Wind vane

[mikk60]

Has anyone reconfigured the size of the wind paddle in their wind vane, with any success. I current have a height restriction do to my davit mounted slot panels. I could move panels, but that opens up another big set of issues.
Thanks

[Statistical]

Originally Posted by mikk60

Has anyone reconfigured the size of the wind paddle in their wind vane, with any success. I current have a height restriction do to my davit mounted slot panels. I could move panels, but that opens up another big set of issues.
Thanks

I would imagine you need to create a new paddle with the same area and less height. So wider and shorter instead of taller and narrower.

The issue with just reducing the height is the force on the vane is based on the area exposed to the wind and chopping it down would reduce that force possibly below the point where it operates reliably.

What brand wind steering? What is the current paddle material?

For example hydrovane has a "stubby" option. If your brand doesn't offer that I think you could make something similar but it should have roughly the same area as the existing paddle.

https://hydrovane.com/specifications/

[mikk60]

It’s an Aries

[hpeer]

People do it. Some folks have a "quiver" of different size qnd shape blades.

What I READ is that you should try to maintain a certain WEIGHT so the balance works correctly and fast enough. To heavy and the vane will react slowly.

I have an Aries but not enough experience to talk first hand. I have made blades in different sizes for different conditions. Kinda hard to get the blades light enough.

[wholybee]

You have to consider weight, and exposure to clean air.

Most windvanes have some sort of counterweight so the paddle will return to vertical with no wind. The weight of the paddle compared to the counterweight will affect light air performance. If he paddle is heavy and the counterweight is barely able to return the paddle to vertical, it will work better in light air. But, if it takes a lot of wind to overcome the weight, then it will work better in heavy wind. So, note then that a larger paddle not only has more surface area, but also is heavier so the counterweight doesn't hold it vertical as well.

Also, clean air. With davits, a dinghy, solar panels, bimini, and whatever else near the windvane, the are gets disturbed and affects the performance of the wind vane. So in this case, getting higher is better.

So with all that in mind, it is pretty forgiving. I have used my "light air" paddle in a full gale, and it worked fine. When I reconfigured my bimini, I cut a paddle down so it wouldn't jam under it and get stuck, and it worked fine. And after 30,000 miles when the mounting slots on the bottom of my paddle wore out, I cut the bottom off making it even smaller and cut new slots.

So give it a shot. It will probably be fine. If you do a lot of sailing, then experiment with what sizes and shapes work best on your boat in different conditions. But almost anything will probably work pretty well in most conditions.