Stuart wrote:

I don't know if this is of any use, but looks like the sort of thing you are after.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeZtOJ0Cy_s

Yes, that looks like what I would like to have. The metal work looks intimidating. I don't think I have the skills to build anything that involves welding. I suspect hiring a professional welder to make parts for my windvine would make the Hydrovane pricing look very reasonable.

Maybe some of the items shown in that video can be made from wood and epoxy.

Hans-Erik wrote:

Wind Vane vs Tiller Pilot (the dilemma of sailors everywhere).

BOTH will require adjustments while under sail.

A wind vane will require tweaking of its vane setting (many have 'control ropes' so this can be done more remotely than at the vane gear proper) as wind direction changes.

An electronic tiller pilot will require retrimming of the sails if expected to maintain a compass course despite a wind direction change.

That said I would not want to be without at least one (preferably both) when out single handed.

Makes for less frantic in and out trips to the cabin for brewing a cuppa or taking a gander at a chart/plotter.

Offshore and outside of busy shipping lanes, backed up by an AIS transponder with a very loud alarm, and one can actually get some decent kip.

There is a reason most of these contraptions are given names.
They are perhaps the most valuable crew member.

Thank you for the response. An electronic tiller pilot is tempting. They are, compared to most boat electronics, fairly inexpensive and appear to be easy to install.

I have never used one in person but, from watching videos online, they seem to make a terrible noise. For motoring this would probably be OK since my engine is already so loud. For sailing I really want an almost silent boat so I can just listen to the water on the hull. 

I would really like to have a hydrovane but they sell for significantly more than what I paid for my boat. I am pretty sure I will attempt to build some sort of vane gear. If I am ultimately unsuccessful then an electronic tiller pilot is plan 'B'.

Scott,

perhaps a simple horizontal axis (non servo) vane be enough for your use?  
Pete Hill used such on his catamarans.

I was happy to spend about 8 hours sailing on Saturday. A rare east wind, with no rain, made sailing north on beam reach easy and comfortable. I made it to the next port and then headed home on the reciprocal tack. All wind and no waves. Good times.

Having a tiller brake is definitely better than hand steering all the time but I think I need something more for a longer trip. There was too much variation in the wind speed for me to leave the tiller for more a minute.

I would like to build a wind vane based on David Tyler's design.

The boat is small and has a kick-up rudder. Does anyone have some advice for the easiest type of steering to build? A full servo-pendulum seems more complex on paper, but I can imagine fitting a trim tab that works with a kick-up rudder might actually be more difficult.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Arne wrote:

Chapter 7, about rigging the sail

I realise now that a few makers of these sails have run into trouble during rigging it. This was much due to the fact that I was late to write the ‘rigging Chapter’  -  no.7.
Now I have put a PS at the end of Chapter 5, suggesting reading Chapter 7 before starting on the rigging.

I read the 'rigging Chapter' again and noticed, or finally understood, what you wrote about the halyard attachments. I have an annoying issue with halyard twist at the moment. I rigged the halyard with a swivel block at the mast head. For some reason this seemed like the right thing to do. It was not. I have some persistent problems with halyard twist.

I am not going up the mast and I don't really want to un-rig everything to take the mast down right now. But, in the offseason, I will be reworking the mast head to use two blocks at the mast head, in the locations you described.

For now I am getting pretty good at pulling the halyard out of the deck hardware, untwisting it, and reeving it back through the rope clutch on the deck.

I got the boom fendering on, eventually. There are a whole bunch of lines right around that part of the boom. I kept lacing different things into the fender accidentally. I think it turned out OK, but I did not take a photo.