Cape Horn Wind Vane ?

[Mambo]

What about the South Atlantic vane? I just discovered them and they look like they will come in at about 2100USD (that might be sans wheel adapter).

I like the cape horn vane too. The transfer mechanism -- from vane to pendulum and then release -- on the CH is really odd compared to the others. Any thoughts on that?

[hooligan6a]

I have been using a Monitor for 25 years. 2 times to Mexico, 4 to Hawaii and one circumnavigation, all with a Monitor. What can I say, It works!! I have had it working in 5 kts. of wind and over 60. Like everyone, i don't like the looks and the lines in the cockpit, but I will live with it, untill something better comes along. Right now, the rest are crap. Some people like the Cape Horn, but I have talked to people that had to pay the inventer to come down from Canada to do the installation. What is that? Must be very expensive. Also every installation looks different and expensive. One looked like it had a 4"hole drilled in the transom. I don't like, that the lines are down below and out of sight. Chafe is a problem, and you need to see the control lines.

[PamlicoTraveler]

I am having a Monitor installed now and looking forward to seeing how it does. I have heard from others that it works great with our boat.

I know all vanes have difficulty in light winds. One thing I am considering is getting an ST1000 tiller pilot for a few hundred dollars and having that for a backup auto pilot. It would use very little power and would steer the boat using the water power of the vane. Has anybody here tried that?

[SaltyMonkey]

hooligan6a - yes, I agree about the "hole" thing. That made me nervous when I saw one at the Annapolis show this year. The only factor for me that made the horn attractive were less parts.

[hooligan6a]

On my circumnavigation I only replaced one part, a washer. I was underway in the Indian Ocean and it was pretty simple. I have installed a Monitor on 4 boats and that was pretty easy.

[Patrick_DeepPlaya]

Originally Posted by PamlicoTraveler

One thing I am considering is getting an ST1000 tiller pilot for a few hundred dollars and having that for a backup auto pilot. It would use very little power and would steer the boat using the water power of the vane. Has anybody here tried that?

This is quite common and an option with almost all windvanes.
I have a feature comparison of windvanes that shows this WindvaneComparison.xlsx - Microsoft Excel Web App

-p

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by hooligan6a

I have been using a Monitor for 25 years. 2 times to Mexico, 4 to Hawaii and one circumnavigation, all with a Monitor. What can I say, It works!! I have had it working in 5 kts. of wind and over 60. Like everyone, i don't like the looks and the lines in the cockpit, but I will live with it, untill something better comes along. Right now, the rest are crap. Some people like the Cape Horn, but I have talked to people that had to pay the inventer to come down from Canada to do the installation. What is that? Must be very expensive. Also every installation looks different and expensive. One looked like it had a 4"hole drilled in the transom. I don't like, that the lines are down below and out of sight. Chafe is a problem, and you need to see the control lines.

I used a monitor from Mexico to Tahiti about 20 years ago and didn't have any problems with it. I was on someone else's boat. I now have a Capehorn. I liked it b/c you can mount it offset from the centerline. I had to drill a hole in the transom but while that was nerve wracking it wasn't the worst thing tin the world. I had a very odd installation and I spent a lot of time figuring it out. When I finally got it installed it didn't work right. This was my fault for not reading the instructions correctly. I had to alter the size of my Capehorn quadrant to work in the space that I had available. I also had to mount that quadrant at in a different manner then Capehorn recommends. I got everything installed and it would not steer correctly. I finally studied the directions and realized that the distance from the center of the rudder post to the outside of the mounts for the quadrant HAVE to be the same as the quadrant size of the capehorn. I am hoping that this will fix my problem.

I've spent a long time saying that the installation can be more difficult on some boats then others.

[Patrick_DeepPlaya]

I'll add one more thing, if you plan to also use your wind vane as an emergency rudder the system and process varies by implementation. For some it is additional money and something you install when needed; others the emergency rudder is a function of the unit itself (i.e., free).

Also, don't just read the marketing stuff on the companies' websites. Read the full user and installation manuals.

-p

P.s., I'd never head of South Atlantic, I'll add it to my spreadsheet.

[hooligan6a]

Charlie, that sounds very complicated. If people have to pay the inventor to travel to their boat to have it installed,it must be complicated. I would be afraid if I went ofshore with it and sonething went wrong I would have to call Canada for him to come and fix it. What if I was out of cell phone range?

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by hooligan6a

Charlie, that sounds very complicated. If people have to pay the inventor to travel to their boat to have it installed,it must be complicated. I would be afraid if I went ofshore with it and sonething went wrong I would have to call Canada for him to come and fix it. What if I was out of cell phone range?

