Greetings. Has anyone installed a wind vane lately? The last references on this forum are from 15y ago. I have an F38 and am exploring what is feasible for this boat. I am leaning towards a solution that controls the rudder via the quadrant. Seems cleaner with less lines going into the cockpit. I would appreciate any guidance or experiences.
I was considering a Hydrovane for a while, mostly because it can be used as an emergency rudder in case the main rudder is lost or inoperable. It’s a really solid backup solution, but I didn’t want to give up the space on my sugar scoop. The installation was also going to be limited by my davits, wind generator, and radar pole.
The cleanest looking wind vane installations I have seen are the Cape Horn models that are “integrated.” Stainless tubing goes through the deck to the quadrant, and no lines have to be run through the cockpit to the wheel. Very nice looking system, and they seem to work quite well.
I havé fitter à Monitor on my F35
The transom perfect for ease of fitting.
Monitor is I believe the best on the market.
I fitted a hydrovane on my F32 and just completed a crossing from Bermuda to the Azores (it is an absolute beast!) and it looks very tidy as it is completely self contained with no lines leading anywhere. It fits JUST below my solar panel arch and JUST above my davits.
You can fit it off centre where it hopefully won’t affect your sugar scoop too much. The guys over there are pretty good at seeing if it will fit, maybe try reaching out to them and sending some photos? They will let you know whether it will work ahead of time, it’s an expensive piece of kit so you want to make sure it fits.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I will reach out to them and see how practical it is to have a second rudder on a 38. My concern is that the boat may be a little too heavy for it. But this it is just a gut feeling seeing the size of the actual rudder.
Thank you for your reply. This is the avenue (cape horn) I am considering right now. I know having lines that are hiding with the quadrant require more frequent inspections but the feeling of a clean solution and also driving the actual rudder instead of a second one dragging is perhaps a biased opinion on my part. Hence my reaching out seeking the advice of the community’s previous experiences. As JL1995 suggested I will still reach out to hydrovane and study that option with some detail as well.
Thank you Clean_Hull. Never heard of the monitor but will look into it. What kind of use have you given to it?
Absolutely hit them up, ive seen boats in the 45-55 foot range over the past few days out here with hydrovanes on so who knows. Good luck!
This is a drawing they sent me that was made for another customer with a F38. The fact that it can be offset without affecting performance is really nice, and something you can’t do with a Monitor wind vane.
They also sent me these photos from that customer’s installation. Definitely a nice setup for the boat, but it wouldn’t have worked with my davits.
I really like the Hydrovane, it’s a great windvane, but I must admit the price makes me wonder.
Thank you for those great pictures. The Hydrovane anchors look massive compared to other windvanes. This emphasizes the role of a second rudder that the Hydrovane plays. Which makes me think the level of stress transmitted to the sugar scoop. I wonder how the stress will play in the connection between the add-on sugarscoop and the main hull/transom on a F38. I have never checked how the sugarscoop is attached but I should look into that.