I installed a Monitor wind vane on Edythe (E35-2) over the Christmas break. Wow, the thing is miraculous. Really tames the boat even in a down hill slop. I don't know what took me so long. This thing is way beyond gear. It's a sailing buddy. I thought there would be a learning curve and that it would only work in certain situations. It really only took me ten minutes to get it in a groove and it works basically on all points. Cool!
NateHanson
Sustaining Member
Let's see some pics! How did you decide on a monitor over the other vanes?
Razzberries
New Member
Sailomat Wind Vane
I installed a Sailomat wind vane on my Olson 34 in 1998 for the Singlehanded Transpac. For racing, it works fine upwind with high apparent wind, but has too much drag when the wind goes aft and the apparent goes light. I use a Raytheon self steering for most down wind self steering. In the San Francisco area, Monitor dominates the wind vane market; primarily because of local technical support and possibly lower cost. The primary reason I chose the Sailomat over the Monitor was the ease of installation and effectiveness of the emergency rudder. It can be removed and easily stored below when not needed. The Monitor requires you to hang out over the stern on a bos'ns chair to change the wind vane to an emergency rudder. Monitor does offer the Emrud as an alternative to converting the vane. My wife and I cruised back from Hawaii in '98 with the Sailomat steering the whole way. I would use the Sailoomat for ocean crossings, but I prefer to use the Raytheon for coastal cruising.
I installed a Sailomat wind vane on my Olson 34 in 1998 for the Singlehanded Transpac. For racing, it works fine upwind with high apparent wind, but has too much drag when the wind goes aft and the apparent goes light. I use a Raytheon self steering for most down wind self steering. In the San Francisco area, Monitor dominates the wind vane market; primarily because of local technical support and possibly lower cost. The primary reason I chose the Sailomat over the Monitor was the ease of installation and effectiveness of the emergency rudder. It can be removed and easily stored below when not needed. The Monitor requires you to hang out over the stern on a bos'ns chair to change the wind vane to an emergency rudder. Monitor does offer the Emrud as an alternative to converting the vane. My wife and I cruised back from Hawaii in '98 with the Sailomat steering the whole way. I would use the Sailoomat for ocean crossings, but I prefer to use the Raytheon for coastal cruising.
They are all expensive, so I did my research. One of the other E35-2 owners has the Monitor installed and claimed that it was a good choice for this boat. The only other windvanes that I have actually seen in use are the Aries and the Pacific, and I like this much better than either of those. I haven't been in a situation where there was enough wind to push the boat but not the vane. It seems to work on all points of sail if the boat is moving without the motor. If I'm motoring I just turn on the autopilot.
Attachments
-
DSC00698.JPG
The people at monitor recomended just using washers behind the transon. It's rather thick in these boats. On the deck I installed marine ply backing plates,because the deck section is not as hardy as the transom. Rather than tie the ropes together to the wheel connector, I designed a little plate with cam cleats installed on it. I think they have my modified wheel gismo on their site now at Monitor. They have a section for installation photos and it's there under Ericson-35. Phil McFarland's Sailavie is also there. It's an earlier installation and all the connections are on transom and not deck. Aparently they have re-paterned since then for the E-35 installations. I bought it on his recomendation, and It is certainly a good choice for these boats.
Attachments
-
stern view.jpg -
wheel ap.jpg
NateHanson
Sustaining Member
Wow Brisdon! Your line connection gizmo is pure genius! So you do all your control line adjustments (except the vane angle adjustment) with those cam cleats, right? Very neat!
p.gazibara
Member III
Not to resurrect an old thread, but I have some questions. I picked up an Aries for $200 at a swap meet to outfit Cinderella before we head down the coast and eventually across the Pacific and beyond. While the unit has a seized pipe that has prevented me from disassembling it completely, I was trying to decide how I will eventually mount the thing.
I spoke with PO (apparently he has completely rebuilt the boat after watching the interior pan separate from the hull on the way back from Mexico 20 years ago) and he does not believe the transom can handle the weight and stress of a windvane. How did you modify the transom to reinforce it prior to adding the windvane?
-P
I spoke with PO (apparently he has completely rebuilt the boat after watching the interior pan separate from the hull on the way back from Mexico 20 years ago) and he does not believe the transom can handle the weight and stress of a windvane. How did you modify the transom to reinforce it prior to adding the windvane?
-P
Just jumping in here - I've had two wind vanes on my E35-II. The first was a first generation (1970's) Sailomat 3040, which produced big loads on the transom because it uses it's own rudder to steer the boat. The main rudder is locked. I knew of the loads in advance, so I got a 24"x24" sheet of 3/8" G10 and epoxied it to the inside of the transom. Big backing plate.
Sailomat 3040
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PulCjRIaUgo
A month before I left on my trip to Hawaii last year, a critical piece of the windvane broke (one of the attachment brackets) at the dock, and I didn't have the time to fabricate any replacement parts. Monitor said they could have one ready in a few weeks, so went that route. The loads are much lighter with the Monitor because it only uses a paddle in the water as an input for steering the wheel. However, I also got the optional emergency rudder for the Monitor, and so kept the G10 backing plate I installed originally.
Monitor underway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9ehbKAWzw0
In this blog entry, the last picture shows the G10 backing plate:
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/entry.php?304-Alameda-to-San-Pedro-CA-on-an-E35-II-Part-I
Sailomat 3040
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PulCjRIaUgo
A month before I left on my trip to Hawaii last year, a critical piece of the windvane broke (one of the attachment brackets) at the dock, and I didn't have the time to fabricate any replacement parts. Monitor said they could have one ready in a few weeks, so went that route. The loads are much lighter with the Monitor because it only uses a paddle in the water as an input for steering the wheel. However, I also got the optional emergency rudder for the Monitor, and so kept the G10 backing plate I installed originally.
Monitor underway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9ehbKAWzw0
In this blog entry, the last picture shows the G10 backing plate:
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/entry.php?304-Alameda-to-San-Pedro-CA-on-an-E35-II-Part-I
There isn't much force on the transom with a pendulum wind vane connected to a tiller or wheel.
But wind vanes work hard day and night, and early models of many brands have failed at sea due to design issues that later got fixed, or just the fact that by 2017 the metal is old.
Here's my 2014 Sailomat in action offshore on an E32-III:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gEJ3RJYiYc
But wind vanes work hard day and night, and early models of many brands have failed at sea due to design issues that later got fixed, or just the fact that by 2017 the metal is old.
Here's my 2014 Sailomat in action offshore on an E32-III:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gEJ3RJYiYc
Last edited:
Phil MacFarlane
Member III
In my first Single Handed Trans Pac Race the only self steering I had was my Monitor. I would not leave home without it.