Wind Driven

We have an auto-pilot (click here) which consists of a P70 control unit, SPX-30 Smartpilot Corepack and a type 2 short stroke linear drive, all made by Raytheon.  This works great for short runs around the Chesapeake Bay or maybe for day hops between islands but it has two big disadvantages.  It's a major power hog and it doesn't hold up in bad weather.  Our plans include some long cruising between stops and we really need something that won't suck down our battery power.  We're also most likely going to hit bad weather now and then with nowhere to run and hide.  We're going to need an auto-pilot that won't go on strike, ever.  On our trip to Bermuda we hit a storm and the auto-pilot wasn't able to keep up with the waves.  It gave up when we needed it the most and we had to hand steer for 12 hours straight.  Driving a car for 12 hours is tiring.  Driving a boat in high winds and 15' - 20' waves for 12 hours is exhausting.

After doing some research and reading about what real-life "round-the world-sailors" have done we decided we needed a wind vane.  There are a handful of designs and some seem to work better than others.  The stand-out favorite is the Monitor, now made by Scanmar (click here).  This is what's called a servo-pendulum type wind vane.  It's operation is explained on their website as follows -

"Imagine yourself holding an oar with its blade behind a boat that travels forward. You will do fine as long as the edge of the blade is aligned with the direction of the boat. If you twist the oar, even a fraction, the water will hit the flat surface of the blade and you will be unable to keep the oar straight - it will swing to the side. A tremendous leverage is created from the blade, through the shaft, to the end of the oar where you are holding on.

A servo pendulum gear uses this great leverage to keep the yacht on course. An oar or paddle is suspended like a pendulum from the stern of the boat. As long as the yacht is on course, the oar blade trails on the center line. The airvane is the sensor that controls the servo pendulum oar. When the boat wanders off course the airvane will sense this and rotate the oar. The flow of water hitting the blade broadface causes the pendulum oar to swing to the side with great force. The pendulum is connected through lines to the wheel or tiller and the resulting movement of the yacht's rudder brings the boat back on course."

The only power it uses is the power of the wind and water.  It makes no noise.  It performs better as the wind increases in strength.  It doesn't complain about working the midnight shift and it doesn't drink my whiskey or smoke my cigars.  Perfect!  The biggest difference between the Monitor and the auto-pilot is that the Monitor holds a course as an angle to the wind and the auto-pilot holds a compass course according to GPS coordinates.  Now you might think it's better to hold your course by GPS and this would work well for a vessel under power but we're a sailing vessel and we set our sails to the wind.  Out in the ocean the wind tends to blow fairly consistently for long periods of time.  You can adjust your sails for the course you want and then set the Monitor to maintain that angle to the wind.  As long as you initially set your sails correctly the boat will always hold that wind angle no matter what the wind does.  If the wind does shift you simply adjust the vane on the Monitor to bring it back to the course you want, then readjust your sails.

This past Winter we made a list of major purchases we needed to make for the boat over the next year before we retire.  We have five items at the top of that list and none of them are cheap.  A new Monitor wind vane costs about $4500.  Every now and then you can find a used one for sale but they get grabbed up pretty quickly, usually in days of being listed.  I looked around the usual places and did find some ads but they were already sold by the time I got to them.  I checked EBay and found nothing.  Then I tried Craigslist, which is supposed to be for "local sales".  I hit the Annapolis area, then Baltimore, then DC.  Nothing.  Then I tried coastal areas in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.  Still nothing.  When I finally got down to southern Florida I found what I was looking for.  There was an ad just recently posted for a 30 year old Monitor that had been faithfully maintained and updated with new parts.  It came with a box of spare parts and two new wind vanes for light and heavy winds.  All the control lines had recently been replaced with 1/4" Dyneema.  Asking price was $1500.  I jumped on it, contacted the owner and made the deal.  This is a large item and shipping came to $140 by FedEx.

Installation of this thing should be fun.  It hangs off the back of the boat from four sturdy legs.  Our boat does have a sugar scoop which provides about 18" of footing but not much room to maneuver.  Might hafta use the safety harness back there to keep from going in the drink.  We'll also have to rearrange some of the gear at the stern.  There's an engine hoist and a rail mount for the outboard engine.  I also need to figure out what to do with the stern swim ladder.  I'm hoping we can walk out on the frame of the Monitor and climb down the side of it to the deck of the sugarscoop.  That'll require a custom ladder of some sort but I don't want to lose the use of this part of the boat.  It's a great spot for swimming and with the ladder we have now it affords easy access to and from the boat.  Just one of those things that needs to be worked out.

I received the Monitor on Tuesday.  For being something like 30 years old it's in very good shape.  The picture at left is of it sitting in our cockpit.  I plan to go through it this weekend, clean it up and give it a close inspection.  From what I've already seen it appears pretty much ready to use.  I will have to order some leg extensions since our boat is completely different from the boat it came off of, a 38 foot, 35 year old, John Alden designed sloop.  Fortunately for me Scanmar supports every wind vane they've ever made, original owner or not, and all parts are available for use on any boat.  I just need to call them with the serial number and the model boat we have and they'll make up the parts we need for the installation.

There are a few parts that I'm thinking about replacing since it's all pretty easy to get at right now.  The pulley used to adjust the angle of the wind vane is the original part made of aluminum.  It's showing wear, mostly cosmetic, due to salt water exposure.  A replacement is available made of Delrin for $59.  There are quite a few bearings and I'll have to take a close look at those.  Our Monitor arrived with several parts kits and one of these included a full set of bearings but I want to have spares for this thing so if needed I'll order more.  Being a pre-1991 model it's missing the bottom brace on the main frame and I could get that for $165 and have it welded on locally.  Probably be good insurance.  All the control lines are in good condition and must have been replaced recently.  The frame itself is in very good shape with some minor stains that buff out easily.  Not dents or anything major to worry about.  I think we did pretty well on this one.  It'll make a nice addition to our crew.

Just for an update......I have started ordering parts for the water-maker.  I've sourced all the parts we'll need and have prices for everything.  I ran into a snag with the high pressure pump and it's delayed things by a few months.  Fortunately we have plenty of time for this project since we won't be needing it until we depart.  The HP pump is the heart of the entire system and I'd really like to

have that before I do anything else with this project.  It's large and heavy so location is going to be everything.  The other "big" parts are the two membranes which are 40" long and I'm planning to

mount them in the chain locker.  I saw another Island Packet that used this location and it made pretty good sense.  The only concern I'd have would be exposure to low temperatures if we decided to cruise the Antarctic or something and realistically, I don't think that's going to happen.  I guess the only other bump in the plans is where to mount the control panel.  I think the spot that makes the most sense is where the medicine cabinet is in the forward head.  That's just about the right size too.  Of course I don't think tearing that out would go over too big with the crew.  Hafta give this one some more thought.  I'll continue to collect the parts for the water-maker and once I have everything on hand I'll begin assembly.

These are two pretty big projects and I'm looking forward to working on them.  I'm in way over my head now but still enjoying the journey.