My boat was particularly complicated and the way I chose to do it made it more so. If you have room it is not that bad to install it does take some tie to figure out but once it is in place there isn't a lot to break.

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by hooligan6a

Charlie, that sounds very complicated. If people have to pay the inventor to travel to their boat to have it installed,it must be complicated. I would be afraid if I went ofshore with it and sonething went wrong I would have to call Canada for him to come and fix it. What if I was out of cell phone range?

This windvane works the same as the monitor, but with fewer moving parts. You don't need to call the inventor to come and install it, unless you're a complete kludge with hand tools. Nor do you need to call the inventor to fix it, it's seriously simple, and with the exception of the Z rod I feel confident I can make all of the bushings myself with locally available materials......IF THE NEED SHOULD EVER ARISE. Yes, there is a 4" hole in the transom for the jean-de-sud model, but it's filled with the quadrant tube and sealed on the inside with filleting compund and glass cloth, finished on the outside with sealant. The beauty of this thing is the simplicity and unobtrusive addition of a steering vane to the back of the boat.

[roverhi]

If there is a problem with a Pendulum Servo vane steering in light air it's probably not the vane but the control line run and/or the boats wheel/rudder system. My Pearson 35 has a forward mounted wheel without a large amount of mechanical advantage and an unbalanced barn door rudder. That made the control line run long and PO's installation complicated. Steering input required to turn the wheel under way was/is fairly high. The result was the Monitor that came with the boat wouldn't steer with boat speed less than 4k and/or wind speeds less than 10k. There just wasn't enough water flow across the servo rudder to give it the oomph to turn the wheel at low boat speeds. Interesting enough, as boat speed increased over four knots and effort to turn the rudder to counter act weather helm got very hight, the Monitor steered better and better. I didn't have the chance to sort it out as a used Auxillary Rudder Vane (WindPilot Pacific Plus) presented itself. Ended up selling the Monitor for the price of the WP Pacific Plus.

Contrast that with my Aries Vane that steered our Westsail 32 throughout SoPac for us and subsequent owner. The vane would steer the boat if the boat would sail. From absolutely ghosting conditions to hull speed runs and exhilerating surfing, the vane steered the boat without a whimper. The Westsail had a much bigger rudder than our Pearson and developed as much, if not more weather helm at speed. The only difference was the Pearson had a wheel and the W32 a tiller. If you have an issue wth a PS vane not steering in light air, see what you can do reduce friction in the contol lines and inertia/friction in the boat's steering system.

Pendulum/Servo systems are just about guaranteed to work with any boat with a tiller. They will work fine with a wheel as long as the rudder is somewhat balanced and there is not much friction/drag in the wheel. I've seen PS vanes on wheel steered boats over 50' and people were quite happy with them.

The only maintenance on the Aires was replacing the control lines every 5,000 miles or so. Had an issue with the Delryn bushings 'growing' and needing to be reamed out once but other than that it was bullet proof. Really liked the click course change system over the infinite adjusting sytem on other vanes.

The Cap Horn vane is elegantly simple, light weight, and has some very nice features. The ease with which a tiller pilot can be mounted and the control lines can be run under deck direct to the quadrant are a plus with the Jean du Sud and Joshua vanes. If the control lines are run properly, there is no chafe except the wear where the lines turn at a pulley and that's minimal. If I'd stayed with a Pendulum Servo Vane, would have switched over to a Cap Horn to get the control lines out of the cockpit. There are some issues mounting the Jean du Sud version of the vane but that's mostly a matter of figuring where the quadrant will end up the control lines will be run.

[hooligan6a]

Peter, thanks for your information. i circumnavigated in a Cascade 29 W/tiller and the Monitor worked in light air and at slow speed,but like you said the faster the better. the Aries is a good vane, the only problem I saw was, with mixing, aluminum, SS steel, bronze and salt water. I have seen some very bad problem ones on the used market because of this.
Have you sailed with a Cape Horn Vane? I would like to talk to some one that has sailed with a Monitor and a Cape Horn. just to compair the two.

[SaltyMonkey]

So hydrovane is still out of the discussion as a vs. comparison?

[Patrick_DeepPlaya]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

So hydrovane is still out of the discussion as a vs. comparison?

The Hydrovane is what I'm planning to purchase.

What is interesting in all of this is no one has chimed in and said, "I have XYZ Windvane" and it did not work at all. What we do see is a lot of people advocating for the choice they made (and why other choices would be wrong) and then some (the truth sharers) who have had experience with multiple wind vanes and can share the pros and cons of them.

The net takeaway for me is; they all work and comparisons from boat to boat seem pretty meaningless. So if the wind vane your considering has the features you want and the price you are willing to pay. Buy it.

Did I over simplify that enough. ;-)

-p