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exMaggieDrum · 17-01-2015, 08:20

Thanks for the suggestions. I have added them to my evaluation list. The Norvane website would benefit from additional, larger pics and graphics. I couldn't get an idea of how it all fits together. May be it is me but there you go. Same for the Cape Horn site. But both have their advocates. I wish I could hear from people who were unhappy with a particular windvane as I am sure they are out there. That would help in my selection as it seems most people have only used one type, although it's encouraging that they seem to be happy with the one they have or have used.

UNCIVILIZED · 18-01-2015, 07:20

On the Monitors, the welds cracking is reported to be a common problem. One which is semi-exacerbated by folks just having the welds redone.

As a common sense fix, my suggestion is a bit retro, but... if it works, then it ain't stupid.
Anyway, back in the day, when most racing bicycles were made out of specialized, very thin walled, steel tubing. The joints in the frames were fixed together by brazing/soldering the tubes into intricate (joining) lugs. Which served to spread the loads of the joints out over larger areas of the tubes, and to prevent any hard spots from being created in a frame's construction.
bicycle frame lugs - Bing Images
This gave the joints immense strength, but with little weight gain. And by preventing hard spots, the tubing making up the frames, remained dimple free, & thus maintained it's strength as well. AKA no "Beer Can" failures in lay Engineer-Speak.

When repairing something like a Monitor, I'm not saying that one needs to go with full lugs on the joints. However, it'd make sense to weld some partial lugs over each joint. Especially those which will obviously be seeing the higher loadings.
Kind of like welding gussets onto say heavily loaded areas on a pulpit, or a stanchion base (in addition to the originally designed weld).
And I'm a big fan of both seam/lap welding things, in addition to slot & or plug welding in addition to the 1st option. When it's viable. Call it a belt & braces approach.

robert sailor · 19-01-2015, 10:21

Check out Voyager windvanes out of Canada. Nice looking gear at very good prices.

exMaggieDrum · 19-01-2015, 11:49

Thanks Robert. I had not heard of them. It looks like a well-built unit, although it looks like a small outfit. But that's how all of them started. I have added them to my list. The website is better than the others. It looks like they have a variety of hull brackets but they don't identify them in their product list.

robert sailor · 19-01-2015, 12:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by exMaggieDrum

Thanks Robert. I had not heard of them. It looks like a well-built unit, although it looks like a small outfit. But that's how all of them started. I have added them to my list. The website is better than the others. It looks like they have a variety of hull brackets but they don't identify them in their product list.

I found the owner to be very approachable and I had him send me some really hi res pic's so I cold take a closer look at the finer details. It all looked good to me, I like cast s/s. Decided to buy another boat and the vane would not fit. The American purchasers get an automatic 15% off as our currency has taken a dive in the last year. I can't remember the end price but I thought it was a very good deal when I was doing my due diligence.