All Forums  Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums  General Sailing Forum  Windvane self-steering

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Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message: * HTML is OFF * Forum Code is ON Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by Voyager[/i] [br]A classic type of sailboat self-steering mechanism is based on a windvane or paddle that’s mounted above the stern of the boat that’s affected by the apparent wind by pushing it on one side or the other. The paddle is connected through a linkage that turns a small rudder trailing in the water next to the transom to apply some steering force. This force, in turn, will steer the boat so that the wind will pass the wind vane straight on and stop applying any force. A little while later, if the boat goes off course, the wind vane will again deflect, and apply the correction to the small rudder, thus re-establish the boat to the chosen course. I’ve never seen one of these gizmos in action in the flesh. I have seen them attached to boats in the mooring fields or on the slip, but I hear they work very well in 5-20 knots of wind. Not so great in light winds conditions. Does anybody here have any experience with these things? I’ve seen auto-tillers that are magnetically sensed and steered with an electric motor tied to the tiller, and I’ve used tiller-tamer type gizmos. My favorite is a piece of line tied to my aft cleats and the tiller handle. But I’m really interested in learning more about wind vane steering for longer duration trips where I can spend less time steering and more time doing other things, like having lunch, drinking coffee, fishing, or just staring out at the beautiful scenery. [/quote]   Check here to include your profile signature. Check here to subscribe to this topic.