these on my boat. Said they'd offer the same deal to anyone else (they'll pay the shipping in USA) with this particular vane, good ole 294... yes sireeee.

Well, there's not much original left of good ole 294. I promise some more pics tomorrow. Sorry, they won't be 3d, but they'll be interesting. Like the shaft broken like a clay pot (since replaced), good ole 294, lying on the floor of a machine-shop in the Canary isles while the stainless steel surgeons argue over a course of action.

I think your value in this kit and kaboodle, is the wheel adapter thingy ($550), and the 2006 mount for a Beneteau Oceanis swim platform or similar ($3200), and the cool, one grand you'd get from Scanmar, if, that is, you didn't want to just go with good ole 294 until it finally crumbled.

[Celestialsailor]

I could even be a pre-Scanmar before Scanmar bought out the original builder which I believe built them in his garage out of 304 stainless rather than 316mstainless. I had one on my Ingrid. Steered wonderfully. But yes...the 304's do tend to have crevice corrosion.

[sanibel sailor]

The fundamental design flaw of the old style is that the lower legs are cantilevered and flex a bit under load. Work hardening and weld fracture are inevitable. The "strut guard" turns it into a rigid triangle. Cost me about $100 for a small shop to repair the welds and fabricate the new piece on mine.

[fstik]

Still interested in the wheel adapter if you decide to split up..

FSTIK

[CSailor]

Promised, thrilling shots of Monitor Wind Vane 294 in action...

High res, available upon request (suitable for framing) and of course, good ole 294 (and everything that goes with it, except the pieces that broke off and litter the Atlantic and Pacific seafloor) is yours for $1000, or best offer.

[CSailor]

Of course, all that destruction and mayhem has been replaced - at rather, astonishing expense, I might add.