Gary King wrote:Yes, the course setting line is installed, wraps around the base ala Belcher.

But alas, we came back to the boat today and found the vane has been ripped from its mount, sheared above the pivot points, along with the lead weights its probably at the bottom of the marina. Its blowing about 40knts right now. Base is still there, and bottom portion of the vane.

I also have a Belcher type vane. I was having issues with damage to the vane from wind. As a solution I have cut most of the plywood out leaving a great hole in the middle of the vane but strengthened up the trailing edge with a bit of 12mm alloy tube glassed on. I have a sail cloth sock which slides over the vane when I am using it but when the vane is not in use the sock is removed which presents very little vane surface area for the wind to catch. The wind still moves the vane from side to side but the movement is dampened resulting in no damage to the vane. This modification has also resulted in removal of a lot of weight from the vane which is also beneficial.

That's a bugger Gary. an you retrieve it? We had 30-35 knot gusts last Saturday arvo.

Gary King wrote:

 

Well that is cool, I ought to keep practicing "vane tacking", problem is I think I greased the bottom of the vane too much, so sometimes when adjusting course it will suddenly spins 180˚!

Gary,

I guess you haven’t fitted any course-setting line yet. Without that fitted, nice and tight, there will not be enough friction to hold its course. In the meantime, I guess you could use some sort of big clip to clamp it.

Arne

Annie Hill wrote:Gary: great to hear that things are starting to settle down and you are getting to enjoy the boat.  Self-steering gear is the best thing since boxed wine and Bill Belcher's book has saved many hundreds of people, thousands of dollars.

Fantail sails much better to windward under self-steering than with me at the helm - and I can tack her with the gear - a David Tyler special, with a Bill Belcher ancestry.  I even use it for sailing out the anchor, setting it up for the tack that I want to go off on.  The anchor will drag the boat's head round willy-nilly, but once it's off the bottom, if I'm on the wrong tack, the gear puts her about so that I can secure the anchor, wash the mud off, etc, at my leisure.  Brilliant.

Well that is cool, I ought to keep practicing "vane tacking", problem is I think I greased the bottom of the vane too much, so sometimes when adjusting course it will suddenly spins 180˚!

I did take a leaf from your book Dave and attached blocks to the OB timber, but double blocks, looping the 6mm line back through twice, giving 4:1 purchase. Works fine if one hand is on top of the OB giving a well timed shove to stop jamming. The big Cat nearby has 2x 20hp Honda outboards in wells, they're in SS frames running on jib sheet rails (mounted vertically) and hauled with block & tackle, he needs to "jiggle" his too to stop jamming, but not a problem.