A vane gear for Weaverbird

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  • 28 Aug 2018 17:24
    Reply # 6642614 on 4048415
    David wrote:
    Scott wrote:

    David,

    How'd your new windvane work out for you on the remainder of your cruise?  

    Moderately well, but not as well as usual. When I got home, I found the reason: the plastic bearings in the Seasure dinghy rudder gudgeons had swollen, and stiffened up the action of the servo blade. Easily rectified, I'll drill them out a little larger, but something to watch for. Friction is always a performance killer in vane gears.

    Scott wrote:

    That's good news.  Would you recommend any changes if someone else was going to build one (ahem) for a, say, 10M boat?

    Well, scale it up by about 30% - 40% is the first thing, sizing the servo carrier to suit available dinghy rudder fittings, probably 32mm or 38mm in width. After that, it's a question of considering how to mount it and how to arrange the power takeoff and get the steering lines to the helm. Every boat is different.

    Last modified: 29 Aug 2018 07:51 | Anonymous member
  • 05 Jan 2018 11:25
    Reply # 5662731 on 4048415

    I don't think 30mm birch ply would work for the servo blade, though you might try it for the servo carrier if you can find dinghy rudder fittings to suit. You really need a natural timber for the blade, not necessarily hardwood, a dense coniferous timber would do. The servo blades for the original Hasler gears were made from spruce, and I always thought that was too light, as they tended to float up to one side, whereas self-centring is desirable. Once, I had to sort a Hasler gear where the spruce blade had warped, and it was difficult for the owner to see why it was steering badly. 

    If you can find a scrap of 76mm or 80mm aluminium tube, you could use that in place of the 80mm GRP tube (offcuts from my yard) that I used. The 10mm and 6mm carbon tube for the vane can be found in model aircraft stores.

    Last modified: 05 Jan 2018 11:29 | Anonymous member
  • 05 Jan 2018 11:05
    Reply # 5662730 on 4048415

    Thank you for this, again.

    What kind of materials would you think the system could be made of, apart from hardwood and grp that you used?

    30 mm birch ply, epoxied?

  • 05 Jan 2018 10:18
    Reply # 5662679 on 4048415

    I've taken the drawings as far as I think I should, for the moment. Quite deliberately, I haven't dotted each and every 'i', as much will depend on what materials, skills and facilities are available. Let me know, if there is anything that is not clear enough.

  • 04 Jan 2018 13:12
    Reply # 5659109 on 4048415
  • 04 Jan 2018 11:21
    Reply # 5658998 on 4048415
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